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[OCLUG-Tech] OCLUG AGM - discussing change

  • Subject: [OCLUG-Tech] OCLUG AGM - discussing change
  • From: Rob Echlin <rob [ at ] echlin [ dot ] ca>
  • Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:41:06 -0700 (PDT)
The Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Carleton Linux Users Group
will he held April 5, 2012 at Algonquin College, Room T130, Building T.
starting at 1900.

Below is the proposed agenda for the 2012 AGM. There are two important
items that we ask members to think about in advance.

1) Nominations for Board members -- we always need capable volunteers to
serve on the board.

2) Town Hall discussion on the future of OCLUG

While we remain an active group, the nature of our activities is changing.
In particular, with Linux much more widely used and appreciated, along with
active forums for help and discussion, there is less incentive to participate
in a "live" meeting. Notably, the 2011 AGM did not manage to provide a full
slate of board members. During the year we added one Board member who had
indicated willingness at the AGM, but needed to check availability, and John
Nash participated (non-voting) to provide continuity. This is, however, a
less than desirable situation.

The Board therefore proposes that the AGM hold a discussion to provide
direction for
  - adapting OCLUG to the realities we are experiencing. These afflict
    many volunteer organizations at this time.
  - finding volunteers to help run events or to carry out specific tasks

Some ideas for events that are a little different from our norm:

-  A User Group Festival, in a hall where many Ottawa user groups can 
  offer information tables and chat with each other and anyone who 
  comes out. A great day for this is Software Freedom Day on Sat Sept 15.
- a hack-fest, possibly with Group 51, with the hacking activity displayed and
   explained.
- Small, local meetings to help people with computer problems as a way to
   find new members. Our outreach has been limited in the last couple of years,
   apart from the Leavitt Memorial Seminar and (possibly) IPv6 Summit.

We are also exploring how we can do a better job of advertising our activities,
and John Sebastian Taylor is leading this effort.

Sadly, we do need a Plan B if there are too few nominees. It is not entirely
clear what the legalities are if we proceed to an election and there are too
few Board nominees to provide quorum. Hence it would be better to decide a
course of action during the AGM BEFORE the election if we know there are too
few nominees. Our constitution requires that our assets be passed to a similar
organization -- finding one could be difficult. It may also be possible to
appoint some trustees who would monitor a (paid) service to maintain mailing
lists and web site for Linux-related events in Ottawa for some period (e.g.,
5 years). There appears to be fairly solid interest in and usage of the mailing
list, for example, but there is a need for some management thereof.

We could also revise our organization to do fewer things using fewer people,
such as small meetings with no speakers, fewer meetings per year, or some
merging of activities with other groups like Computers for Communities.

The discussion of the future of OCLUG is intended to either rejuvenate the
group or else wind it up in an orderly way.

== AGM agenda outline

1) Financial report

2) Annual report

3) Future of OCLUG

4) Election

5) New business

6) Adjournment

============================

7) Games

8) Beer SIG
 
--
Rob Echlin