TLUG's value to community ???

[Henry Spencer]

On Sat, 9 Jul 2005, William Park wrote:
> > I'd love to see some information on what's been going on in GTALUG, like
> > - meeting minutes (or excerpts, if us "non-members" can't see them)
> > - Constitution and/or manifesto, describing the purpose of the organization
> > I've been asking about this stuff every few months, and the answers I
> > get are "it's coming real soon now", but nothing ever does...
> 
> I'm opposed to this.  This takes time/money, without being tied to
> revenue.

It's called "public relations", and it *is* tied to revenue, just somewhat
indirectly.  It's not good business to leave potential members/volunteers
wondering what the organization is up to, and where the money is going,
and whether you're worth supporting or not. 

Even if setting up a web site etc. is more time and effort than is readily
available, talking to people -- both formally, as a short presentation at
some likely meeting, and informally, when asked -- is an investment in the
organization's future.  Persistently failing to do so is a big mistake: 
it looks like you've got something to hide.  Under no circumstances should
you be soliciting money without being willing to explain, in as much
detail as people want, where it's going to go. 

Some initial delay while things get sorted out is understandable, but
sorting them out well enough that public statements become possible needs
to be a priority.  Yes, it's an annoying distraction, but it's also a
necessary one.

> ...GTALUG is less than a year old,
> and people are already complaining about us not publishing our books...

There's a difference between wanting to know what you're up to and wanting
to see gory details like financial statements.  Confusing the two makes
you sound defensive -- a standard tactic of people trying to cover
something up is to exaggerate what questioners are asking for, so it can
be rejected as obviously ridiculous.

                                                          Henry Spencer
                                                       henry-lqW1N6Cllo0sV2N9l4h3zg at public.gmane.org

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