[wplug] Re: LUG Interest Waning? -- 3 things you need, 3 things that are nice ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 08:20 -0400, Greg Simkins wrote: 
> Slashdot today discussed diminishing attendance at meetings of Linux 
> Users Groups:  
> http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/23/1357259.  They report 
> that the mail lists are as active as ever.
> I have noticed at similar trend at WPLUG.  I think we have an active 
> group, but attendance does seem to have fallen off.  Should we accept 
> that as part of the normal trend?  Or are there suggestions on how to 
> make the meetings more attractive? 

Striving for attendance is overrated.  As long as you are getting 15+
people/meeting, you're doing fine.  Social interaction, people
networking and word-of-mouth do the rest.

At most you want to make sure you have your basic 3 basis covered:  

1.  Web site and/or mailing list that comes up in a Google search
2.  Regular meetings and select volunteers to run them
3.  Periodic print outs/flyers for hitting major concentrations
    (universities, business bulletin boards, etc...)

Ideal extras include, but require additional efforts:  

A.  Wiki for exchange of ideas, information, etc...
B.  Personal (about me) _and_ professional (resume, jobs) sites
C.  Regular presence at events -- from IT-related to HAM-related, etc...


On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 08:39 -0400, Brie Gordon wrote:
> I understand where you're coming from. If you were looking to attract
> the college crowd, it could have some value, provided it didn't
> violate your philosphies.
> Myspace. That's just crazy talk.

Actually, it's not.   Referring to "B" above, you want 2 avenues ...

B1.  "Personal" (about me) areas -- e.g., "Myspace" and related
B2.  "Professional" (resume/job) areas -- e.g., "Linkedin" and job sites

You target _both_ the "social" (youth, student, single, etc...) affluent
technologist as well as the established "professional" (engineer, IT,
recruiter).  You want to be both "cool" as well as a "professional,
people networking" group -- _never_ choose one or the other, target
_both_.  It's a balance.


On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 08:50 -0400, Max Putas wrote:
> Advertising is key. I was the president of the Athens Area Linux
> User's Group (affiliated with Ohio University) about 4 years ago, and
> I saw interest sky rocket (5 -> 30 + people) after I put some serious
> effort into creating nice looking flyers, rather than just doing the
> usual cop out bland font with a penguin on it.

Yep, you have to have flyers for ...
3a.  Universities and concentrations of upcoming professional
3b.  Office bulletin boards, such as break rooms/kitches
3c.  General areas of social gathering/public posting (bus/light rail?)

And make them _color_!  I have a Color Postscript printer at home (in
Orlando).  I'm flying home this weekend so if someone has a PDF, I'll
rip off a couple hundred and bring them back with me for the picnic.

On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 08:50 -0400, Max Putas wrote:
> I don't have as much time to do those types of things anymore, but I'm
> very willing to send them to anyone who wants to take a look.

I'm in the same boat.  I haven't run a LUG for over 6 years, and limit
myself to "behind the scenes" donations of time, efforts and, sometimes,
money.  I purposely refuse to be an officer for various reasons (some
liability, I don't like to be constrained as an officer because it
limits how "open" and "opinionated" I can be), but I will put forth
"burst efforts" that are equivalent.  Heck, I don't even maintain my own
servers anymore (just use my IEEE alias and use Blogger for a simple,
occasional blog entry).  


On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 08:50 -0400, Max Putas wrote:
> The other thing is that you really need to reach out to brand new
> users. A lot of people aren't even aware of what Linux is capable of,
> especially on the desktop. A well thought-out presentation on just
> some useful (and very cool) applications should draw a lot of people
> if advertised correctly. 

And that's why you have to have ...
2a.  Regular meetings, every month or at least every two at least
2b.  Consistent, select volunteers to run them (typically officers)
2c.  _Planned_ topics out _at_least_ 3 months in advance

Actual, regular meetings drive people to the meetings.  Even if it's
more "techie" or more "newbie," people _will_ come.  Don't worry about
if it's one or the other, that's what you worry about when you have
enough people and presenters to have two per month.

- "Free Training"

"Free Training" can also be another driver, but you have to be
_consistent_.  You also have to have equipment.  Sometimes you can have
a "BYOB" (bring your own box), but I've found "BYOL" (bring your own
laptop) for professionals or students can also be helpful -- and you use
a single server (especially with VMWare server or even just Xvnc,
although that's more of a security issue).

I need to join the Certification SIG myself.  I can run a solid VMWare
Server on my laptop (dual-core Turion x2, 4GB RAM, 2x160GB internal
disk), and I have two older laptops (one P3 256MB and one Cel-M 512MB)
that can be used as two (2) "student" systems.  I have hundreds of
slides from when I used to do more training, aligned against the public
LPI 100/200 series objectives (which would also apply to the lesser
Linux+).


On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 09:28 -0400, Patrick Wagstrom wrote:
> For that matter, we're the first hit when you google for:
> pittsburgh linux
> pennsylvania linux
> pennsylvania lug
> pittsburgh lug
> So that brings up a good question, we think we've got pretty good Google juice
> going for WPLUG.  If people can't find us, what were people looking for?

That's how I found WPLUG.  I [used to] travel all over the US, and the
first thing I'd do is look up the local LUG.  It was always a good way
to meet people from the area, even though I didn't know any of them
(although I'd typically run into 2-3 people who I either knew of or knew
of myself), and get more familiar with the area.

Google searches are definitely covered.  ;)



-- 
Bryan J. Smith         Professional, Technical Annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org   http://thebs413.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------
        Fission Power:  An Inconvenient Solution