Re: Monthly Meeting (FVH)

[Kara Pritchard <kara@luci.org>]

On Mon, 3 Dec 2001, Flood Randy Capt AFCA/TCAA wrote:

> I missed something here.  Unfortunately, I have class tonight, so I
> won't be at the meeting.
> 
The meeting is tomorrow night (Tuesday) not tonight (Monday), so hopefully 
you can make it?

> As long as the group is doing those things, more or less, then all is
> well, as far as I am concerned.  But, I didn't form the group.  So, I
> really don't know what the founders of the group had in mind.  Is the
> idea of being part of a larger organization (Silug) the issue?  Is the
> issue the degree of formaliaztion of the group (ranging from meeting in
> a bar and playing Linux drinking games all the way up to having a
> charter, mission statement, and a lot of official sounding titles.)    
> 
Well, Dwayne (the founder) is still around St Louis somewhere, I think. A 
little history, MVLUG too is also one of the US's older LUGs. Dwayne 
started that group in 1995 and the group originally met at SAFB. When 
Dwayne moved away (sometime in '99 I think), Larry took over the group, 
and with the help of other local members (like Tighe) did a fantastic job 
rebuilding the local group. When he left for Germany and stepped down (a 
year ago now) from leading the chapter, noone volunteered to take over the 
group. Steven and I did what we could to help, but expecting a baby put 
hard limits on how much we could do. So, over the last year, our group 
hasn't had a whole lot of direction. Recently, however, several other 
members have stepped up to provide resources and hopefully we can work 
with someone to help organize the local group again! Peanuts, popcorn, 
volunteer to lead the group anyone? :-)

> As far as where the meetings are held... Well, SRA had its pros and
> cons.  The main problem was getting in the building if you were late.
> Also, when we did have big meetings, the room was too full.
> 
> The library is a fine place to have the meeting.  I agree that a
> projector would really help matters out a lot.  Also, they seem a bit
> flaky about remembering that we scheduled the room and not scheduling
> something else in there during our meeting.  
> 
Agreed. We'll work out a schedule with Jim to rent his projector (I love 
his rental rates). OfficeMax has a wireless access point for about $130 
this week. We spoke a couple meetings ago about donating an AP to the 
library in return for being allowed to use the access during our meetings. 
So, between the projecter and the net access, our resource issues are 
solved. Now just to continue building our technical presentation content. 
Get your hot dogs, soda pop, volunteers here!! Anyone??? Will we have 
enough members in the Metro-east group to "pass the hat" to make this AP 
happen? If so, I'll get with Steve and talk to the library admins. We can 
chat at the meeting tomorrow night.

> Is there something else going on here that I missed?  It seems like
> there are some people that are really unhappy about the way things are
> going.  Mabey there's nothing that can be done about that.  But, on the
> other hand, mabey there is.  In any case, I'd like someoen to tell me
> what the deal is because I really feel I missed something.
> 
If it's anything other than a personal grudge or misunderstanding, then 
I'm missing the same thing you are. I get the feeling that everyone is in 
agreement that the group is due for some revitalization and too many 
people are trying to point fingers for the cause of it. Unfortunately, the 
"cause" is a result of too many events happening for too many members, mix 
in a little national crisis and a little econimic crisis, and a general 
trend of change of focus away from the "fad" of Linux to the "real work" 
of Linux, and here we are today.

We're a very mixed group of members, and I'm pretty excited about the idea 
of having more than just a monthly snooze or BS meeting :-) Especially if 
it helps meet everyone's wishes for the group.

These are the things I want to see from the group:

* continue the network of support for new Linux users
* continue the discussion resources for existing Linux users
* continue providing technical resources for local users (FTP, etc)
* build better presentation resources to cover -new- topics of interest to 
members
* continue public programs, such as demo days (FYI, we were working with 
Best Buy to host another Demo Day on 12/8, but the manager decided against 
it after shopping traffic is actually higher than expected this year)
* pursue some local community projects (school Linux labs, presentations, 
etc)
* contribute to a Linux community project (project of the month/quarter ?)
* advertise in the community section of local papers
* publish a regular "article" in local papers
* do more partner project with other LUGs
* some more stuff :-)

In an ideal world, all of this (and more!) is feasible. It just takes 
people who want to do it. However, being a volunteer isn't a requirement 
to being a SILUG member. The problem with SILUG in recent months, that it 
depending on new people to volunteer. Noone wanted to. So, what we need is 
a solution to allow SILUG to exist without requiring each member to give 
something that he(she) might not wish or be able to. We shouldn't have to 
strongarm one another to promise to commit to things, however, 
(complaining) members should realize it takes committment to complete 
these things, and you can't complain that you aren't getting what you want 
out of the group, if you aren't willing to help the situation.

So, I think you've got a good point here, we should relax, and decide 
(again?) what everyone wants out of the group, and what we (individual 
members) are willing to help with. 

Noone seems to want to be a single leader of the local group, and I don't 
have a problem with it. How about we rotate the job? Each month, someone 
else take responsibility for the meeting? That person lead the meeting, 
find the topic and find the speaker (or be the speaker). This allows 
whoever wants to to be involved, and the meeting style to be fluid to 
match everyone's preferances. 

In the mean time, December 15 looks like the magic date for our Christmas 
party. Do we want to have another pizza party (like we did this summer) or 
just a snacks/drinks party? (carry-in dinner was a little complicated, 
though it went suprisingly well here). I won't hog the list with party 
details, so if you want to participate, just email me :-)

-- 
Kara Pritchard                          Phone: 618-398-7360 
Director of Exam Development            http://www.lpi.org/
--



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