Re: [Nolug] ideas to help nolug grow

Chris Bloch <zaphod@sstar.com> writes:

> Maybe the charter, and a web site?
> I understand that Scott is in charge as well as the founding member of
> the group. Would anyone care to help him out on the web site? Anyone
> care to draft a charter? Would Scott be willing to give us some
> history about the group?

Me and a fellow named Hunter worked for a (now defunct) ISP called
fastband. We were *nix enthusiasts and we started looking for a LUG.
There was apparently an abortive effort at Tulane but no currently active
LUG (1999). So we started one. We had all the resources at hand
to host a website and a mailing list. We posted flyers in Borders and
around UNO. A few people contacted us.

The first meeting was a bust. No one showed. The next meeting was better.
It was at UNO. The meeting after that was better still. Within 4 months
we had a busy list and active attendance. We had really cool presentations
and it was (most importantly) loads of fun. That was perhaps our primary
goal; to use linux and have fun with others like us.

A charter for me would include something about learning and having fun.
I never wanted this to be a professional org. There are plenty of those.
And I DO do this for a living. It's got to be fun for people to
participate. We never wanted to be a cisco users group or an oracle users
group. The main thing we had was about 6 people who kept the list
busy with on-topic posts and who rotated around doing presentations at
our meetings. There were, of course, bumps, but we learned.

The one thing we have never had and I think it's a detriment is a
newbie-friendly part of the meetings. We've had some highly technical
presentations that turned off potential newcomers. that's why I strongly
advocate splitting meeting presentations in two. Also, it's a lot
easier to prepare a 1/2 hour topic than a 45 minute one.

I still have all the original list archives from day 1. I need to
ressurect the dead system they are on and put em up.

-- 
Scott Harney<scotth@scottharney.com>
"...and one script to rule them all."
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