Re: [Nolug] nolug web site

On Mon, Mar 24, 2003 at 09:49:22AM -0600, Scott Harney wrote:
> "Clint M. Sand" <schwack@neotrance.dyndns.org> writes:
>
> > I think rather than trying to organize meetings like this, everyone's
> > time is a lot better spent working on promoting the list, and making the
> > monthly meetings more of an event.
>
> I definitely and wholeheartedly agree.
>
> > Here me out, but I've never seen flyers around town, in any geek spots,
> > coffee shops, computer stores etc.. that have promoted the fact that
> > there is a lug here. There is, in fact, even a "hackers hour" at a bar in
>
> yep. We need flyers. Accessible on the site. Users can download, print,
> and write the info on them. Or I could try and have the info plugged in
> From the calendar with the presentation topic.
>

Actually, I already do flyer runs to promote my wife's club nights in
the french quarter, and my band's shows, there's no reason i couldn't
also include nolug flyers. I will volunteer to make a few different
flyers for the group and post them soon.

> > while now ( I recently resubcribed when i noticed someone actually did
> > something with nolug.org). That opinion is that the list is more of an
> > informal group of friends who also happen to use linux, than any sort
> > of professional group with meetings of any in-depth content. Not to mention
>
> Professional. no. In-depth content would definitely be nice. That
> said, presenting the organization in a professional manner *is*
> important. The number one way to do that is via the meetings. A good
> presentation on an interesting topic makes a world of difference.
>
> And guest speakers would be wonderful. If you know someone who can
> speak on a related subject, give advance notice and we'll publicize it
> on the site. you guys would need to publicize it "on the street

Well, from my experience booking bands here, there is actually a very
certian advantage to being in New Orleans. People *WANT* to come here. I
would imagine there are speakers we can get and just promise to take
them out for crawfish, and they'd be all over it. Marty (who developes
Snort) is someone i've met before and can certianly ask him.

>
> > the fact that there's still no mention of what the meeting speakers
> > will be talking about on the site, hence the marketing of the list to
> > potential contributers is extremely lacking.
>
> Actually there is. the calendar. hover over the entry for the
> meeting or click on it. You will see the details of the upcoming
> meeting listed there. If you have a suggestion on how to make that more
> visible, I'll listen.

Yeah? cool. Thats one of the reasons I really dislike the postnuke
content system type things. Its so bloated that though its quick to
implement and update, its often confusing to find anything; endless
links that go nowhere. I'll check out the calendar next time. I also
however, was surpised that there wasn't any post the week of the meeting
saying "Remember thursday's meeting is on $foo, see you there". There
was a few "see you there"'s, but thats about it.

Maybe in addition to generic nolug flyers, I should do one for each
month which advertises the actual presentation. Hrm...

>
> > Sorry for the long email on this. But to me, i'd rather have one monthly
> > gathering thats bigger and better, than several dissorganized informal
> > ones. I have friends in other cities who tell me about their lug events,
> > and its amazing, they get guest speakers from out of state, they hold
> > installfests, and market themselves to the IT workers in their town. I
> > would even be willing to pay due's to list for this sort of thing.
>
> yep. agreed. Anyone know where we can hold an installfest in, say,
> August? Anyone know how we might publicize that event? Anyone want
> to contact vendors and get CDs and paraphenalia for our installfest?
> It's that easy folks.
>

Actually, a friend of mine was in charge of the vendor contact/freebe's
for the atlanta lug. She has a text file she'll give me off all the
distro contacts and what they'll do for you. I'll get it from her an see
what happens.

I dont' want to step on anyone's toes here so, if someone else is
already doing this for the lug, let me know and i'll forward the file on
to you.

> > I hope no one thinks i'm being too critical, i'm really not. I know as a
> > community, its all up to us so, i'm somewhat hypocritical for
> > criticiging things, yet not stepping up to the plate and helping myself.
>
> Well. yeah kinda.
>
> > I have a full time consulting job, and i'm in 3 bands that tour and
> > release cd's, as well as a family, so i know how busy we can all get.
> > But if i knew there was more of an interest in making the list a more
> > professional endevor, I might be more willing to devote some time to it.
>
> Here's the deal. I host the website. I will continue to post content
> announce events, and make things look active. I'll participate in the
> list. I'll get books for you guys to review. Due to a conflict, I
> can no longer make meetings if they're scheduled on Thursday evenings. That
> may change at some point, but I'm doubting it. I don't expect you all to
> change the meeting night because of me and we do have a room reserved.
>
> We absolutely need individuals who care to present meetings in an
> organized and vibrant fashion. Present a topic on something you woud
> like to hear about. We should encourage folks to bring their boxes to
> meetings to be checked out, worked on etc. We need individuals to
> post flyers in places like Borders to announce our existence. We need
> individuals to submit content -- articles, FAQ questions, etc to the
> site.
>
> An organized meeting would look something like this:
> 1) start on time at 7:30. presenter (or joey) introduces the meeting,
> quiets folks down, Goes around the room and gets everyone to announce
> their name and something about themselves. Doing this sets a tone and makes
> it feel like a real meeting. 10 minutes max
> 2) perhaps a short 20 minute topic. A tip and trick kinda thing. Easy
> new user stuff.
> 3) 30-45 minutes. formal topic presentation. something in depth.
> We've done several things on samba. On networking issues. etc. In April,
> if war doesn't prevent him, Brett will do his freebsd topic demonstrating
> install through a usable desktop. The time frame includes time for questions
> at the end of the topic.
> 4) 10+ minutes. wrap up. hand out flyer samples for next month. Get folks
> pinned down to put those flyers in particular locations. Announce next topic
> if known. Get suggestions for topics. All this should be posted to the
> list following the meeting. Users can ask individual questions at the end
> or get help with their pc's.
>
> p.s. I'm aware of the display bug in the member list module. As soon
> as I can find a fix, I'll announce it here.

I'm somewhat of an OpenBSD zealot. I'm more than willing to do a
presentation on OpenBSD in general, or any single aspect of it. We
should probably wait for 3.3 to come out though (early may) so i can
include all the cool new features.

>
>
> --
> Scott Harney<scotth@scottharney.com>
> "...and one script to rule them all."
> gpg key fingerprint=7125 0BD3 8EC4 08D7 321D CEE9 F024 7DA6 0BC7 94E5

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Received on 03/24/03