Newbies at the GUMs (Re: [wplug] LUG Ignorance)

Kevin Olalde kevin at olalde.org
Sun Jan 20 07:12:05 EST 2002


I guess I can/should reply to this, having attended my first LUG recently. 
Here's how it went.

It was on that fateful morning that @HOME turned off my internet connection.  I
had the email that gave the time, and I think the web page (opened the night
before) that gave the room number.  But I didn't have open the web page that
gave the exact details on finding the one open door that gets me into the
meeting.  Getting to the meeting was a challenge, lots of locked doors,
elevators, ....  For the first timer, esp. those not familiar with CMU, possibly
a reminder pointer in the LUG announcement may be helpful.

Once in the meeting, a little late but nothing had started yet (Zach, I believe,
still fighting with X and his projector), I found a seat and hung out.  I
mentioned to others that the room was a bit hard to find.  I knew I should have
looked further for directions (I tried but @HOME was down), so didn't mind the
reaction I got from those already present.  It was one like "What do mean hard
to find, it was easy for us?".  I didn't want 'mingle' yet since I guessed the
presentation was about to start.  Looking on the web page now, the "Details"
given for the next LUG are missing.

Everything pretty much as expected so far.  Recently my wife and I were talking
about a "user group" she belongs to.  She mentioned one of the items they take
care of is new user greeting.  An existing member basically greets folks at the
door and is on the look out for the group newbies.  My initial reaction to this
was that it was overkill, I'm starting to rethink that position.  (She says they
all were name tags too, I don't like name tags...)

The presentation went very well, I learn about a text formatting tool, generally
well done.  After the presentation things broke up (or down) into a mainly three
groups.  

One group of six or so discussing not sure what.  I'm not sure if it was group
issues or just 'getting together' type stuff.  It's always a little work to
start talking to a stranger, it's more work talking to a group of strangers
already in some conversation.  You certainly feel like you butting in.  I passed
on this group.

The second group was huddled around some fellow's sick Alpha system.  Folks were
taking pot shots at diagnosing the boot problem.  Interesting, this sounds like
the first group.  All already working on something, all strangers, but I had no
issue saddling up to that group and taking shots at the problems.  Outside of
the presentation, that was the best part of the meeting.

The third 'group' was basically wandering around trying to figure out what to do
and who to talk to.

At some point Beth (I believe) asked around for pizza takers.  Flat rate of $5
sounded good.  Since she seemed somewhat in change (of pizza and money anyway,
two VERY important things), I later asked her a couple of questions.  How do we
get a cool room like this to meet in, how does the group afford donut and juice
(there when I arrived, but no money collected), ....  She was very polite and
answered my questions.  She confirmed what I thought that the $5/head pizza cost
usually ended up in left of $ for next week's juice and donuts.  But when I was
done asking questions we were done talking.

I tried a couple of times to talk to other folks, still trying to figure out
what the group does and how I could fit in and contribute (maybe I could give a
presentation on Home Automation and Linux).  I didn't really figure that out and
left by 12:30, the meeting was scheduled to last until 2.  I noticed a number of
people left after the presentation.

OK, so here are some suggestions.  Meetings need to be driven.  How tightly you
grap the wheel is a different topic, but some direction and order needs to be
instilled in order to have some amount of productivity.  If the meeting are more
social in nature, that's cool.  Maybe announce at different points in the
meeting what's happening next.

- First we'll have a presentation.

- Now were just going to mingle.  Even a simple group statement like that lets
someone know it OK barge in, we're just mingling, don't worry about
interrupting.

- Or maybe, there are a few group topics that are covered and discussed. 
Discuss them as a group, maybe break up into smaller discussion groups, ....

- Someone to look out for newbies.  This could be a different person at each
meeting.  Assigning the responsibilty for the next meeing could be done at the
current meeting.

I think we need to admit that, as a group, we aren't the most socially adept
bunch on the planet.  We're geeks, and it shows.  Communicating to systems that
don't have keyboards is sometimes difficult.

Maybe the meeting did come back together and I left too early, I certainly could
have made more effort.  But I went away thinking the group was a bit disjointed
and maybe I'll go to the next one that has a presentation that sounds
interesting.

Rambling done,
Kevin


Zach Paine wrote:
> 
> Getting newbies involved and excited about Linux is a huge part of the
> function of a LUG.  When I first starting attending LUG meetings, there
> were certain people that made me feel welcome and were available for me
> to ask questions of.  Some of those people have left and many are still
> here.  I am very concerned that WPLUG remain a group that is very
> accepting of newbies.  I do feel that our newbie-friendliness level has
> gone down a bit recently, so this begs the question what is it that
> makes a newbie feel welcome?  There are a couple things I see.
> 
> First it requires effort from both the newbie and the existing member.
> The newbie has to come to the meeting and often work up the courage to
> ask someone who is basically a stranger a question, and worry about
> coming off as dumb or uninformed.  On the other hand, an existing member
> needs to put in the effort answer questions *respectfully*, and to be
> receptive.
> 
> Strangely, it seems to me that our meetings have a different feel after
> we left Wean.  We had a smaller room in Wean which was good and bad.
> Bad because it limited the number of people that could attend and
> sometimes the comfortablility of those in attendance.  Good because it
> created a more intimate environment.  Everyone sat around one table and
> basically talked excluding a presentation.  I think these meetings were
> pretty successful.  I believe this more intimate setting served to bring
> newbies into the fold and involve them more.  It is great that we have
> such wonderful accomodations in NSH 1507, but meetings have at times
> seemed somewhat disjointed.  I think we need to find a better way to use
> the room for GUM's in particular that draws people together and provides
> a good environment for discussion.  This could be something as simple as
> moving the tables and chairs around and having introductions so that
> eveyrone at least knows everyone elses name.
> 
> Also, presentations that are more on the newbie level are beneficial.
> Thus tutorials were created.  Good then!
> 
> Hrm.. what else.. I guess I should just sum up and then ask you people
> (the newbies and the existing members) what you think.
> 
> Summary:  The newbie experience is very important to WPLUG.  WPLUG most
> likely needs to improve this experience.  How can we do this?  It will
> require members who are willing to put in the effort to be as receptive
> and helpful as possible to newbies.  Some already do this, some do not.
> I know I need to work on it.  Lastly, it maybe be beneficial to this
> item to in some way change the way we are currently handling meetings.
> 
> Boo ya.
> 
>         -Zach
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