Hi,
I have started writing this letter about three times, and having had breakfast
with Bill and Janet Sconce where we discussed some of these issues, here is
my input:
(1) The group has never had concensus as to what it wants to be "when it
grows up".
Each leader has had a vision of what THEY would like it to be, and sometimes
that vision was shoved upon them, but there has never been a true consensus.
Therefore the group is made up of four main parts:
(a) The people who would like GNHLUG to be pro-active, driving Linux forward
(b) The people who just like to get together every once in a while, have
a beer, talk about things, see some new widget or program
(c) The people who just like to talk about things in email, share ideas, talk
about problems
(d) b+c
Usually the people who become the leaders are in group "a":
Jerry, Rob, Paul....others
and there are a few that are in group "a" that have not made it to "leadership"
yet, because they are too busy and they know it
Now even if we decided that GNHLUG's goal is just to meet the needs of groups
b and c, we are still in trouble. We do not attract new members very easily.
They come for an evening or two, then disappear. Why? Because they are
newbies, and our discussions tend to be around things which are not directly
to their needs:
o How to install Linux
o How to network Linux
o How to get some applications that do XXXXXXXXXXX for Linux
Janet Sconce mentioned that she has a computer which helps her do needlecraft.
Bill set it up for her. It has programs that help her do what SHE is interested
in. As a side issue, if she thought that she could learn about a SIMPLE
editor that she could use to do needlecraft, she would come to a meeting
about that.
If we could put together a reasonable collection of software for needlecraft,
say on a KNOPPIX cdrom, then perhaps a magazine on Crafts would distribute it
to 50,000 people, and 40,000 would probably install it and try to use it.
There are lots of vertical markets like needlecraft.
Bill mentioned that he had been involved with several successful organizations,
and that all were successful because of:
o good topics at meetings
o meeting notices sent out a week or so in advance
o a (paper) newsletter that people wrote that came out reasonably on
time
He also noted that these successful organizations died because the people
running them said "Too much work".
So we have to recognize that there will always be the two main groups. Some
people may move from one to the other, but they will always be there.
(2) So now we come to organization.
First of all, I want you to know that I have all the bad traits, and I know it.
Ergo, if you think I am pointing at you, I am probably pointing at me. But
I may be pointing at you too....so here goes.
o You try to do everything yourself
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, you think you try to get people to help you, but where is your organization?
Where is your division of labor? Where is your:
o membership committee (whose sole job is to get more members?)
o program committee (whose sole job is to put together a group
of speakers)
o special projects committee (whose sole job is to plan one or two
moderate-sized events every year)
And when do you recognize that your job is simply to keep these committees
going, and to give recognition to the people who do their job well?
o You do not recognize the fact that to not grow is to die
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The prime job of a LUG leader is to make sure there is enough good stuff going
on to pull in new members. Without new members, the LUG will surely die.
It means having newspaper articles written about the group, and when we have
a really good speaker have articles written about them. Making sure our
meetings are in every newspaper social and technical calendar.
We need to re-start the "New User Nights" and the Installation fests.
With new members you will start to find more people who are willing to help out
and do some of the other things you are talking about.
If you have a good idea for something new, you have to SELL it. This often
means more than just mentioning it on the web, or in email. It means putting
enough of a synopsis together, then talking about it in a general meeting,
then talking about it in a special meeting, if that is warranted.
If you are doing most of the work, instead of instructing someone else
to do it, you are probably doing something wrong, or else you are doing
something that only you are interested in doing. I learned this in
Scoutmaster training.
We should form committees that could actually span the six groups:
o program committee
o promotional committee
o membership committee
That way we draw on the membership of all six groups, not just one.
Even though I can hardly make it to any meetings, I would be willing to help
out on one or two committees, if I had a couple of others help also.
Now to catch up on some topics:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
> Yes, I agree on all point. The key will be to get enough "regular" users to
> show up to make it worthwhile! :-) This has been a challenge.
Janet stated that the meetings are just too late for her. I mentioned that
one of the reasons we start so late is that people can get to the meetings
from a little farther away if they want to, but this does not address the
needs of every group.
Perhaps having the "big meetings" on a Saturday or Sunday, if scheduled
far enough ahead of time, would be O.K.
> And hopefully, someone who does such a talk can do it a few times around the
> state.
I think that it would be O.K. to ask someone to do it "a few times" is O.K.,
particularly if it was scheduled a couple of months after the "first time".
But to ask them to do it SIX times, just because other people do not want to
drive 50 miles may be a bit much, particularly if the speaker is not local.
Finally, we should not be too rough on ourselves. In the past we have:
o Put on New User Nights
o Had installation fests
o Attended the Northeast PC shows
o Attended Hosstraders
o Gotten world-class speakers (Linus, Nat Friedman, Ken Coar, Jim Gettys, etc.)
md
--
Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director Linux(R) International
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St.
Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org
Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association
(R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries.
UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the US and other countries.
_______________________________________________
Gnhlug-org mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org
