Hi Rick, I'm going to snip a lot and top-post. First, I agree with most of what Rob Day says. - focus - structure - schedule - but don't be quite as abrupt as Rob says, beacuse you want more speakers <g> All those points are what ToastMasters taught me. - Consider joining ToastMasters - they teach how to run meetings and groups - there is a local group in Pembroke - consider visiting the group at Atomic Energy, even if you don't join, as they are more time-constrained with a lunch meeting. This will demo how to end a meeting on time with stuff done. Deep Rikver probably still has one, too. No one has mentioned ":Lightning talks". These allow even people with little presentation experience to talk for just a few minutes, generally 5 to 10. Panel discussions also work well! I will disagree with Rob, somewhat, about presentations vs. online tutorials. I think he is correct for deep technical dives done well - for most people, but the whole "learning styles" thing applies here, too. It's good to see a different take on something and be able to ask questions in person. New users also appreciate in-person talks. We are struggling with the question of how to grow our own group. You can look at our board minutes to see some of our discussions. http://wiki.oclug.on.ca/wiki/OclugBoardMeetings Rob E -- Rob Echlin, B. Eng. 613-266-8311 - Ottawa, ON http://talksoftware.wordpress.com - http://picasaweb.google.com/coderoller >________________________________ > From: Robert P. J. Day <rpjday [ at ] crashcourse [ dot ] ca> >To: Brenda J. Butler <bjb [ at ] sourcerer [ dot ] ca> >Cc: Rick Malone <rick [ dot ] malone [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com>; linux [ at ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca >Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 9:05:06 AM >Subject: Re: [OCLUG-Tech] A New Linux Users Group > >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. >... 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 >