[kwlug-disc] consider an alternative to monthly presentations ...

[John Van Ostrand]

----- "Paul Nijjar" <paul_nijjar at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> On Thu, May 06, 2010 at 10:46:03AM -0700, Raul Suarez wrote:
> > Good observations:
> > 
> > - Agree that not everything is a presentation.
> 
...

We have not had a social event in a long time. Perhaps it's time for one.

Rob's OP reminds me that we do tend to work hard to find presentations and only default to something else when we can't find anyone.

On occasion we could work in a "linux fair" idea. Pick areas of interest (e.g. web platforms, programming, servers, desktops, etc.) and get people to "volunteer" to be an expert, then make it a social event allowing people to congregate around their area of interest and ask away.

> I think people should totally feel free to put content online. But
> there is lots of content online -- I have to trawl through technical
> articles on the web nearly every day at work. I am a totally biased
> sample, but I like talks a lot. 

A presenter has a clear deadline when to complete the presentation. A post on the web isn't so clear and so it might slip. I know I find it hard to find time to put together a presentation and need a deadline to keep it in my work queue.
 
> > >   IMHO, the monthly meetings should be reserved for
> > > things for which there is *clear* value for everyone to be
> > > in the same place and, yes, there are certainly things that
> > > qualify.  but in lots of cases, it would be far more
> > > time-effective to simply supply the answer online
> > > somewhere.
> 
> This gets at Raul's point, but I think it is hard and
> energy-consuming
> to determine whether there is clear value for everyone to be in the
> same place. 

You can't please everyone all the time. Presentations tend to bring people out to the meetings. They see something of interest come out to learn. Some come back once they realize how great the UG is.

-- 
John Van Ostrand 
CTO, co-CEO 
Net Direct Inc. 
564 Weber St. N. Unit 12, Waterloo, ON N2L 5C6 
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