> Is there going to be a distribution that is going to be recommended at
> the install fest over another?

So far the count of folks who would help install the various distributions 
stands at:

RedHat: 3
  (Robert Ambrose, Alan Dayley, Robert Klahn)
Mandrake: 3
  (Kevin O'Connor, Virgil Silhanek, William Lindley)
BSD: 3
  (Justin Zeigler, Harry McGregor, J. Francois)
Slackware: 1
  (Bruce Pettycrew)
Debian: 1
  (Robert Klahn)

Folks, vote for your favorite distribution by telling me (OFF-LIST: 
wlindley@wlindley.com ) you'll be there to help with an install or two!

\\/