Re: Future Meetings (Future of MorLUG)

Craig Schiffbauer wrote:
> I know this is kinda long...but please stick through it:
> 
> First off...I'm no leader.  There's no secret in that.  I readily accept 
> and agree with all criticisms of my leadership ability.  It just so 
> happens that at the time I was the only candidate.  I will say that the 
> things I have done for the organization, although perhaps inadequate, 
> I've done on my own.

Oh pshaw, it's pretty hard to lead a group of 7-15 people anyway.  You 
did more than fine given that there is no hard-core structure in terms 
of what the role of the pres is within the group itself (the structure 
exists within the student org, which you fulfilled - getting meeting 
rooms, yadda yadda).  I'd say you carried out the "official duties" of 
the student org pres role just fine, and even went above and beyond with 
the fliers/marketing bit.
The other point is that you could've done the fliers/marketing bit 
without being an official 'el presidente' and we would've appreciated it 
no less.

> 
> Which leads me to my second point...for the last meeting I posted flyers 
> all over the place on the downtown campus, Evansdale, towers, 
> mountainlair, etc. and there was next to no response.  I sent notices to 
> the DA and U92 as well, but I don't think they were ever posted or 
> announced.  We had 2 new members at the meeting...bringing total meeting 
> attendance to 7 or so.  People aren't breaking down the doors to go to a 
> LUG meeting.  Maybe its group's history of talking more about the group 
> itself than what we're actually interested in (of which I am completely 
> guilty in this email).

Jon spoke on his Userpage about tons of people showing up in the past - 
I find it hard to believe that the geek crowd has shrunk - linux and 
FOSS users at all levels are becoming more prolific in every sector.  So 
how'd that happen then?  Where are those people now?  Why aren't we 
reaching them, much less all the new folks who have certainly moved into 
town?  I found morlug by a chance search for channels on freenode, 
personally...

> 
> On to meetings...to me, meetings always seemed more fun when they were 
> social gatherings instead of "planned talks."  I do enjoy the talks, but 
> I admit to thinking "BW3?" during a talk sometimes.  We're computer 
> people, after all...I think we have better ways to communicate 
> information than going to a meeting and taking notes with pencil and 
> paper.  Instead of having a meeting on security, post it to the wiki and 
> announce it on the mailing list.  Use the talk page and IRC channel to 
> discuss.  This is what eventually happens to information that is 
> presented in meetings anyway...cut out the middle man.  There's no harm 
> in asking on the list or IRC, "hey mdh, could you post some basic 
> security info" or, "hey derek...what's the best way to get started with 
> rails."  I'd be excited to comply to such a request.  Nobody really 
> wants to take the time out of their busy lives to think up the stuff to 
> fill an hour and a half talk to a crowd of 5.
> 
> The purpose of a LUG is of course to discuss, support, and educate.  I 
> think the best forum for this is not in a meeting but with the other 
> resources we already have in place: wiki, IRC, mailing list.  As I am 
> typing this there is an active thread on the mailing list about IRC 
> access at WVU.  THIS is what MorLUG should be about.  There's no lack of 
> willingness to discuss, support, and educate, but people are still 
> apprehensive or too busy to come to structured meetings.

I would *really really really* love to see more folks add content to the 
wiki.  I've posted some useful stuff - some X11 configs for SPARC 
systems, Security related information, open source licenses, and some 
other general reference stuff.  It's a very easy format to add content 
in as well, much simpler for formatting text and adding links than with 
HTML or somesuch.

> 
> The Plan:
> --Let MorLUG be a freeform, dynamic group of people that share a common 
> interest.  No president, no secretary, no sponsor, no obligations.

The one thing I'll point out here is that we do need a secretary if 
there are to be any formal meetings to take minutes and get them posted.

> --Don't judge our success by turnout at gatherings, but by how much we 
> can help each other and how much fun we can have when we're not being 
> "on-topic." (Put us together and we're bound to be "on-topic" anyway)
> --Don't plan regularly scheduled meetings.  Wouldn't it be nice to 
> think, "hey...I wonder what's going on with those MorLUG guys.  Maybe 
> I'll post to the list and see if anybody wants to grab something to eat 
> Tuesday night...or go bowling."  I think the scheduled meetings preclude 
> impromptu gatherings.  I highly encourage having as many gatherings as 
> we feel like.  Let us be our own calendar of events.  Let us have 
> gatherings that make people actually WANT to logout of Warcraft and 
> leave the house.  (I refer to myself, but similar situations may apply 
> to others)

A lot of us have brought up the idea of impromptu gatherings, and it's a 
good one, BUT... most of us are busy, and many of us need at least some 
notice ahead of time.  Let's call it a week or two on average.  If I can 
get a week's notice for something at or after 1830, I can usually make 
it on a weekday, or whenever on a weekend.  But yeah, lets do it.  I'm 
gonna show up at Mike's gathering, should be cool.
The impromptu meeting thing has only failed to happen in the past 
because no one's ever really proposed one.  I'll probably do some more 
stuff at my place for the "core group" in the future.

> --Don't bother with installfests or any other special gathering until we 
> have some feeling that there is a real desire for it.  (Let's not try to 
> create our own demand...poll for interest every now and then and we'll 
> go from there if the interest exists)

We can always offer to help genuine newbies with installs on a 
one-on-one basis, too - we could probably steal some space somewhere to 
do it.  If someone joined up and emailed the list asking for an install, 
etc.  As for installfests, there doesn't seem to be a big need for them.

> --If we want to advertise (and I think we should), let us advertise the 
> group's existence and resources.  Let's not advertise meetings just to 
> see more attendance.

Yeah, advertise the website.  We can change it at will or as reality 
progresses.

> 
> To sum it up: let's the group's collective (unleaded, unelected, 
> non-debated) will take the group forward.
> 
> I challenge everyone on the list to do this: If you have an ounce of 
> interest in GNU/Linux, free source, etc then download an IRC client and 
> hop in the MorLUG IRC channel.  If for nothing else but to shoot the 
> shit.  I haven't been in there lately and I'm going out of town this 
> weekend, but I guarantee I'll be in there when I'm available.  The life 
> of the group is not a monthly reservation in Hodges Hall, but 
> ourselves.  If we want the group to be active, then each of us needs to 
> be active.
> 
> Craig Schiffbauer

Thanks Craig!

-- 
/*
  * Matt D. Harris         <[email protected]>
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  *   [http://mdh.name/]
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