Well, I finally did it. I attended the HamLUG meeting at last. Jerry gave an excellent presentation on VPNs and Nat. Quite insightful and informative. I'll wait to get a summary from Jerry so that I can post it on the website. The attendance was around 7 and as I was told a 100% increase from last time the LUG met.
Which then brings me to the question, what can we do to get more attendance at our meetings? Its not like there are no Linux users around the Hamilton and other areas. In fact, we have 59 members on the mailing list who obviously are listening to the traffic on the list. On discussing with Wayne, a few ideas popped out that I'd like to open up to the list - 1) Change of venue Try to get meeting space at a college thus ensuring that there would be students in attendance & possibly internet access. 2) Topics for discussion Plan and arrange for speakers to speak on topics on various components of Linux. Not that we are not doing it now, but we need to drum this up a bit more as this will be the main attraction. OpenLDAP, PAM, Apache Webserver, Samba just to throw out a few. At the same time, have a Linux Newbie series where every week we focus on what they can do to make their computers run on Linux and have all the services they would require such as printing, internet access (cable/dsl/dial-up), photo-editing, word processing etc. The option to bring your computer in to configure will be there as long as we are pre-informed of what to expect. It is true that most members might already know the stuff discussed, but remember people still need the help to migrate to Linux and they are potentially future members of LUG. So in short, have atleast two different topics every LUG meeting, one focusing on the hardcore aspects of Linux and the other for a new/power user. 3) More organization Distribute responsibilities among members to take care of different aspects of preparing for the LUG meeting such as arranging for speakers, essential hardware etc. Also, have a set agenda for each meeting such as - 6:30 to 8:00 - Two speakers 8:00 to whenever - Experimentation and tinkering with our linux boxes (The Highlight!!) That ways attendees know what to expect and how long the meeting will be. This does not mean that we cannot be flexible if we have a 'hot' topic that people want to discuss further. 4) Advertise Post LUG meeting information at locations, websites etc. No need to highlight the importance of this. 5) Combine with another LUG We hope not to come to this option but if worse comes to worse this might be the best route to take. There are other LUGs in the surrounding areas and maybe joining them might work out best. But like I said, this is would be the last option on the list. So what do you think? Does this LUG have in it enough to weather the economic downturn and low attendance. I propose that by show of hands(emails) to the list we determine the actual strength of this LUG. That ways we get an approximate idea of the number of memebrs actually listening and willing to help in this initiative. Signing out, Jeff
