[wplug-plan] [Fwd: Re: Linux Users Group Question]

[Jeremy Dinsel]

Kevin Lebo wrote to me about starting a Linux users' group in WV. I
wrote a good bit about the history of wplug in here. I thought people
might be interested in it. The group is about to turn 6, after all.

Here's to nostalgia and all the great people that make wplug what it is.
Thanks!

-j

-----Forwarded Message-----

From: Jeremy Dinsel <jeremy at wplug.org>
To: Kevin Lebo <kevin at kevinlebo.com>
Subject: Re: Linux Users Group Question
Date: 26 Jun 2003 22:17:47 -0700

Do you know about these Ohio groups and their plans?
http://wplug.org/pipermail/wplug-plan/2003-June/001057.html

I've been putting off responding to your questions for a few days
because I wanted to think through the history of wplug and see if I
could come up with something inspirational and helpful as a reply to
you. 

Perhaps I should cover things from the beginning... 

As our web site boasts (my personal joke solely because its a general
statement with a very accurate time stamp), "[wplug was] Founded
sometime around Friday September 26th at 11:37:08 EDT 1997." At the
time, I had been looking around for linux users' groups and had posted
an ad on Linux Journal's GLUE site. Unfortunately, the information that
I posted is no longer on the site -- more about GLUE later.

At the time, I had been a feverish linux zealot. I had been using linux
for roughly two years at that point. Mostly by myself with some
conversations with other users abroad. Not many people in my home town
(I was 19 when I started using linux) had heard about it; few had heard
of unix. Of course, this is the younger crowd that I was associating
with in college.  

So reaching out into the world, I happened to find Alex L. He had either
posted to GLUE or replied to something that I wrote there. After talking
with Alex, I found him to be a zealot, too -- which is quiet a misnomer
that leaves out his extremely pleasant and friendly personality. Alex
enjoyed Linux, but wasn't using it as much as I was. He may have been
looking for a challenge -- such as starting a linux users' group. In
some of our earlier meetings, we spent time trying to convince Alex to
practice the religion he and I were preaching. 

After convincing each other in email that starting a group would be a
good thing, I set into motion the generation of our mailing list and
sought out other people to join (or others sought and found the new
group). Some of our original members are still some of my best
friends--even though some of them have moved on.

Breaking from the nostalgia to relate some concrete ideas. Up until this
point, the tasks that we had to focus on were:
      *  Starting a group or not?
      *  Setting up an easy to use mailing list which could be archived
        and had little spam (I only mention spam now, but back then it
        wasn't such a problem).
      * Creating some rudimentary but useful web pages.
      * Beginning discussions about having offline meetings.

The first meeting was at a nice coffee shop in a part of Pittsburgh that
I no longer even know the name for (I haven't lived in that state for a
little over four years). A group of four or five of us met for the first
time. Most were very skeptical as to whether their time would be well
spent at the meeting or not. At this point, we focused on the comradery
of the event and not on the content of the meeting. We were building the
foundation of the group. The original group helped to steer our future
meetings by helping us find places to meet and by telling us when
substance was required (as compared to purely socializing). 

Back then, linux users were few and far in between. Today, things may be
different. People may be expecting substance sooner than later. You'll
have to determine that by listening to your members.

Over time and as the group grew, we came to realize that we were going
to be plagued with problems. Where to meet? When to meet? How often to
meet? Should we do installation festivals? (This question came up after
the other questions). We had some difficulties in finding places to meet
at first. The coffee shop, a member's employer's office, a library and
finally CMU -- which has remained our host for several years now. 

Until you have a firm location to meet at, its best not to plan for
recurring meetings. Again, the membership of your group will tell you
how frequently to meet. wplug has found that monthly meetings and
bi-monthly install festivals have provided a good amount of attendance.
I must solute the people who are keeping up the bi-monthly install
festivals. It's hard work which is often taken for granted. 

In talking about meetings, I think I am missing some key points
concerning the mailing list. At the very beginning, the traffic on the
list will probably be extremely low. Fortunately, I had been learning a
lot of linux (and linux was making leaps and bounds every day); In order
to increase the traffic on the list, I would write to the list and talk
about the accomplishments and struggles I had with the new ways of doing
things. This would sometimes spark conversation on the list. It would
also encourage others to post similar messages. For new comers to the
list, I imagined and hoped that seeing these conversation would draw
them in. 

To review, at this point, we had gone through the steps of creating the
list and set up one or two small meetings. Then we focused on attracting
members to the group by discussing interesting and exciting topics on
the mailing list. Most importantly, we built our organization up online
first and then tried to take it offline. 

Linux attracts people of awesome caliber; this is one reason why we were
able to start having meetings at CMU. The members and their contacts
were (and are) phenomenal. We set a goal to have monthly meetings with
content (GUM -- General Users Meetings -- thanks again to Alex L). Often
this meant that on top of finishing up school, I was also working
diligently on speeches that I'd present at the group meetings.  

Again, because of the caliber of people that are attracted to Linux, we
were able to get other members who wanted to present and share their
enjoyment. If it weren't for them, our meetings wouldn't have been half
as fun as they were. 

Around this time, I had found myself close to GLUE (the Linux Journal
group listing). I had been hired to work as their webmaster. I can't
think of anything else to add to this paragraph so I think it might just
end up being a gratuitous entry in this writing. :)

I've mentioned that a key point to a successful (or at least fun) group
is allowing the members to steer the group. Take a page from open source
software and make the process open and free to people who want to
contribute. We created a seperate mailing list for this sole purpose
(http://wplug.org/pipermail/wplug-plan/). People were encouraged to join
if they wanted to contribute to the development of the group or if they
simply wanted to lurk on the list. This took the planning discussions
off of the main list and centralized it in a single forum. We also held
short plan meetings after each GUM. All members were allowed and
encouraged to contribute to the discussions.

As the group grew, it began to suffer from growing pains. Sometimes
these growing pains were brought about from within by its own members
(over the years we've had few disagreements within our membership base,
but when they occurred, it was a memorable experience). What I've
learned from this is that you cannot please everyone and if you don't
want to deal with politics later, then write some nice shiny bylaws as
soon as you can. A sturdy foundation will allow the group to focus on
the things that matter the most, getting enjoyment from the group and
... well, having fun -- which is really the same thing, isn't it?

At first, we started out with a very informal "board" for lack of better
terms. Three of us took on the responsibility of planning the meetings,
setting up and tearing down after wards. Over time, it became apparent
that we needed a true board. A chair, a co-chair, a secretary, a
treasurer, etc and a means to advocate for their election. We're still
working out the kinks in this last matter, so I won't comment too much
on it. Your group won't need it for a while anyway (unless you grow
extremely fast or are much more organized than we were originally).

Let me return again to the concept of having the members steer the group
and receive enjoyment from the time they put into it. We were very lucky
to find the people that we found. They enjoy linux and they enjoy
meeting with others who enjoy linux, too. Without their support, we
would not have had as many meetings. So I encourage you to listen to
your group and hold the right amount of meetings for them. Be sure that
the group always remains fun. 

Some of the members in your group will also enjoy online discussions
(off the mailing list). I would suggest setting up an IRC channel if
this is the case. ( http://wplug.org/pages/irc ) You may note that wplug
has an IRC channel guideline. This is one of the issues that sometimes
becomes necessary over a group's growth. Take it in stride and, if
you're dealing with the parties that are conflicted, swallow your pride
and try to do what's best for the group (especially if you're one of the
conflicted parties :). I've tried to do this in the past, and I'm sure
that I've missed my goal on several occasions. 

I'm running out of things that I can say. I've probably ranted on longer
than anyone would have expected. I hope that the key points that built
wplug and continue to make it great came through in this message. 

Let me close by saying that it's all about the members. The members are
what make the group great. They are the ones who will keep it going long
after you or others have moved on. Case point: for some time, both the
founding members, myself and Alex, were living on the west coast and the
group continued on without us. To this day, I'm 3000 miles away, but
actively (I have a figurehead's role at best :) working with the group
because of the people who comprise the wplug membership. They are the
best people I have met. Despite the distance, I would never give up my
ties to them. 

Make it about and for the people and it will be great.


-j

P.S. Our plan and board archives are open to the public. You might find
some good threads scattered in there.
(http://wplug.org/pipermail/wplug-plan/ |
http://wplug.org/pipermail/wplug-board/ )

On Tue, 2003-06-24 at 20:09, Kevin Lebo wrote:
> Jeremy:
> 
> 	My name is Kevin Lebo and the reason I am writing you today is because we
> have begun the process of forming our own LUG here in the Mid-Ohio Valley
> (specifically Parkersburg, West Virginia).  I'm looking at the website for
> the Western Pennsylvania Linux Users Group and thinking how great it would
> be if we could even have half the success of your organization.  There are
> only ten of us starting off and we have some ideas of how to market
> ourselves and conduct our meetings but I'm looking to find out from some
> established LUGs if there are any startup tips your organization might be
> able to provide us with.  Thanks for your time.
> 
> Kevin Lebo, CCNA
> Mid-Ohio Valley Linux Users Group
> http://www.movlug.com
> Day: (304) 424-5457
> Night: (304) 428-4303
> email: Kevin at KevinLebo.com
-- 
Jeremy Dinsel <jeremy at wplug.org>
wplug.org
-- 
Jeremy Dinsel <jeremy at gunix.net>
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