The State of KLUG -- Part II

["Robert G. Brown" <bob@xxxxxxx>]

A few days ago I reported on the state of KLUG, and I focussed, largely in 
the spirit of keeping the message short, on some of our accomplishments,
and the people who have made them possible. In this message, I'm going to 
focus on a few problem areas, where we've not been successful, and where
we are going to have to put some additional effort in the future.

More effort mean more people putting in effort. We want many people to 
participate, that's how we learn, and build a group that will not falter if
a couple of people can not deliver something. Many hands also make for lighter 
work, and lighter work is also more reliable.

At the moment, everyone who has stepped forward is doing something; it's not 
appropriate or correct to ask them to do even more, especially if others 
continue to do less. As Chairman, I also have a full plate in other areas of
my life. Note that I was going to issue this message late last week, but other
commitments overrode that desire, and the task of writing and revising this 
message has taken much longer than expected.  We all need balance in our lives; 
too much KLUG and not enough sun can make (even) Bob a dull boy.

One point of this is that I'm not about to ask those who have stepped forward
to "fill in" for positions that are vacant; I prefer to outline the vacant 
posts and show the effects of NOT having those positions filled. I'd like to
see the remaining posts filled, and continue to seek more involvement from 
you... anyone reading this message.

The first vacant position I'd like to cover is that of Publicity Director
(described at http://klug.armintl.com/organize/pub-dir.html). The person
who will take up this position will be the one who sends out press releases,
contacts TV and radio statements, get us public service spots, speaks to 
the newspapers, posts text about our meetings on USENET (very much like writ-
ing an email message), and so on. 

When we have someone doing this full-time, we become more visible to the out-
side world, which means we can do a better job of spreading the word about
Linux. Our Installfest, held in April, was a technical success. We had a whole
Local Area Network set up, all ready to show lots of people what Linux could
do. We even spoke to a few passers by at a bookstore.

But it was a failure.  Why? No one knew about it! Oh, there was a line or two 
in the newspaper, put in by Rollins, and there was some fanfare on our web-
site, and there were some flyers handed out at computer shows. But that was all
we could do, given the amount of time and people available to do the work.

Now picture what would happen if every newspaper, radio, TV station, and ISP 
from Grand Rapids to South Bend, from Lake Michigan to Jackson, knew about
this event, and announced it, three weeks or more in advance. How about every 
college computer club, computer science department, computer store, cyber-cafe?

We may well have received a lot more attention. 
We could NOT have received less.

This position does not require enormous technical skill; it does require 
persistence, maybe a FAX machine (or FAX modem and software), or merely
the ability to talk on the phone and mail some letters. Posting On USENET
means applying software you already have; you can be shown what to do over
a short period of time, then it means getting the word out, bath about Linux 
and our activities.

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The next post I would like to address is that of Recording Secretary(Des-
cribed at http://klug.armintl.com/organize/rec-sec.html). This post primar-
ily involves taking meeting notes, and reporting them on the mailing list.
Now, if the Recording Secretary cannot come to EVERY MEETING, how can this
be done? Simple, The person taking the notes need not be the recording Sec-
retary, but can be a designee. Can this be worked out? I've asked people to 
take notes at meetings, but this has NOT worked out, even when people volun-
teer it has not been effective.

If there are no meeting notes, then those who do not attend meetings (the 
majority of people on the mailing list) never know what they are missing,
and do not really see the dynamics of the presentation or the free-form 
discussion that takes place at a KLUG meeting. Without this, we miss a good
chance to demonstrate why meetings are so valuable, and fewer people will 
be encouraged to come.

We need to break this cycle of not distributing information. Our meetings
feature good presentations, but only a small number participate, and not
many are encouraged to appear. There's real value in our meetings, and we
intend to persist in making them more valuable and better planned. Look at
our scheduled meeting page (http://klug.armintl/com/meetings/schedule.html);
and I think you'll see that reporting on these meetings will help everyone
become more involved.

No one person needs to become "stuck" with this job; it can rotate among a 
small team of people. Right now, we need someone to head it up, so that
the designee can come to a meeting knowing they will take notes, and that
the Recording Secretary will be there to help later on, and in the future.

As we move closer to legal non-profit status, a Secretary takes on additional 
(although not time-consuming) duties, such as keeping some records of the
group. Leaving this position vacant mean the it's a little harder to become
a non-profit organization.

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The final position I'll cover is that of FTP master. This position is a good 
one for someone technically junior but willing to learn, and is critical as we 
grow and our on-line library also grows. You'll be working with our web-
masters and the site-master, and gaining experience in how to build libraries 
of related software on our server. This position is described at:
http://klug.armintl.com/organize/ftp-mast.html

At the moment, the FTP library is in its infancy, but as we grow, I expect our 
library will grow as well. As it does, it will require administration and
organization, and you can grow along with it. Although we do not expect to 
maintain a library to rival those of the larger Linux sites, we WILL retain
software of local origination and interest, and we can surely do a class job
of documenting and grouping software in an intelligent way.

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There you have it -- Three critical positions, two of which have impact on our
public image and offerings,the other being a vital internal position which we
need to help hold the group together.

We can't "stretch" people to do these things... More people are needed to 
make all of this happen.

Imagine a KLUG that hold events publicized all over this part of the region, 
where members are well-informed about meetings and business, and where we can
offer organized and documented software on the Internet -- these are direc-
tions we need to take to move to the next level of effectiveness.

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There are other issues to cover, but due to the length of this I shall continue 
to write in yet another installment to you. In the meantime I invite your 
comments, reactions, or more....
                                                           Very Truly,
                                                           ---> RGB <---