On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Chris Palmer <[email protected]>wrote:
> so you may end up with a situation where project Y doesn't happen because > nobody wants to do it, and project X doesn't happen because when someone > comes > along and really wants to do it, folks say "but project Y is far more > important...: > You just described the concept of business discipline. There's a trade-off between being inventive/creative vs. distracted beyond hope. There is a middle ground. I have not yet said if I am for or against a virtual chapter. I simply asked, "What problem does this solve? How does that fit within our mission?" Nobody has answered either question. (and it is amazing what chaos asking such basic questions caused). Now I'm going to take off my "tom who tries to stay neutral" hat and put on my "tom who is involved in a local chapter hat". This project does not fit within the priorities identified by the board. In fact, it goes against them. One of the top priorities is to build local chapters. A virtual chapter would sap potential members from local chapters. There would be no reason to attend a meeting if LOPSA national was creating content that was free and attracted big name speakers. The local chapters are important because they build community and provides networking opportunities that only work in-person. If LOPSA is trying to do anything, it is trying to create community so that good things happen all over the country. This would destroy that. I think there is a place for some kind of nationally livestreamed periodic event. Can it be done without putting the local chapters at risk? The two biggest problems I see local chapters having is (a) finding content and (b) finding new members. How are you helping fix those two problems? One way would be, rather than having it be a "virtual chapter", simply have it be a monthly speakers series that is done via Google Hangouts Live. This would raise awareness of LOPSA in general, which would increase the number of people that local chapters could recruit from (helping problem B). At the start of each on-line event there should be a brief and subtle mention that local chapters exist, and show a URL that helps people find their local chapter, or start a chapter themselves. Local chapters could have "viewing parties" where people get together in-person to watch the talk (live or recorded) and then discuss it in person. Local facilitators could use the viewing party as an ice-breaker to encourage networking. (helping problem A) Perhaps they would schedule a local speaker to go first before the viewing, or the viewing event would be separate. The other benefit to doing it this way is that is is more likely to get off the ground than virtual chapters. Sometimes projects at LOPSA never launch because we get mired in forming the infrastructure. It will take a long time to set up a chapter, go through all the motions, figure out how to define and manage membership, etc. Don't risk losing momentum during all that. Starting a speaker series is light weight; you need 1-2 people to start recruiting speakers and 1-2 people to do PR. There's no membership structure to set up, and people can join LOPSA using the normal channels that exist already. That might not be what you were looking to do initially, but I think it would have a higher chance of success and be more in alignment with the organization's goals. Tom -- Email: [email protected] Work: [email protected] Skype: YesThatTom Blog: http://EverythingSysadmin.com
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