[LUAU] Other LUGs...

[John W Christian]

On Wed, 27 Jan 1999 14:50:33 -0700 bbraun at sparcy.synack.net writes:
>
>>On Wednesday, Jan 1999 at 10:23:50 Chris Wong wrote: 
>>
>> I'm thinking about who we are and what we provide...
>> I know we have several mainland people on the list... for those who
are in
>> another LUG or have seen another LUG, I'm curious as to what they do.
>
> I've been to several different UG meetings, and each is different.
> Most try to provide some kind of tangible community service.  Meaning
> they maintain a piece of software, write documentation, write 
>software, or some other form of service.

& I have talked to Linux Users from the mainland [primarily CA {the bay
area}];
and they do as Rob stated.

> Some collect money and try to send motivated students in the community
> to various conferences, or try to lure some fairly prominent person
> into talking at one of thier meetings or having a tutorial.

This we can definitely do [asking promeninet people to speak].  Sending
students
to conferences, though noble, will happen with us much later [I think
since most
of us are either students or too busy computer guys with not too much
money
(as of yet)].

> All the groups that do anything involving money have thier little 
> positions of president, vp, executive director, chief luser, etc
> and rarly contribute anything to thier members.  Personally, I find
> these groups repulsive.
>
Rob's opinion is strong; but I agree we cannot let ourselves to become
bureaucratic
[& at present we are not in danger of that... ;-)  ].  Though I do think
we need some
persons to "Represent us" when talking to other user groups,
organizations, etc..  If
I am correct we are joined together to help one another; and to me that
includes 
getting the group any benefits possible, but with group consensus as
always [pretty 
democratic when you think about it... ;-) .  One thing good about our
group is we allow 
people to take the initiative [& I for one am now doing so].

> The somewhat successful groups I've seen put on tutorials at the
meetings,
> so they lure in business people that want to know about something, 
> and have some hobnob sessions surrounding the tutorials.  The most 
> important thing to keep in mind is that these are tutorials and real
> presentations, not just some guy blabing about what he's done.
>
DITTO.  We have got our group invited now by two [maybe three] prominent
organizations 
to host or sponsor our group; and they have offered to allow us to use
their labs & 
training/class rooms.  HEI Inc., one of the five National Test
Laboratories [here in HI], & 
LavaNet [hopefully] to add to Oceanic as supporters.  Also, I have began
liaisoning with the
PC & Network User Groups; and plan on speaking with the MAC & OS2 Users
Groups.
Together, there has been talk of forming some sort of computer users
consortium to have 
our groups get discounts, free entrances to conventions/expos/trining,
make sure our 
interests & rights are met, and maybe hold our own Expo 

> Many times these presentations evolve into papers that are presented
> at USENIX or LISA conferences.  These papers can be anything from 
> some useful perl script you've hacked up, to a sneaky and exceptionally
> useful way of using one or more existing programs.
>
& I think we have the people who can do this [since they are working it
now { & several 
names come to mind  ;-)  }].

> It seems that LUAU is fairly good at this type of thing.  Having
presentations
> on how to solve a problem, or something interesting to you.  For
example,
> Doug offered to talk about Oceanic's stuff, it sounds like there have
been some 
> presentations on IP Masq and RR.  A polished security lecture  would be
great 
> as well.  Ed used to have demos of cool things from time  to time, like
AfterStep 
> and that kind of thing.
> 
Rob was around when that was happening at Ed's house [me too]; but since
then, we
have seemed to do it well over email.  Now with [at least two] offers of
using some
well equipped facilities [we have it at the MIC too {I believe}], we can
do more sessions
[with the caveat of BYOB {Bring Your Own Box  ;-)  }].

> A lot of time, attendees have thier own agenda and what to talk to
someone
> to figure out thier specific problem.  That is what the hobnob times
> surrounding the tutorial are for.  If the tutorial and social sections
> of the meeting are kept separate, this format can work very well.
>
> If there is an interesting presentation, it may be beneficial to post
> signs at CompUSA or something like that.  Doing the meetings and
tutorials
> regularly is what keeps people coming and allows attendance to grow.
>
Agreed, we just need a little more practice [at the sites] before we
begian physically 
posting; but we can Post [& I'll take that on] with the mags,
newsletters, businesses
to let them know about our group in particular.  ;-)

> It is much better to arbitrarily say there will be meetings 
> the first tuesday of every month, than to go from month to month trying
> to find a meeting time everyone can make.  
>
We got that  3rd Tuesday [barring Holidays] at the MIC.

>Sometimes people will be able  to make it, sometimes not.  It really
does make 
>the group stronger  if meeting times are regular and well defined.
>
DITTO

> Also, if you know someone that is coming to town and they seem
knowledgable,
> get them to do a guest appearance at the meeting.  This is the spice
that
> makes it fun.
>
Working that too...  Ed, you coming to Hawaii for vacation???  ;-)

> Just my random thoughts after hanging around various USENIX and IETF
> conferences, the Front Range Unix Users Group (fruug.org), and such.
>
> Rob
>
BTW Rob, are there any Unix user groups in HI anymore?  

John

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