I haven't been at the OSCON yet, so I don't know what others show in their booths and what size the booth is. What equipment is available?
The booths are roughly 10'x10'. The only equipment available is a table, a couple of chairs, and a power outlet. We could bring our own equipment though (computers, etc) and set it up.
Spread the word about 'modern perl' (lowercase). Loud and clear!
For example, have a huge poster covering the back wall giving a short clear example using MooseX::Declare, roles subtypes etc.
Designing a small example is tricky, so start a competition to design the best poster in time for OSCON.
Have flyers to give away with slightly more detailed examples and corresponding explanations.
I like Tim's suggestion. To carry that idea forward even more, I think taking on the "perl is dead" meme would be good too. There could be flyers with pithy intros like these:
Perl is dead ... that's why CPAN has seen a continuous increase in module uploads over the last 5 years.
Perl is dead ... that's why the BBC and imdb use it.
Perl is dead ... because there aren't thousands of Perl Mongers groups all over the world.
Perl is dead ... that's why we have a booth at OCSON.
and then some more detailed info about each one. (I'm sure there are other people who can riff on this idea better than I)
But the point is basically publicity for Perl and information dissemination to those that may have a slightly wrong idea about Perl.
As a booth poster.. how about this:
http://www.ozonehouse.com/mark/periodic/
It might work also as a flyer, mouse pad, mug...
There's a lot of geeky nerd-detail that makes it interesting.
I think it's a bad idea to hand out fliers that say "Perl is dead" over and over. People will see the irony on first read, then remember the repeated phrase. Beyond that, "Perl is dead" is a meme internal to the Perl community to describe the common perception that Perl is growing irrelevant. It is not something other people use as a meme. Do not make it such.
Also, the p6 table of operators is fun, but do we really want to show off, "We're the people who want a language with hundreds of operators!"?
I do like Tim's idea, however.
About the list of p6 operators: well, p6 is different, like it or not. However, one should emphasize that you don't have to remember them all to start programming but it gives you a nice smooth ride further up in the learning curve than any other language. And I agree, that is a challenge.