I remember organizing Linux install parties at my university (University of Lille (1), in France), each year for like 3 to 4 consecutive years.

It was always a pleasure to meet new people and explain how basically "their computer is working" and how they can free from Windows.

The most interested person at that time was a 55 years old woman who knew nothing in computer. I installed Ubuntu on its computer and she came the next year with strong system knowledge for a linux-newbie, and the same laptop... with Debian in it!