Hi Dave, All. I will inter-post here, so bare with me.
On December 4, 2005 19:29, Dave Watkins wrote: > Yesterday a few hardy CLUG members made their way southeast to the > Riverbend Sobey's for CityTV's "Food For Fame" event. This event gives > individuals and groups like CLUG the chance to do something worthwhile for > the community while garnering a little recognition in return. Yours truly > was there as were Shawn, Szmir, Cameron & his fiancée as well as the Wong > clan. All in all 10 people chose to come out in support of this event. > Talk about hardy , i had a flat tire, quick pumped it up, but the pump had a puncured hose :-), so i had to plug the hose to get the air into my tire, it took about 15 minutes to get it into a usable state :-) I think it was a great opportunity to give, and a great opportunity for CLUG to get (free) airtime on National TV <-- Big thing eh? Now, i would say, it would have been nicer to have had more people there, but again, we could not have fit 20 people in that small room where the clip was taken. > > > When I got home I received a call from the President of another group to > which I belong. He was looking for people to work a casino. When I said > that I would be glad to work the event he sounded shocked. Apparently I was > the first person of about fifteen that he had spoken to that night, that > had agreed to help out. Ten people attending a well publicized event that > would have directly helped out those in need. One in fifteen positive > responses with another group. That got me thinking. > > I will just guess (estimate), that people have a very busy schedule these days, anything could have come up and prevented them from making it to the event. > > I began to ponder just what it takes to have a healthy group of any sort. > To me the most obvious, and key factor is members. Without members there > really isn't a body, just a name. Without members any organization will > cease to exist. It is equally important that members contribute whenever > possible to do so. Within CLUG there is a core group that show up to all > events, meetings etc. Still, that group is limited in size. How can we > improve on our track record? What does it take to make CLUG a thing that we > want to become involved with? > for this, i can suggest: -a- Make a standing poll for next subject, and have what you have in the pipe voted upon during the first 2 weeks or 10 days after the meeting, after that, you pick and announce the subject chosen, or what should be in your opinion, yes that might sound non-too-democratic, but sometimes things have to be a certain way for good reasons. -b- We can run a subject suggestion thread every month on the mailing list or in a forum (for those who like the forum better ). And all members can suggest subjects and or offer them for the next meeting. This should open the process of subject selection. It would also override suggestion (-a-) -c- We, CLUG should have a presentation about the why oss/free software, and how it is important for people. A pep speech, i don't mind even having a special speaker to deliver a pep speech like that. Maybe try to work-out an system for movie presentation regarding free/oss .... > > > I know that peoples schedules are full but as I said to one member a few > nights ago, "If we were giving out $50.00 bills to all who showed up wed > have a full house". In my mind it's simply a matter of deciding what's > important to me when looking at this sort of things. > I think, the basic idea behind free/open source software and Linux is that one should give first, then get back. Now the problem, newcomers to the seen, allready see a lot to take, so they take it. And the giving part gets pushed a bit down on the todo list. Now don't get me wrong, giving can be anything, it need not be code. It can be anything including moral support and good wishes. This connects with my (-c-) suggestion, regarding a few (1-2) presentations and or screenings of some ideological subject. The $50.00 bill would sure attract many (including me), but is strength in numbers? or is it in the driving force and the quality of the idea held be the members ? Is it in that fire, deep down in your soul, that drives you actions and focuses your energy? I would say, i would rather have 10 people with soul thing, doing the right thing for the right reasons than 100 ....... > > > So, let's hear what is important to you as members of CLUG. What are you > looking for? What can you contribute? What needs do you have that are not > being met. In short, what can all of us do to make this club better? > Respond here, the list or email me directly @ [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you > like. > well, i guess, you got my $0.02CAD on the subject here. I will have to say, given the below average weather we are having plus the time of year (being December that is) Many people might just be stranded in traffic and just decided they cant make it on time for the event. > > > Dave Watkins - VP CLUG _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
