Re: [activities] President's report, 2010-2011

Perhaps the business focus of SLUG should be changed back to a student
focus... I wasn't part of SLUG when it was at UTS, so maybe someone can
enlighten me as to why we moved (not that I don't like Google HQ, just that
our President wants more members...)

On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 9:16 PM, James Polley <[email protected]> wrote:

> President's Report 2010-2011 by Sridhar Dhanapalan
>
> Experimentation and minimalism have been the themes of the 2010-2011
> period. We
> started 2010 (prior to the 2010 AGM) by utilising the many rooms available
> to
> us at Google to hold meetings with many streams at once; we ended in early
> 2011
> by having simple brief meetings, with just one speaker followed by
> socialising
> in the pub.
>
> = Statistics =
>
> Prior to the 2011 AGM (ie, for the 2010 year), we had 34 financial members.
> This is around the same as a year ago, but represents just over 60% of our
> membership in 2009. Importantly, this number of financial members was not
> sufficient to meet our costs during 2011 financial year - but our
> treasurer'sreport will cover this in more detail.
>
> Mailing lists (lists.slug.org.au) continue to be a major part of SLUG.
> Compared to figures from the previous two years (in brackets), the numbers
> of
> subscribers have been increasing, although the rate of change has slowed:
>
>      announce = 452 (402) (332)
>      slug = 787 (778) (732)
>      activities = 221 (210) (200)
>      slug-chat = 231 (227) (218)
>      coders = 190 (172) (155)
>
> Also important is the #slug IRC channel on Freenode.
>
> = Minimalism =
>
> To quote from my email announcing my candidacy for president over a year
> ago:
>
>  I do believe there's a place for an organisation very much like SLUG, I
> just
>  don't think it makes any sense for that organisation to be called the
> Sydney
>  Linux Users Group; nor do I feel that SLUG, as it currently exists,
> adequately
>  serves the needs of the people I've just talked about. SLUG is slowly
> dying a
>  natural death; I want to be President so I can help ease the
> suffering and pain
>  and ensure that its death is swift, painless, and serves a purpose.
>
> Through the year I had discussions with many people in the community, both
> en
> masse at meetings and in private. These discussions revealed a broad
> consensus across several areas.
>
> Many people feel that SLUG could use more meetings - meetings with a more
> specific focus on more technical areas were mentioned; weekend daytime
> social
> events were suggested. However, no-one has yet stepped forward to run any
> of
> these meetings...
>
>
> Another common theme was that the name SLUG should be retained.
>
> In discussing the differences between SLUG and other similar bodies such as
> Linux Australia, there was consensus that SLUG's main differentiator was
> it's
> focus on the local - it's a forum for people to meet local people with
> similar
> interests, for people looking for local jobs, and so on.
>
> Lastly, there was general agreement that the fact that our membership
> numbers
> aren't high enough to pay cover our expenses was a concern.
>
> To address all of these concerns, several motions were passed at the EGM
> held
> immediately prior to the AGM. The committee will be approaching Linux
> Australia
> and asking them to take over the running of the regular Sydney meetings,
> and
> then winding up and leaving the Sydney FOSS community in the hands of Linux
> Australia.
>
> = Conclusion =
>
> As one of the oldest Linux user groups in the world, the SLUG community has
> shown a remarkable degree of persistence and adaptability. Hopefully the
> work
> we've done over the last 12 months (and are doing over the next 12 months)
> will
> help the community to grow in size and strength.
> --
> SLUG Activities
> Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
>



-- 
Samuel Marks

Degree: Bachelor of Information Technology
Emphasis: Majoring in Software Technology

-- 
SLUG Activities
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html