The Future of PLUG

[Victor Odhner]

Formalization is only necessary if we handle money.
Otherwise we don't need a formal board, but the
group does have to respect and support those who
pick up the burden of organizing things.

> More Steering Committee meetings.  Both closed
> meetings (open to SC members only) and open
> meetings (everyone welcome to come and participate).

I'm a member of a small church congregation which
is incorporated, and runs its meetings open to all,
and it works because we are all constructive.

On one hand we shouldn't demand a strict "sunshine law"
that would inhibit the Steering Committee members from
speaking freely among themselves.  Again, our church
board sometimes pulls a quorum together in a corner to
vote on some routine expenditure or other pressing
matter.  Scheduling can kill you if you formalize
everything, and leadership shouldn't be tied down in a
legalistic way.

How about having "closed" Steering Committee meetings
in which any non-SC members are requested to shuddup
and listen, so the SC can avoid being dragged outside
their own "agenda" for the meeting?  Also, a "closed"
meeting doesn't have to be formally announced and
scheduled to accommodate everybody.

But still, the SC should generally encourage anybody
to attend.  That way, interested non-SC-members will
gradually become SC members, helping to relieve the
leadership load.  But again, if we don't formalize,
the SC can do whatever they want, with the self-
imposed goal of having PLUG meet the needs of the
members and the community.

I like the idea of a newbie intro followed by some
heavy stuff on the same subject.  Some people will
still be left behind in a given meeting because some
of us have enormous gaps that there won't be time to
fill in, but at least there would be time to get those
people aware of where the gaps lie and how/where to
learn.

You know, meetings are great, but the list is very,
very important.  Everybody can get there, nobody's
time is wasted with what they can't understand or
aren't interested in, and there's a written record
of any content you want to keep.  We shouldn't just
post when we have an issue or a problem, we should
also post when we've worked through something and
found an answer.

Vic