Introduction
This page describes the process followed by the Marketing team to make a talking points for a Fedora release. If you have suggestions on how to improve these instructions, please edit the page!
Definitions
Talking Points
Talking points are key highlights of the new release. There are different types of talking points for different types of people: general desktop users/everyone, developers, and sysadmins. They are meant to provide a short, effective answer to the question "What cool stuff is in the latest release of Fedora?" They are compelling, not necessarily comprehensive.
Talking points are developed over the course of the release. We select a release's talking points immediately after feature freeze. This helps us begin crafting the general story that the release might tell. By identifying the stuff that seems really cool early on, we can help lean on those developers to ensure that the feature makes the next release.
Once the release is out and ready, talking points help us drum up excitement about it, and to keep ourselves informed and inspired about how we're continuing to move ahead with every new release of Fedora that comes out.
Feature List
FeatureList, quite simply, is the list of highlighted Features in the current Fedora release cycle. Features are accepted each cycle by FESCo.
- For a more thorough definition, see https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Policy/Definitions
- For more information on how Features are decided, and how the process works, see https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Policy
Talking point selection
There are two criteria:
- general level of coolness
- likelihood that the feature will make the release
Some notes:
- The feature / talking point should be Free as in F/LOSS! Don't ever assume - double check, double check, double check.
- Only the top three talking points are required, fit in as many as you can
- We can go up to five required, if they are short, sweet, and good
- Anything beyond that is too long, but judge yourself in your announcement
- We'll add points and move the order around until a good set arrives
- Talking points should be about brand new features, or a very significant follow-on to early groundwork from a previous release. The latter isn't the same as adding support for additional hardware models or regular expansion of an existing feature.
- A special New Spins area is reserved for spins premiering with the new release.
Steps
Create the Talking Points page
Using the prior talking points page as a template, create a new wiki page for the talking points of the current release, purging outdated content and updating it to reflect the working release's name and dates. The naming scheme is "Fedora # talking points" where # is the number of the release.
Create this page: Fedora 42 talking points
Make sure the page is listed under Category:Marketing, Category:Talking points, and Category:F42. Create redirects to the "F42 talking points" page from commonly mistyped pages and variants on capitalization, such as:
- F42 Talking Points
- F42 talking Points
- F42 talking points
- Fedora42 Talking Points
- Fedora 42 Talking Points
- Fedora42 talking points
Line up the features for discussion
Take the list of features for the upcoming release, as decided by FESCo, and place it on the Talking Points wiki page in a format that invites discussion on why each feature should be considered as a talking point. The #Feature discussion template may provide a useful starting point for this step.
Seed initial talking points discussion
Take the table generated in #Line up the features for discussion, pick 3-4 you think would be good talking points, and add your reasoning to the appropriate section in the table, to set an example to others in the Fedora community what they should be doing (and to keep the table from being completely blank when it's announced).
Here's an example of a partially filled-in table - you should only have to do 3-4 features as examples before proceeding to the next step. This step is quick and fun to do with a few others on IRC; it has been done during IRC Marketing meetings in the past.
Call for participation
- Draft a call for participation asking people to help select the final list of talking points.
- Send the call out in an email to (at minimum) the marketing, ambassadors, devel, and council-discuss lists, as well as the edition specific lists (currently Workstation, Server, and Cloud.
- For bonus points: blog the call-for-participation to Planet Fedora - instructions on how to join Fedora Planet are available if needed.
- For super-bonus points: microblog the CFP as well to the @fedora feeds.
See the sample call-for-participation email from F13 and the call-for-participation blog post from F13 for reference on what these announcements look like.
Round up feedback
Set a deadline for feedback round-up that falls at least one week after the initial #Call for participation. Announce this widely; consider reminding people of the deadline a day or two before it hits before moving on to the #Final deliberation.
Final deliberation
This happens at the Marketing team meeting following the deadline. FPL is responsible for participating, and for any final decisions about controversial items.
Use Template:Talking points to list the final talking points once they have been decided - a bit of final wordsmithing may be needed.
Announce the talking points
Announce to marketing, ambassadors, devel, advisory-board -- same lists as CFP, provide links to (1) the original CFP, (2) the meeting log, and (3) the final TP wiki page. No surprises.
Create the talking points final display
Announce the talking points final display
Does this require separation from the output of the final deliberation? Seems like overkill in the way of announcements, but I could be wrong.
Templates
Feature discussion template
For use during the #Line up the features for discussion stage.
These are the Talking Points for Fedora 13. They are currently under construction. For information on how we are making these talking points, see Talking Points SOP.
The list below covers all the current release's features; we will be looking at the features that have comments on why they should become talking points, and choosing the final small selection of talking points from that, then cleaning up this page.
| Feature | category | Why should this be a talking point? |
|---|---|---|
Email Template for Call for Participation on Talking Points
Talking points are key highlights of the new release. They should be compelling, but they will not necessarily be comprehensive. There are different types of talking points for different types of people: general desktop users/everyone, developers, and sysadmins. For the Fedora 13 (or appropriate release number) cycle, we will also have talking points to address some of the Spins. They are meant to provide a short, effective answer to the question, "What cool stuff is in the latest release of Fedora?"
Each cycle, the Marketing team compiles a short list of approximately three talking points for each of these audiences for the upcoming release. For Fedora 42, they're found here:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_42_talking_points
If you have a talking point that you feel meets the criteria found on the talking points SOP page at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Talking_points_SOP, add it to the the table on the F42 page with supporting information. Please make your contributions and changes on the wiki page, so that the Marketing team can efficiently capture and consider your input.
The Marketing team will make final adjustments to the list of talking points at their meeting on (date here), which will be announced on the marketing list and is open to everyone. If you are interested in attending the meeting, the agenda, location, and time details can be found at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing_meetings. Following the meeting, the finalized list of talking points will be announced, and posted to https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_42_Talking_Points. (Replace Talking Points link as necessary for appropriate release number)
We welcome you to participate in the process!
Thanks, (your name here)
Please remember to remove the italicized pointers to adjust the release numbers / links as necessary from your email before sending! Be sure to note in the mail that the list is to be finalized and approved by the Marketing team and the FPL.
Finalized talking points template
See Template:Talking points for the template and usage instructions.
Email announcement for Finalized Talking Points
Need content here!
Rough Schedule
- Fedora n-1 release + 1 week: clone wiki pages for new release, including the Talking Points page
- Feature Freeze: The list of possible Talking Points should be decided on. Send mail to devel and marketing lists for comments.
- Feature Freeze + 1 week: Talking points decided by Marketing team.
Other Considerations
Population of list prior to announcement
The Talking Points page is created as a placeholder at the beginning of each cycle, per the Marketing Schedule deliverable of recycling all wiki pages at the beginning of each cycle. Since the placeholder is there, and it is a wiki, it is fair game for editing, and community members may - and most likely will - begin to populate the page with proposed Talking Points prior to the email call for participation on Talking Points.
Talking Points and Feature List are buddies!
Talking Points come from the Feature List. Not all Feature List items are Talking Points. When the Talking Points list is finalized, one should double-check that the Talking Points are actually on the Feature List. If not, they should be likely not be on the Talking Points(?). If the Talking Point is insanely awesome ("Fedora Now Does your Laundry!") steps should be taken to see if it should truly be listed as a Talking Point due to special circumstances (ie, it is necessary for marketing purposes, something has become popular which isn't necessarily a new feature but ...
As a point of reference, the Feature List is finalized 2010-02-09 for the Fedora 13 timeframe. In general, the Feature List is finalized approximately one week prior to the kick-off of Talking Points development.