My comments follow Vic's.  One other thing has come to my mind.  Is everyone 
happy with the structure of the meetings as they are ( i.e. 15-30 minutes of 
general discussion, the presentation, and hang-out time after?

On Wednesday 24 October 2001 09:44, you wrote:
> 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.

I dont see any possibility of any formalization creeping into PLUG at all.
>
> > 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 EVERY steering committee meeting being open to any member.
>
> 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.

The only problem with a newbie introduction to the topic before the main 
presentation is time.  Who would want to come at 6:30 to hear the background 
information.  As it is, some of us are lucky to be able to show up at 7:00 
(Carl!).  The other issue is that newbies are interested in basic stuff, like 
how do I install Mandrake, or how do I get my printer connected,  Heck, most 
of them would benefit from a session about the concept of free software and 
open source software.  I am still listening to hear what others want here.
>
> 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.

Dont forget that the PLUG lists are archived.  I know the links work because 
I just fixed them recently.
>
> Vic
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