[kwlug-disc] Attendance

Wed Oct 5 22:39:40 EDT 2022

Never mind about the QR code, I just found a big list of them, dead
easy...apologies for the many emails:-(
I will use qrencode, looks to be in all the repos and a nice clean CLI app.

Ron S.

On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 10:35 PM Ron Singh <ronsingh149 at gmail.com> wrote:

> No flames from me, as a matter of fact, I am in total agreement.
> I will restart my efforts with getting a flyer out to cop shops, local
> libraries and hospital wait areas.
>
> I've had decent success with 2 libraries here in Waterloo, KPL said get
> lost last time I tried.
> The police HQ in Kitchener was kind enough to hang a blurb in a lunch
> room.
> Hospitals were a bust the last time, but mebbe I will fare better this
> time around.
> I will also check to see if some local high schools will permit a flyer
> tacked in school event boards. Was able to get SJAM to do it once.
> Oh yeah, I will ask CanadaComputers about putting it up again.
>
> Can someone email me a QR code for the KWLUG homepage? I am a dumb and
> know not how to do this(OK, a lie, I am just being lazy about finding an
> app to do so), but I think having a QR code visible in that 1-pager is
> likely useful.
>
> That notice has a fetishistic 90s look about it that might appeal to the
> fringe-dwellers that make up a good portion of the Linux community...so
> yeah, I will give it another go 'round. I like 80s and 90s blurbs, so there!
>
> Ron S.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 10:09 PM CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Lots of good comments have been made in this discussion, but let me go
>> way outside the box for a minute and come up with a really crappy idea...
>>
>> My Dad was an ad-man, meaning that he sold advertising time on various
>> radio stations.  So I grew up knowing a lot about advertising.
>>
>> So the problem, as I see it (and assuming we consider it a problem) is
>> that we don't have a lot of members attending the meetings, physical or
>> virtual.  Well let's assume that no matter how many members we have
>> (variable 'x'), we only have 'y' members attending meetings, physical or
>> virtual.  'y' will never equal 'x' as there will always be members who just
>> can't attend for whatever reasons.
>>
>> So the challenge is to increase the total number of members ('x') and
>> hope that the meeting attendance ('y') goes up accordingly.  How do we
>> increase the 'x' members?  We advertise.  Now despite my Dad's expertise in
>> advertising, I don't think we want to buy radio airtime, or signs on buses,
>> or billboards, etc.  From what I heard, spreading the word on Twitter or
>> Facebook or any other social media doesn't seem to be working.  So we need
>> something new and (largely) untried before.
>>
>> If you're not pissed off at me by now, just wait for the next part....
>>
>> I think the best way to get the word out is to make our presence known in
>> key (strategic) areas.  For example, holding "Come learn about Linux"
>> sessions on UWloo campus.  Handing out laptop stickers (assuming we can
>> find a cheap print shop) at Communitech.  Setting up information booths at
>> job fairs.  Hell, doing a food drive for the homeless people in Tent City.
>> Anything!  Just make sure that any lost fool who happens to see us gets a
>> brochure telling him/her who we are, what we do, and how they can get on
>> the mailing list.
>>
>> Growing our group isn't impossible.  It isn't even improbable.  But it's
>> not easy.  There will be a lot of hard work involved, so we need to decide
>> as a group if we want to keep things the way they are, or to see if we can
>> take things to the next level.
>>
>> Commence flame throwing in three.. two... one...
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 9:43 PM Chris Irwin via kwlug-disc <
>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:
>>
>>> >On Wed, Oct 05, 2022 at 09:19:59AM -0400, Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc
>>> wrote:
>>> >> The problem with online events is that they are not special.
>>>
>>> My thoughts as well. I've attended a few virtual meetings here and there
>>> (both KWLug and another group), but fewer than when we were in person
>>> (and I drove in from London for them).
>>>
>>> I think the problem is a virtual meeting doesn't keep either the sense
>>> of "live" or "community". It feels more like idling in IRC while
>>> everybody watches the same youtube video. Not that I think open mic with
>>> 30 people is a solution, either -- we have enough trouble once we hit 5
>>> participants in virtual work meetings.
>>>
>>> >> For another you can convince yourself that you can just look at the
>>> >> video if you skip the meeting.
>>>
>>> Purely from a time commitment point of view, an article or youtube
>>> series is going to be more useful, as I can scrub through for the
>>> relevant parts, skip the backstory, and it's not artificially limited to
>>> fit a time slot.
>>>
>>> Once you lose the ability to kind of blurt out a related question, or
>>> chat on the side with other people, you're really in a tough place
>>> competing with "on demand" media.
>>>
>>> >> For a third attending such a meeting is yet more time you are
>>> >> spending looking at a screen.
>>>
>>> I viewed KWLug (in person) as a night out, while the virtual meetings I
>>> attend from my desk -- where I already spend too much time working.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 05, 2022 at 06:23:20PM -0400, Chris Frey wrote:
>>> > What can we change about the virtual meetings that would give
>>> >something special to those who show up, that just can't happen
>>> otherwise?
>>>
>>> This is a thought.
>>>
>>> I think the ability to go off-script is the key part of a live event,
>>> versus just watching it after.  For the most part, an
>>> in-person-presentation-but-online doesn't necessarily lend itself to
>>> that.
>>>
>>> I don't have any actual ideas to suggest, and I don't want to be a
>>> downer sapping anybody's motivation. But $above is why I haven't been
>>> attending, even though it's "easier" than in person.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Chris Irwin
>>>
>>> email:   chris at chrisirwin.ca
>>>   xmpp:   chris at chrisirwin.ca
>>>    web: https://chrisirwin.ca
>>>
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>>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
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>>>
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