[TriLUG] The Direction of TriLUG

[William Sutton]

ok, some thoughts in general:[1]
- smaller meetings, commuting, and telecasting:  Why not have seperate 
meeting places in places like Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, then 
telecast from some central location?  Most members are online anyhow, so 
distributing to smaller groups shouldn't be an issue.
- connected members in remote locations:  I (Virginia), Jeremy Portzer[2] 
(Australia), jonsey (real name?) (New Jersey), and others outside of the 
RDU area still remain connected to the LUG.  While having an audio feed is 
nice, a video feed would be nicer still.[3]  Additionally, I think we 
should find a way to amend the AOI or add bylaws to allow full membership 
rights to members outside of NC.
- the steering@ vs. web form debate:  I could probably retrain myself to 
use the form, but honestly it's a lot quicker for me to dash off an email 
to steering at .  In any case, someone has to read the email, and there's 
nothing to stop a software program from autosubmitting to a web form, 
either.  There was some debate on #trilug[4], with me suggesting what I 
think is a workable compromise:  a capture image (similar to those used 
for registering webmail accounts) that contains text that must be sent to 
the steering@ address (preferably as part of the subject) to filter it in.  
Anything else would be discarded as junk.  We can keep the web form too, 
but an email address is and has been a natural way to contact the 
leadership.
- lack of desire to participate in the Steering Committee:  This 
apparently is a long-standing problem.  People like coming to 
well-prepared events, getting free pizza, and going home.  They don't like 
being responsible for making sure such things happen.  At the same time, 
our membership is booming, so it isn't right to ask the same long-time 
members to help out year after year.  When I left RTP, I was a fairly new 
member, and wasn't likely to volunteer myself.  Some of the newer members 
may feel the same way.  Help out!  What better way to become a part of the 
organization and feel like you're making a contribution?  More to the 
point, if you have ideas and don't like the direction the LUG is going, 
make your voice heard.  I have volunteered to help out if possible in ways 
that don't require my presence in the RTP.  I'm sure some of you would 
like to participate too.
- participation in general:  You don't have to be part of the Steering 
Committee to plan events, or do good things for the LUG.  It might be 
profitable to talk to them or involve them, but act for yourselves.  A 
number of past SC members got burnt out because they did *EVERYTHING*.  
Stop the burn out--help out.

Just my $0.02.

-- 
William Sutton

[1] I consider myself a TriLUG member even though according to some 
interpretations of the TriLUG AOI, I might not actually still be one
[2] Nice reference to Australia, David ;)
[3] I was on the first audiocast meeting using KIAX to an Asterisk 
session.  Regretfully my attendance has suffered somewhat.  This isn't 
likely to change any time soon, since I'm presently courting my fiancee, 
but I still think my point is valid for other people in a similar 
situation.
[4] That monstrous IRC log posted earlier on this list.  I was present for 
parts of the conversation but it went on for forever.


On Thu, 24 May 2007, David McDowell wrote:

> We record the meetings now iirc.  I don't know the open source
> technology besides maybe icecast, and if RH and/or our colo would let
> the bandwidth be consumed, but since this idea of multiple meeting
> places exist, is there a demand for LIVE webcast of the audio... and
> even more, audio/video of the meetings?  either restrict to members
> who can login, OR open to the world so even someone in Australia could
> tune in if desired.  *shrugs* just a brain dump of a possibility
> brought up in the past.
> 
> 
> On 5/24/07, Ron Joffe <rjoffe at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > On Thursday 24 May 2007 16:07, Tanner Lovelace wrote:
> > > Ron,
> > >
> > > I hate to disagree, but that's a horrible idea.  As soon as you start
> > > rotating the meetings, people start wondering where it is and attendance
> > > goes down. TriLUG has benefited greatly by having a *STABLE* meeting time
> > > and location.
> > >
> > > Now, that said, TriLUG could sponsor smaller meetings at different times
> > > in different locations around the Triangle.  As long as it's "in addition"
> > > to and not "instead of" the regular monthly meeting, TriLUG won't suffer
> > > from the lack of stability.
> > >
> >
> > You have to give the members a bit more credit then that. If we had three
> > meeting locations (and I'm not discounting the technical hurdles of finding
> > three locations), we could easily rotate between the three.
> >
> > I have to have a calendar reminder of just about every meeting I have
> > (otherwise I forget), and part of that is always a location.
> >
> > I think part of the issues that people are trying to remedy might very well be
> > taken care of by having smaller meetings. Larger groups does not mean more
> > interactive groups.
> >
> > Just my 2 cents.
> >
> > Ron
> >
> >
> > --
> > TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> > TriLUG Organizational FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
> > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
> >
>