On Tue, 19 Mar 2013, Brenda J. Butler wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 02:17:03PM -0400, Rick Malone wrote:
> > Since I am not sure who is receiving this email I'm not sure how to proceed
>
> You have reached the general-distribution list of OCLUG.
>
> > with my question. I am interested in starting a LUG in Petawawa just about
> > an hour and a half along highway 17 west of Ottawa.
>
> Great!
>
> > I was there when the KLUG was started in Kingston in 1998/99 but being 1 of
> > about 6 members who got together to form the group I had only a minor role
> > in setting things up.
> >
> > Would a member of OCLUG perhaps be willing to provide some guidance on how
> > to get a future PetLUG (I don't like PLUG but I'd use it if I had to ;-))
> > off the ground?
> >
> > I have a facility where we can meet on a regular basis. I guess I need
> > everything else.
>
> You have done one of the hard parts. Hopefully your facility is
> relatively easy to get to and has good parking, and is maybe even
> free. And has a few power outlets (for people's laptops, and for
> demo machines) and a projector and screen. And wireless.
>
> So much for venue.
>
> Then the next most important part is speakers/topics. You can get
> away with not arranging topics at each meeting, but attendance tends
> to be better with pre-arranged topics and speakers.
... snip ...
having been a member, over the years, of numerous LUGs in canada and
the US, let me give you some cautions about what generally *doesn't*
work so you can avoid the common pitfalls i've seen LUGs fall into.
first, focus. what *exactly* is your LUG going to concentrate on?
tech support? newbie indoctrination and education? socializing and
networking? and don't say "sure, all of that" because you can't. you
simply can't. given the typical 2-3 hours a month of get-together,
there's no possible way you're going to be all things to all people so
don't even try. if you do, all that means is that rather than being
really good at one thing, you're going to be mediocre at a lot of
things, and that's what drives people away. so decide *why* you want
to start a LUG and make sure all your efforts are focused on *that*
*reason*, and don't get distracted.
second, be structured. i'm going to disagree with brenda in that not
having listed presentations or speakers is something you can get away
with. generally, it isn't. over the years, i've passed on many a LUG
meeting because there was no listed speaker so it was advertised as a
"get together, meet and greet." you might get away with that once a
year at xmas, but other than that, it generally won't bring out the
people. and if it does, it will more than likely bring out the *same*
people you see every month, anyway, which defeats the purpose. give
people a *specific* reason to come out, so that they can decide if
it's something they want to invest time in.
next, have an actual schedule and deadlines for presentations. my
experience is, first, that 2 hour talks on a single topic don't work;
after an hour and a half, most people are overloaded and have
intellectually shut down. you don't need to explain *everything* about
a single topic, just enough to get people interested and show them how
to get started.
and regarding schedules, if the schedule says that someone will
speak on "X" for an hour, then after an hour, they get the hook.
seriously. if you post a schedule for the upcoming meeting, then
people need to know they can trust that schedule.
as for speaker topics, this is my personal opinion, but i have
little interest in listening to a talk for which there is already a
high-quality tutorial online. part of the value of going to a
presentation is that it adds value of some sort to the content itself.
if i can get all of that online already, why go to the talk?
anyway, just some random thoughts on experiences i've had with LUGs
over the years.
rday
--
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Robert P. J. Day Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
http://crashcourse.ca
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
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