Marty's thoughts on the spread of the PTP word

I welcome others to help fine tune my ramblings that follow.

We must be businesslike

Faced with the prospect of going out and selling our PTP wares, being in business myself, I think about what I would look at if somebody knocked on my door and wanted to put a PTP node in my business. What information would I need to know? What might be the signs that I would notice in order to determine whether this PTP outfit has it together and is to be trusted?

• Technically, do they know what they're doing?
• Do they seem to have an idea what's important to me as a business operator?
• Do they understand their user? If they do not efficiently serve their user, they won't efficiently support me.

Are they (PTP representatives) businesslike themselves?

Organizing - - - to achieve more users & More nodes

Most people who are reading this wiki or web site are already converts. But, to spread the word to the uninitiated, we must realize that not all potential Personal Telco fans are now marginal or full blown computer geeks as most of us are. To be most effective, we must not limit ourselves to preaching to the choir.

Who do we need to reach? It's Marketing

Aren't we playing to different groups?

• casual computer users
• business operators
  • those with some knowledge of computer
  • those with no knowledge of computers
• computer geeks

Might it be the casual computer users or business users, those who have no particular interest in computers other than as a tool, that we should concentrating on?

• People who would like to share wideband internet connections.
• People who are not from around here and could use any kind of temporary internet connection
• People who would like to share their work space with other friendly people.
• People who would like to attract the right kind of people to their place of business.

What do the uninitiated want to know?

• What do computer users want to know?

  • What equipment do I need to connect to a free PersonalTelco node?

  • If I have what I need, how do I connect to a free PersonalTelco node?

  • Where do I find a free PersonalTelco node? This must be an easy process

• What do businesses need to know?

  • How will I benefit from having a PersonalTelco node in my place of business?

  • How much will it cost?
  • How do I go about getting a node installed.

    • Nigel Ballard just came up with a document that explains this. This is good progress

Maybe one of the most important ways to grab these casual users is a website designed for them.

What should such a site look like?

• It should have a great map
  • find nodes by zip
  • find nodes on a map of various scales
• It should describe the node location, both for the user to be able to determine where they want to go and for the business owner to get just a little advertising

• it should have instructions on how to connect to PersonalTelco nodes

The home page should be simple and uncluttered with stuff that is disinteresting or confusing unless you're a geek like us.

Miscellaneous Additional Issues

• We need to collect more information and testimonials about how the existence of a PersonalTelco node has been a benefit to the host business and how benefits have clearly exceeded the costs.

• Recently there were suggestions of flyers, handouts and posters. This is a very good idea. Also, I propose that all PersonalTelco-ites carry business cards which contain the very basics incuding a contact phone number and web url aimed at introducing PersonalTelco to the uninitiated.

• A general proposla for a form for a flyer/cards for discussion. http://www.soehrman.com/files/personaltelcoposter.pdf

• Nigel recently developed a flyer describing the procedure of how a business would become a PersonalTelco node. This was very well done, but I will repeat - - - more data must be presented to the business as to why a PersonalTelco node would be valuable to them.

Additional Unrelated Issues

• Oregon Commission for the Blind does audio streaming with programming for the blind. Could PTP be of use in coordinating wideband access to some users?
• Outreach to amateur radio groups, cooperation for emergency communications, special event communications, access to repeater sites, etc.

more to follow

Marty Soehrman marty@soehrman.com