Getting new members and such

Tue Nov 9 04:55:58 UTC 2004

So, Does or Does Not the TLUG hold install-fests?
     http://lug.ncsu.edu/installfests.php
-Joseph-


On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 23:40:10 -0500, Bill Mudry <billmudry-MwcKTmeKVNQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> At 10:36 PM 11/8/04 -0500, you wrote:
> 
> 
> > > On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 10:13:30 -0500, Bill Mudry <billmudry-MwcKTmeKVNQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > >> Those who already really know their stuff well rarely need the help
> > >> of others and therefore do not have any dependencies for attending
> > >> meetings ---- unless it is for the social interaction and a night
> > >> out. If you want to grow the Linux crowd, you have to help people who
> > >> have heard about it by offering workshops.
> >
> > > Perhaps this component can be added to TLUG/NewTLUG... a more "social"
> > > aspect.  Have people get to know other people, what they do, what
> > > they've done with Linux,and what their future projects may be.
> >
> >Some portion of the "social" aspect is already there vis-a-vis TLUG, in
> >the form of the various gatherings before and after meetings.
> >
> >One of the serious challenges is that large groups are not directly
> >amenable to, oh, call it 'meaningful social interactions.'  Having a big
> >crowd doesn't mean that people actually interact.
> 
> Some of these problems could be eliminated or at least reduced by
> forming small groups after the main presentation in which each group
> handles specific, broad topic areas (SIG's). That allows everyone to
> interact in a more manageable, interactive way and they can choose
> the group that is of interest to them.
> 
> 
> 
> >On occasion, when feeling particularly mercurial, I have "played the
> >game" of walking through crowds consisting of plenty of people I knew,
> >and, by carefully avoiding eye contact, have affected virtual
> >invisibility.
> >
> >It's pretty easy for people _not_ to interact, and, to my mind, a group
> >of more than about 10 is unlikely to be particularly condusive to such.
> >
> > > Perhaps divide the time in half; the first half have a
> > > lecture/workshop on a particular topic, and then in the second half,
> > > open the floor up to people, to ask a question, talk about something
> > > cool they found, or are doing, etc.  It may also be a good idea to
> > > moderate this part; perhaps have the questions submitted beforehand,
> > > and keep the discussion to a set time (say 15 minutes), after which
> > > the next question/topic is introduced.
> >
> >There's considerable merit to keeping topics relatively short, as
> >attention spans can flag.  William Park's talk on Bash extensions was
> >pretty characteristic of that; he had some good material, but while I
> >found it quite interesting, my attention was flagging well before 9pm.
> >It was just too much to absorb.
> 
> Where possible, why not try to publish a summary (or even more if
> available) on topics on a section of the TLUG/newTLUG pages. Eventually,
> enough would be added that once in a while a person could be referred
> to an article. This way, you would be able to catch up on what you would
> not remember at a presentation.
> 
> 
> 
> >And he didn't even touch on the extensions (e.g. - XML and SQL
> >handlers).
> >
> > > I realize that many people are inherently shy, or may not want to ask
> > > questions out loud in front of everyone else.  But this kind of
> > > community giving/receiving I think is the reason we all attend
> > > TLUG/NewTLUG at all; to learn a bit, and to share a bit.
> > >
> > >> Once a person knows a subject well, it can seem easy to that person
> > >> even if it is very involved and they can lose sight of what it is
> > >> like for new Linux users or potential ones. If a person starts with
> > >> enthusiasm only to see that they get stuck, not able to get basic
> > >> things running, that enthusiasm will die out quite quickly. That is
> > >> where workshop sessions on a regular basis means gold to beginners
> > >> --- me included.
> > >
> > > Absolutely.  Often times it's just something small; like a particular
> > > command or changing an option in a config file; finding it can be a
> > > very frustrating experience.  I get questions all the time; "How do
> > > you get this to work?" and often times, it's something I've read, or
> > > searched on, or even fought through myself, and I can answer it off
> > > the top of my head, or refer to a web site or something.  Every little
> > > bit helps.
> >
> >Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing that all too easily devolves
> >into a "grand scale" heckling session :-(.
> >If someone comes in with a tasty question about Exim configuration, it's
> >sure to fall into either grousing about how awful it is to embed Turing
> >Machines in sendmail.cf, or some sort of flame war over whether to use
> >qmail or Postfix instead.
> 
> That is where a moderator for each group could control that. Some mild
> cajoling is ok but there should be an understanding that people should
> not allow themselves to get really hot or obnoxious to the detriment of
> the rest of the group.
> 
> >And frankly, I'd personally rather hear about those other peripheral
> >things, as I haven't too much call for Exim...  ;-)
> 
> Having access to even one person to help on a subject can be most
> helpful, too. New users are likely to have a lot of questions they hope
> to find answers for that to an experienced person seems elementarily
> simple.
> 
> For now,
> Bill Mudry
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
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--
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TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml