[kwlug-disc] On lowering new member hurdles & comment cards.

[unsolicited]

Khalid Baheyeldin wrote, On 05/06/2010 10:48 PM:
> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 9:49 PM, Lori Paniak <ldpaniak at fourpisolutions.com>wrote:
> 
>> I've been enjoying the refreshing vacuum of KWLUG for almost five years
>> now.
>>
>> In that time, the direction-less and poorly documented membership of
>> KWLUG has been instrumental in several remarkable FLOSS achievements in
>> SWO and beyond: Ontario Linux Fest, Open Street Map, numerous FLOSS
>> projects, FLOSS fund...  and stimulated other groups with similar
>> free/libre perspectives.  I would go as far as to say that KWLUG is the
>> flagship Linux User Group in the country on the basis of vitality,
>> (anarchic) organization and tangible impact.
>>
>> So what is it, exactly, that we are trying to fix?
>>
> 
> I agree with Lori.
> 
> I like some of the ideas tossed around: reaching out for new audience,
> getting
> us advertised somewhere (e.g. The Record community events), newbie night,
> social, ...etc.
> 
> We are fortunate that our group is really active and has frequent
> interesting
> talks with high attendance.
> 
> Contrast that with GTA LUG (with Toronto being the center of the universe
> and all). They had noticeably lower attendance when I was giving the LAMP
> talk there. Perhaps 15 to 20 compared to around 30 in KW.
> 
> Whatever else we do, should be in addition to, not in lieu of,  what is
> working
> now. It should not overlap in time or space lest we lose momentum.
> 
> Think AND not OR, and specially not XOR.

I don't believe this to be possible.

There are multiple audiences to be addressed, within a simultaneous 
time frame, with no greater resources. Or, said another way, an 
additional audience to address.

Nobody has suggested, and I agree, that anything be taken away from 
kwlug. Merely to engage this additional audience within the excess 
space, simultaneously, that we already occupy. Comprising of those who 
would not, or otherwise would not, partake of the 'advanced' 
presentations, possibly with those who aren't really paying attention 
to them anyways.

IIRC, there is no 'newbie' 'quibble' with anything before, or after, 
these advanced presentations. Just (some of) the presentations themselves.

Ultimately, those partaking of such, presumably, become more 
'mainstream' and stay with the presentations. Unlike, apparently, 
today, where once they are gone, they are gone.

Which, I guess, really begs the question - do we care?


In any case, this is not what this thread is about, nor why I started 
it. This thread is asking, do we want to keep shouting into the wind, 
or collect some information and pin down the nature and scope of the 
issue.