[Discuss] the state of VLUG meetings at present

[Daniel M German]

 Rajiv Khaneja twisted the bytes to say:


 Rajiv> Well, I've never actually attended a VLUG meeting but 6-8
 Rajiv> people seems atrocious Personally, I don't want to attend a
 Rajiv> LUG meeting to view a presentation unless it is very high
 Rajiv> quality.  Perhaps the solution is not more presentations but
 Rajiv> fewer yet higher quality presentations.  Find other activities
 Rajiv> to schedule when presentations aren't available.  A structured
 Rajiv> formal Q&A of the "experts" might be a good idea.


Q&A in a meeting is useless. The first "answer" is usually: "What
distribution do you use?" for that the mailing list is better.

I agree that quality plays an important role, but I also think that
interest in the topic is another issue.

In many ways I think that "Linux users groups" need to be transformed
in "Open source users groups" where the emphasis in the operating
system is replaced by an emphasis in the end-user applications. This
is, of course, my view as a non-member (I used to be).

What is the goal of the meetings, by the way? The last time I did a
presentation (August) there were around 20 people. I felt that the
topic was adequate for the group, and it was a "show-and-tell"
presentation that (I hope) was at least entertaining.

The meetings are not very useful to the converted. They need to be
reach-out meetings, where people who might have some interest show up
and are convinced to give it a try. For example, why not introduce any
firefox users to the "best" plugins? Or how to do Instant Messaging
using open source?

The reality is that presentations take time to prepare (even bad
ones).

--dmg


 Rajiv> Another idea might be to invite businesses to participate.  Many businesses
 Rajiv> (including my own) use Linux in interesting ways and I'm sure an invitation
 Rajiv> to discuss their Linux implementations would be well received.  Personally,
 Rajiv> I'd love to expose my business to bunch of Linux professionals.

 Rajiv> I definitely agree with the point 4 (welcoming people).  Attending a club
 Rajiv> should feel welcoming.  We don't want people to feel like outsiders at a
 Rajiv> party they weren't invited to. Making sure people have a good time is
 Rajiv> probably the most important thing of all.  If people have fun they will
 Rajiv> return if they feel like an outsider they won't!


 Rajiv> On 10/10/07, Larry Gagnon <lggagnon at uniserve.com> wrote:
 >> 
 >> My comments below are in no way meant to denigrate anyone, least of all
 >> any club member or club officer, they are simply observations with some
 >> possible suggestions about what we might do to improve the situation, and
 >> of course, I throw this out to the discuss-list for some ideas and
 >> discussion, so that together, we can maybe improve our meetings. If anyone
 >> disagrees with my observations or suggested ideas please don't hesitate to
 >> say so! If you want to do this in private call me (382-1266).
 >> 
 >> I have been a member of VLUG for about 3 years now, and I enjoy going to
 >> the meetings to learn and discuss and (sometimes) to contribute where I am
 >> able. Over that period of time though I have noted the following:
 >> 
 >> 1) a distinct drop in attendance from about 25-30 members and guests to
 >> now often less than 6-8 people
 >> 2) a distinct lack of effort to prepare for or arrange presentations
 >> 3) presentations (not so bad recently) which were pitched way above the
 >> heads of obvious newcomers/ newbies and/or poorly presented, often without
 >> even a proper introduction
 >> 4) sometimes a lack of welcoming "discussion" or club information for
 >> newcomers
 >> 5) a distinct lack of attention payed to the presenter and his or her
 >> presentation by a small element of attendees.
 >> 
 >> OK. Now I've said it, and I don't really think any of my observations
 >> above are way off the mark. So in doing so I have these suggestions below.
 >> How we might implement them is something altogether different but I
 >> thought I would start this now because our AGM is coming up next month and
 >> perhaps we can discuss these points further at the AGM and prior to it on
 >> this list.
 >> 
 >> 1) Attendance drop:
 >> - advertise VLUG (which is not presently happening)
 >> - make newcomers more welcome and provide interesting, consistent
 >> presentations
 >> -
 >> 2) Lack of Presenters:
 >> - possibly two members to work on finding people for each month
 >> - set every third month as a free-for-all discussion and/or install-fest,
 >> not requiring a formal presentation - but have a definite moderator, who
 >> leads the evening
 >> - canvas places where people may be using Linux for interesting work (eg
 >> Hertzberg Institute of Astrophysics) to give presentations that may not
 >> necessarily be fully Linux related
 >> -
 >> 3) Poor Quality Presentations:
 >> - have a presentation by an expert on how to give presentations!
 >> - a moderator at each meeting intervenes if presenter is "loosing hs
 >> audience"
 >> - all members to get a demo on how to use the projection system
 >> - projection and wifi system prepared beforehand and working prior to 7PM
 >> -
 >> 4) Lack of Welcoming
 >> - formalize the meetings so that we don't look like a ragtag bag of geeks
 >> - prepare a newbie pamphlet (already done in the past??)
 >> - re-instigate the raffle of Linux text books ?
 >> - 2-3 members designated to welcome newcomers, find out their interests,
 >> experience, etc.
 >> 
 >> 5) Lack of Attention to Presenter
 >> - not much to say about this. It is rude, but it is also a free world!
 >> - I guess having more and higher quality presentations might be a solution
 >> 
 >> 
 >> Comments and discussion and ideas greatly appreciated.
 >> 
 >> Larry Gagnon
 >> _______________________________________________
 >> Discuss mailing list
 >> Discuss at vlug.org
 >> http://ladybug.vlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
 >> 


-- 
--
Daniel M. German                  
http://turingmachine.org/
http://silvernegative.com/
dmg (at) uvic (dot) ca
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