[wplug-board] Info about APCUG

[Pat Barron]

At yesterday's GUM, I made some brief mention about APCUG, a 
"meta-group" that other user groups I've worked with are part of.

You can find their web site here:  http://www.apcug.org

The membership dues are $50/year for an organization to join APCUG. 
There are various membership benefits as described on their web site; 
aside from the "easy path" to participation in the O'Reilly user group 
program, I'm not sure how many of them would be of benefit to us, given 
our specific focus on Linux and open source. But it's worth looking at.  
If WPLUG were to join, we would have to join as an "Associate Member" 
(rather than as a Full Member) because our organization doesn't have 
enough members to qualify for full membership in APCUG (you need at 
least 25 members).  Associate Members have the same benefits as Full 
Members, except that they don't have voting rights in APCUG.

I haven't dug into whether membership in APCUG would impose any 
additional obligations on member organizations, that is certainly 
something that should be evaluated.

Given that this would be an expenditure of funds, by my read of the 
bylaws (section 4.2), the membership would have to approve this at a 
GUM.  Therefore, if this is something we think would be a good idea (or 
if the next board thinks it's a good idea...), we should put together a 
summary of the various benefits and advantages and present it to the 
membership at a future GUM.

--Pat.