[GLLUG] Let the meetings commence!

Thu Sep 2 17:41:54 EDT 2004

Hopefully someone gets this before the meeting...but when is the
meeting?  What time?

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 at 11:42:49PM -0400, Charles Ulrich wrote:
> Greetings GLLUG members,
> 
> It looks like school is now back in full swing and after a brief hiatus, 
> the Greater Lansing Linux User group will be having meetings again 
> shortly.(1) We're looking for maximum participation this year, so a 
> small group of us have sat down and tossed around a few ideas. But we 
> need your help! Let us know which ideas you think are great and feel 
> free to ridicule us for the crappy ones.
> 
> Item 1: Meeting Times
> ---------------------
> For starters, we're looking at holding the meetings weekly. Yes, weekly. 
> Holding the meetings monthly as before meant that if you had to miss a 
> meeting, you'd have to wait two months before another one came along. If 
> you had to miss two meetings in a row, then it would be 1/4 of a year 
> before before you got to attend another! Holding them every two weeks 
> was also an option, but confusion might arise as to whether the meetings 
> were held literally every other week or the 2nd and 4th week of the 
> month (for example). Weekly meetings means that you can basically pick 
> and choose the meetings you wish to attend and better fit them into your 
> schedule. This means we'll have more time for fun stuff, chit chat, and 
> we'll likely see a much wider variety of people instead of just the 
> hardcore few that attended most of the monthly meetings.
> 
> Item 2: Organization
> --------------------
> Most (all?) of the past meetings have typically been organized and run 
> by two people: Jeff and Roger, with occasional help from others. They've 
> done a terrific job but agree that weekly meetings would be too much for 
> them to handle on their own. Thus, the consensus is that we'd like to 
> build a little more organization into the group. We'd like to have at 
> least the following positions:
> 
> - President
> - Vice President
> - Secretary
> - Treasurer (Possibly, depending on what projects we do.)
> - Publicity Director (Marketing the LUG, basically. In community 
> newspapers, radio announcements, etc.)
> - Presentation Director (In charge of soliciting / scheduling 
> presentations.)
> 
> Each position should probably have an alternate and all positions will 
> be filled on a volunteer basis. We likely won't go through the trouble 
> of creating a whole voting process unless it's deemed absolutely 
> necessary. More positions will be added as we need them. You can even 
> volunteer yourself for a position that doesn't exist yet as long as you 
> can demonstrate that it would serve the group in a practical way.
> 
> And, since the question will inevitably come up, there is no plan at 
> this time to charge for dues or even solicit donations.(2)
> 
> Finally, there's been some question as to whether the group should 
> become an official non-profit. We really don't know anything about the 
> process and what the various pros and cons are. If anyone has experience 
> in creating or managing a non-profit, we'd greatly appreciate your input.
> 
> Item 3: Presentations/Activities
> --------------------------------
> Well now that we've got 10 to 12 hours per month set aside, what shall 
> we do with them? We've been tossing around ideas. Here are a few:
> 
> - Presentations on software or gadgets
> - HOWTO presentations
> - Linux beginner classes (Like the LPI classes earlier this year.)
> - Installfests
> - Show-and-tell (Expound upon the wondrous virtues of your favorite app. 
> Sure to create some fun flame wars.)
> - Trivia (Geek Jeopardy?)
> - Pot-Lucks (Just food and chat.(3))
> 
> The beginner classes would likely be held about once a month. The rest 
> is anything goes at this point. This is where we need the most help. 
> We've months and months of meetings to fill! There are only two 
> presentations so far on the docket, but no firm dates other than Real 
> Soon Now, We Promise, Really We Do. More information on those will 
> follow shortly.
> 
> For meeting ideas, the Kalamazoo LUG meeting history page would be a 
> great place to start (http://www.kalamazoolinux.org/presentations/) or 
> just browse the web and see what other LUGs are doing.
> 
> Item 4: Location, Location, Location
> ------------------------------------
> Most of the meetings have traditionally been hosted by Roger at 
> Atmosphere Annealing, Inc (AAI). It's a nice place and the people in 
> charge there have been more than generous in allowing us to meet there, 
> but if the meeting attendance ends up as large as we envision, we're 
> probably going to have to find a new location. We'd like to have a 
> backup plan ready and in-place for when or if that happens, so PLEASE if 
> you have any ideas on where we could meet in the Greater Lansing area, 
> we'd appreciate them. The ideal location would have the following 
> features, but we would of course be flexible on some of them depending 
> on the situation:
> 
> - Comfortably holds a capacity of at LEAST 40 to 50 people
> - Located in or extremely close to Lansing or East Lansing
> - Free or very cheap
> - High-speed Internet access (we'll bring the firewall and network)
> - Available most Thursday evenings
> - Don't have to reserve the room months in advance
> 
> Item 5: Next Week's Meeting
> ---------------------------
> The next GLLUG meeting will be held on Thursday, September 2 at 
> Atmosphere Annealing. See the GLLUG web page for directions. If you want 
> your say as to how we should continue to operate the LUG, THIS IS THE 
> ONE MEETING TO ATTEND. We'll be discussing and making decisions on all 
> of the topics I've covered in this message and no doubt many more. After 
> this meeting, we'll want to head right into the presentations and 
> activities so as to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.
> 
> So tell your friends, tell your family, tell your felines that the 
> Greater Lansing Linux User Group is back and on the waddle.
> 
> Charles Ulrich,
> Acting Secretary For The Time Being, Most Likely In The Future As Well
> 
> 1. I guess Penguins hate the dog days of summer.
> 
> 2. However, you will be recognized by your fellow geeks as a Enduring 
> Symbol of National Heroism if you ever bring a few pizzas to a meeting.
> 
> 3. Do not bring any food made out of penguins or daemons, please. Except 
> Penguin Mints as those are not known to contain actual penguin. Or mint, 
> really. Mostly just raw caffeine.
> --
> http://bityard.net
> 
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-- 
Phillip Hofmeister