[TriLUG] 2010 State of the LUG address

Wed Jan 27 11:01:52 EST 2010

Excellent State of the LUG address Alan!

Ron Young
919-621-9015
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ronhyoung

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Little tiny dreams require little tiny thoughts and little tiny steps.
Great big dreams require great big thoughts and little tiny steps.
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On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 10:24 AM, Alan Porter <porter at trilug.org> wrote:

> 2010 State of the LUG Address
>
> The new year is always a good time to reflect on where we are, on
> what we're doing well, and how we can do things differently.  Since
> Barack Obama and Steve Jobs both chose today to deliver their
> addresses, so will I.
>
> When I stepped up to become the Steering Committee chair (actually,
> I should say that the rest of the SC members took one step back), I
> wanted to accomplish a few things.  Some had grander plans.  But my
> goals were simple.  Let's see how we're doing.
>
> (1) GOOD PROGRAMS, DEPENDABLE SCHEDULE
>
> My number one priority this year has been to have to high quality
> programs on a dependable schedule.  To me, this is an essential part
> of building our community, since it encourages folks to gather
> face-to-face on a regular basis.
>
> Looking back, here's what we did in 2009 and recently:
>
> 2009-01-08 Justin Parker / VMware
> 2009-02-12 Cristobal Palmer / CAcert
> 2009-03-12 Doug Newcomb / Open Source GIS Blitz
> 2009-04-09 (audience) / Lightning Talks - Indespensible Tools
> 2009-05-14 Tyler McAdams / LinuxDNA
> 2009-06-11 Daniel Chen / Unbreaking Linux Audio
> 2009-07-09 Phillip Rhodes / The Semantic Web
> 2009-08-13 Allen Freeman / Drupal
> 2009-09-10 Tarus Balog / Open Source Business
> 2009-10-08 Simon Karpen & Eric Blau / Linux HA
> 2009-11-12 Andrew Dunstan / Postgres 8.4
> 2009-12-10 Brian Phelps / The Beagle Board
> 2010-01-14 Thomas Munn / Linux-Based Arcade Console
> 2010-02-11 Richard Hipp / SQLite
>
> I think the proof is in the numbers.  We've been having about 60-75
> people at every meeting.  We never have leftover pizza any more.
> Even our December holiday meeting was very well attended.  I think
> folks are having a good time... or maybe they're just masochists.
>
> But I would like to hear your opinions.  Are there any topics that
> you would like to see covered?  Do you have a project or a technology
> that you would like to share?  About half of our programs come from
> unsolicited volunteers!
>
> (2) HOT-SWAPPABLE STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
>
> A second goal that I set was to make it easier for the existing SC
> members to do all of the various management jobs that we do, rather
> than putting each of us into one of the five pre-defined pigeon
> holes (defined in our articles of incorporation: Chair, Vice Chair,
> Treasurer, Webmaster and Public Relations Officer).  For example,
> if someone wants a shell account, any one of us should be able to
> do that, without relying on the webmaster to do it.
>
> When I first joined the Steering Committee, I naively thought that
> there was some "book of secrets" that told how to do all of these
> things.  But most of that was not written down (or if it was, I
> never saw it).  Now we have a steering committee wiki, where we have
> details about everything from how to create user accounts and print
> membership cards, to where to order pizza from, how much to order,
> and how to set up the VOIP line at meetings.
>
> This also means that in May, when we have SC elections again, it
> should be very easy for newly-elected officers to contribute right
> away.  If you're thinking about helping out the LUG, serving on the
> SC is a great way to do it.
>
> (3) BASIC SERVICES
>
> I don't aim too high on this one.  The LUG provides email accounts,
> a mailing list, and an IRC channel where questions can be answered,
> knowledge can be shared, and friendships can be forged.  And sometimes
> pranks are played and silliness ensues.  But for the most part, we
> keep it civil.  Let's not dwell on the exceptions.
>
> Some others have had more lofty goals, and I welcome those
> contributions.  Our "planet" blog aggregator, Linked-In group,
> Facebook group and Twitter account are all run by volunteers who
> thought those would be good ideas.  Others have experimented with
> recording and web-casting our meetings.  If you have other ideas,
> let us know (but be warned, our response may be "great -- YOU do
> it").
>
> (4) OUR HOUSE IN ORDER
>
> Lastly, I am hoping that we can get our finances and paperwork in
> better order.  There has already been plenty of discussion about our
> bank account, legal paperwork, post office box, and general state of
> disarray that comes with being run by a group of volunteers that
> rotates in and out of office.
>
> All of these items are slowly getting back into shape.  Thank you
> to the individuals who spend their personal time to do boring stuff
> like this for the LUG.
>
> The biggest help in this department has come from our recent sponsors,
> both at the "per meeting" level and on a more on-going basis.  WE
> THANK YOU!  Specifically, I'd like to thank Tarus Balog and the
> OpenNMS Group, Jon Carnes and FeatureTel, and our friends at SunGard.
> We've also has some personal donations in "the pizza bucket" and in
> the mail.
>
> These contributions make it possible to order pizza when the donations
> bucket is not enough to cover costs.  And it helps to bring in speakers
> that may need to have their travel expenses reimbursed.
>
> So things are looking up, but there is still some work to be done.
>
> SUMMARY
>
> 2009 was a pretty good year for the LUG.  Behind the scenes, we had
> some struggles to re-organize, both within the Steering Committee,
> and with a re-built server (pilot).  But we managed to keep the
> momentum going with good meeting content and a vibrant extended
> community.
>
> What can we do to help the LUG succeed in 2010?
>  - Suggestions for meeting topics, volunteer speakers.
>  - Donations, both to the pizza bucket, and wider sponsorship of meetings.
>  - Answer someone's question on the mailing list, monitor IRC for Q&A.
>  - Help out in little ways: help set up at meetings, take out the trash.
>  - Run for the Steering Committee in May (nominations in April).
>
> Thank you for making TriLUG what it is.
>
> Alan Porter
>
>
>
>
> --
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>