Minutes

[Trent Shipley]

<minutes committee='PLUG'>

<title>
Minutes of the _ad hoc_ PLUG meeting at Bandersnatch
</title>

of <meeting_date>2001-April-17</meeting_date>

<agenda type='this'>
The meeting proceeded without agenda.
</agenda>


<section topic='PLUG Presents'>

We began by discussing the logistics of sponsoring a  PLUG Presents Event to
commemorate the tenth anniversary of Linux.  There was consensus that a date
in September or October of 2001 would be difficult to satisfy.  Furthermore,
the proposed event was sufficiently ambitious that we would need to form a
legal corporation to take responsibility for the event.  We agreed that the
first exposition should be locally motivated.  Also, a planning for separate
vendor and technical tracks was though too ambitious for the first event.
However, the possibility of allowing free admission, but asking for a
donation was somewhat interesting.  We also thought

Because of the long time deemed necessary to organize the event itself, and
the dependency on forming an organization, the participants thought it best
to abandon the idea of a major event to commemorate the tenth anniversary.
There was consensus that it would be best to postpone the proposed
exposition until sometime during the weekdays of the last full week in
April.

</section>

Because a major event would require an organization or individual to sponsor
it, we decided to address the problem of forming an NPO.  Furthermore, Hans
convinced the participants that planning for the PLUG Presents Exposition
should wait until after PLUG participated in the Fall Phoenix ITech.  Except
for securing the rights to PLUGPresents domain names, planning for the
exposition was tabled.   Having dismissed the Exposition for the time being,
the meeting turned to three topics, <topic>Forming an NPO</topic>
<topic>ITech</topic> and <topic>Birthday for Linux</topic>.

<section topic='NPO'>

It was decided that if PLUG was to conduct events or undertake certain kinds
of major projects then it needed to have access to a legally chartered
organization.

The emerging mission concept for the proposed NPO would be promoting free
and open source software in Arizona.  To that end, the NPO would organize
the first PLUG Presents Exposition.

Hans was concerned about the possible liability and trust obligations that
would attach to board members, and officers in particular.  He believed that
it was critical to get competent legal advice at all stages of forming the
NPO.  Many individuals expressed concerns about the difficulties of
chartering the NPO and writing its bylaws.  There were also concerns about
how the first set of officers would be chosen.

Jim observed that hiring legal counsel would be expensive, but not
prohibitively expensive.

Jay was concerned about the effect that forming a non-profit organization to
sponsor PLUG would have on the informal user group.  It was agreed that
making the un-PLUG NPO distinct from the Phoenix Linux User Group was
promising and deserved further consideration.  We were interested in an NPO
to generally promote free software in Arizona.  This would mean that un-PLUG
would have a wider population of constituents than just PLUG and its
members.

Because of un-PLUG's mission that would include acting as an umbrella
organization supporting free-ware U.G.s in Arizona, members of PLUG are
encouraged to redistribute this section to other U.G.s where they
participate.

Scheduling the next meeting of the un-PLUG exploratory group will occur on
the main PLUG list.  The next meeting of the NPO group should occur within
two weeks.

<resolutions>

<task>Hans will contact the Non-Profit institute at ASU</task>
<task>Hans will look for appropriate legal counsel</task>
<task>Walter will look for financial advisors</task>
<task>Trent volunteered for any position on the board except for
treasurer</task>
<task>Various individuals promised to work on the committee</task>

</resolutions>

Also, everyone is encouraged to look for _pro-bono_ legal, financial, and
business advisors for un-PLUG.

<agenda type='proposed'>

<section id='OldBusiness'>
<title>
Old business:
</title>

<item>Non-Profit institute</item>
<item id='LegalAdvisors'>Legal advisors</item>
<item>Business advisors</item>

</section>

<section>
<title>
New business:
</title>

<item>Mission</item>
<item>Membership</item>
<item depends_on'OldBusiness.LegalAdviors' id='Charter'>Charter</item>
<item depends_on='Charter'>Bylaws</item>

</section>
</agenda>

</section>

<section topic='ITech'>

Hans will get in touch with his contacts at ITech.  We will want to draw
visitors to the ITech event, but not so many that we annoy ITech.  After
all, ITech needs to turn a profit.

We will try to keep one theatre or seminar room busy.  We will also try to
bring in a speaker who can headline the PLUG marquee.  However, the speaker
will give his or her presentation after the main ITech event (unless the
ITech promoters request otherwise.  We fear that a major speaker could swamp
the commercial effectiveness of the promoter's event.)  Note that this makes
the problem of getting a room for PLUG's main presenter a major logistical
hurdle.

Also, in keeping with ITech's for-profit focus, there was some interest in
getting presenters from companies involved in producing 'blended' systems.
The most notable company working on blended products is IBM.  Another
possibility is myLinux.

Contact <contact>Hans</contact> if you are interested in planning PLUG's
presence at the Phoenix ITech.

</section>

<section topic='Linux Birthday>

Hans will look into the feasibility of holding a members-only Linux birthday
party at the Bash on the Ash in the second or third week in September 2001.

It was generally agreed that it would be too hot for a picnic in September
in Phoenix.  However, there might be some other occasion that could be
celebrated with a picnic when the weather would probably be more suitable.
A picnic could be organized on pretty short notice.

</section>


Also, Bandersnatch is a very good location for an informal gathering.
Unfortunately, it is completely unsuitable for a working meeting.  Future
working meetings with more than four people should use other locations.


<secretary>
<name>Trent Shipley</name>
<date>2001-April-18</date>
</secretary>



</minutes>





Trent Shipley

Work:
(602) 522-7502
mailto:tshipley@symbio-tech.com
http://www.symbio-tech.com