[Discuss] the state of VLUG meetings at present

[Patrick]

On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:29:29 -0700
"Larry Gagnon" 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

I haven't seen that.  Some pretty obscure details, but overall
it's been easy enough to follow.  Maybe I've just lucked out on
which meetings to show up for.

> 4) sometimes a lack of welcoming "discussion" or club information for  
> newcomers

This is true.  I'm still a bit ignorant about how the club itself
works, and that might be a good topic for a future meeting right
there.

> 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

Presenters are kind of hard to find, but we do have members.
So... make newcomers feel welcome by encouraging *everyone* to
give presentations, including newcomers?  [Hint: this means me.]
I'm no expert, and some of the questions exposed huge gaps in my
knowledge, but I got a lot of help from the audience, and it was
a lot of fun.

Actually, I'd like to do that again some time, and maybe get
pretty good at it.  I just have to think of something new to talk
about.

I think we should cultivate the informal, everyone-helping-
everyone-else quality I've already seen at the meetings and
presentations I've been to.  Not many yet, but all of them so far.

> -
> 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

When there's no presentation lined up, the meetings have been
open-ended discussions.

But the install-fest / tweak-fest thing...  Yeah, except we've
got too few people doing too much of the work already, and those
require a lot more work to organize.

What about an informal `pet peeve' night, where anyone's welcome
to bring their computer to the meeting, and anyone else is welcome
to sit down with them and figure out what's going on?  Just don't
do anything you can't undo, keep the problems minor, don't change
anything major, and just in case... back up your system ahead of
time.

One thing I've noticed, at meetings and on this list, is that
everyone seems to have something to contribute.  They've all
followed different interests, looked up one thing or another to
fix some obscure problem or other, and seen a lot of similar
problems from completely different angles.  In the process, most
have figured out some trick or tweak, or noticed some useful bit
of software that nobody else did.

> - 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

Sneak into buildings late at night, and hassle the janitor.
[What?  I'm a janitor...]

> -
> 3) Poor Quality Presentations:
> - have a presentation by an expert on how to give presentations!

Great idea!  [Hint again: this does *not* mean me.]

> - a moderator at each meeting intervenes if presenter is "loosing hs  
> audience"

I think Brent had that one covered, and he was pretty slick about
it too.  [Thanks, btw.]

> - all members to get a demo on how to use the projection system
> - projection and wifi system prepared beforehand and working prior to 7PM

I like that one.

> -
> 4) Lack of Welcoming
> - formalize the meetings so that we don't look like a ragtag bag of geeks

Hey, I resemble that remark!

> - prepare a newbie pamphlet (already done in the past??)

I guessed, mostly, using the `Guidelines' section of the FAQ as,
well, a guildline.  It's pretty good, might be nice to have a few
printed copies around for that.

> - re-instigate the raffle of Linux text books ?

There was one?  Sounds nice.

> - 2-3 members designated to welcome newcomers, find out their interests,  
> experience, etc.

More pizza, more often.  Food and informal discussion are great
for that kind of thing.  Last time I went, I ate alone, but it was
a good chance to pause and reflect.

> 
> 5) Lack of Attention to Presenter
> - not much to say about this. It is rude, but it is also a free world!

See, I've been hanging around on usenet too long.  My code of
ethics is that if you ignore me, I'll ignore you and we can both
get a little peace and quiet.

Discreetly ducking out at the mid-meeting break seems polite
enough, if the subject matter or the presenter isn't to your
liking.

> - I guess having more and higher quality presentations might be a solution

Pick one.  If you want more, be willing to coach your presenter a
little if they seem to need it.  If you want better, be prepared
to wait.

> 
> 
> Comments and discussion and ideas greatly appreciated.

How about the above?


> 
> Larry Gagnon

Patrick.

-- 
The major advances in civilization are processes that all but
wreck the societies in which they occur.
		-- A. N. Whitehead