A report from Squeak’s booth @ Smalltalk Solutions 2007

William Hartford writes:

Fellow Squeakers,

As most of you know, due to the fantastic work of Chris Cunnington, Squeak was able to acquire a booth at Smalltalk Solutions this year. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to volunteer to work the booth for the two days of the convention. We had a fabulous location and got a tremendous amount of traffic. The Smalltalk community, while small, is one of the most intelligent, kind, supportive, and fun communities I have ever been involved in. I would like to thank all Smalltalk Solution attendees for there kind words, Squeak cheerleading, and help with answering questions when the crowds got large.

Bert Freudenberg was kind enough to lend us a OLPC laptop. This was the major draw of non-Smalltalkers to our booth. Many of the people knew nothing of Smalltalk but had heard of the OPLC project. The etoys demo was beautiful and if gave us a real opportunity to explain a little about Squeak, Smalltalk, and etoys.

Tim Rowledge generously sent me 45 silver and 5 gold badges. We were able to sell 27 silver badges raising $324 Canadian for the Squeak Foundation. The badges are beautiful and if you have not yet had the opportunity to buy one I recommend that you do. If you are in the Toronto area come out to the Beach Outings Club and I will have some on hand.

I could not of dreamed how well it went. The booth was fantastic, the people were kind, and the interest in Squeak exceeded my expectations.

Thanks for all the support,
Will Harford