OT: LUGs dying out

[der.hans]

Am 23. Jul, 2007 schwätzte Josef Lowder so:

> .
> On Mon, 23 Jul 2007, Alan Dayley wrote
>> PLUG is as viable and useful as we PLUGgers make it.
>
>> PLUG meeting attendance, in my view, has been at a plateau for
>> several years now.  There is a core group that "mostly always"
>> attends a given meeting with a few new people each month that
>> usually don't come again. I wish there was a way to make the
>> meetings more attended.
>
> While I am more sporadic than regular in attending the East
> side meeting, I am usually glad that I attended whenever I have.

Glad to hear that.

> There is something comforting about just knowing that the meetings
> are there and available, and seeing familiar faces there.  I must
> admit that I kind of like the small group "feel," though I agree
> that it would be great if the attendance could be increased. I'm
> kind of on both sides of that consideration. ;))
>
> There are several things that I believe might be helpful to
> encourage more attendance and repeat attendance by newcomers.
>
> #1. Whatever happened to the idea of printing some PLUG brochures?

I brought it up at both general meetings in June. I even mentioned the
work you'd done :).

> I recently saw an ad for www.CopyWorldInc.com offering 5,000
> flyers printed in full color on both sides for $99.  Seems like
> that should be do-able.  I'd be willing to chip in something to
> get something like that, and I'm sure others would as well.
> I'm sure we could find some good places to distribute them and
> we could all have some available to give away.

Yes, we need to move forward with getting new info out. We needed to get
the web site workable again. Also, I got, um, busy for a while. I'm still
catching up from my time off, but I have some funds from t-shirt sales
that we can use.

Anybody know of a place that does bulk printing using Free Software?

> #2. I wish that everybody would wear a name tag at the meetings.
> Perhaps with name and favorite distros on the tags.  I am still
> unable to connect a name with a face on many of the group, both
> regulars and visitors.

Yes, it is difficult to match face¿ to names and
handles/email_addresses.

Dennis provided name tags for a while.

> #3. As well as the "presentations" (which are always great to
> have), why not create a little spontaneous "show and tell" segment
> in each meeting to invite and encourage two or three plug members
> at each meeting to share a little something that they have learned or
> found helpful recently (strictly voluntary, of course - no pressure!)

We did have some short presentations for a few meetings. I got busy and
stopped calling on people to step forward. I'd love to see it start back
up as we got some good short talks on what people were doing.

If you'd like to give a short ( less than 5 minutes ) presentation on some
aspect of Free Software at the beginning of a meeting please just register
with whoever's leading the meeting. We generally only want one at a
meeting, but I'd love to have one every meeting. It could be on whatever
you're doing with Free Software at home or at work or wherever. It could
also just be a quick description of some tool and why it's useful. No
slides or other tools necessary.

> #4. Then how about starting a little "directory" of short plug
> member "bios" (with photos) on the plug website?  That way every
> new person could get better acquainted with regulars and in that
> way feel more a part of the group and would thus be more inclined
> to keep coming back.

That's something we can do as a later phase for the web site. I think
there are some other things that need to get done first.

> #5. How about having a little questions/comments/feedback form
> available at the meetings so everyone could have an opportunity
> to express whatever might be on their mind, and one of the meeting
> hosts/coordinators/moderators could look through those during the
> meeting and perhaps respond.

I've enjoyed those for the classes I taught. They could be useful for our
presentations.

>> I always find them valuable and even occasionally "seminar" quality
>> in their content and presentation.  Others obviously don't feel that way.
>
> I think most people would agree that the meetings usually do have
> some worthwhile value and sometimes are even of near-seminar quality.

Glad to hear the support!

>> Think about it.  Here we have a metro-area of millions with easily tens
>> of thousands working with or using Linux/FS/OSS every day.  And total
>> monthly attendance to all PLUG meetings (just add up the number of
>> people at each meeting) is about 60-70?  Does anyone else think that
>> is low?
>
> This is an excellent point.  I'll bet there are hundreds of Linux
> enthusiasts and potential Linux users who would be very interested
> in attending the meetings and becoming part of PLUG if they only
> knew about it.  Just getting some distribution on a PLUG brochure
> should be a good way to get the word out.
>
> Has the steering committee ever considered putting a sandwich board
> out on the street whenever and wherever a PLUG meeting is in progress?
> Who knows, we might even get some drop-in visitors.  The sign could
> just say "LINUX meeting -- 7-9 pm tonight -- stop in anytime."

Brian created a projector display to use. It's been up for many of the
meetings the last few months, but a couple of times we had problems due to
high winds.

I think Alexander also puts up some signs for the InstallFests.

>> But, then, many are not "meeting people" so, we do what the group wants
>> to do.  And we will continue to have meetings, if I have any say in the
>> matter.  If for no other reason than my own selfish enjoyment of them.
>
> I think the meetings will continue to be valuable forever ...

Excellent :).

>> Our email lists are the very best!
>
> I totally agree and am very thankful for them.

Me too. I even avoided joining the discuss list when I first got involved
with PLUG. I'm glad I did finally join it as it's been a great resource.
It also magnifies everything else I get from PLUG, whether that be geek
knowledge or friendships or business contacts.

ciao,

der.hans
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