On Wed, 2007-01-03 at 12:49 +1100, Ben Powell wrote: > Us down here at TasLUG discussed making this sort of suggestion to LA, > but after much debate we decided that it would not be such a good idea > because if a State/region did not nominate a member it sends a very bad > message firstly to their community and potential members and secondly to > LA and the general Linux community, although reasons for a lack of > nomination are often to do with a lack of time to contribute (I know > that all of the TasLUG executive are totally flat-out most of the time - > and many of our members are too). If a State/region does not have an LA > delegate then it may hurt its chances of expanding as its potential > community of members may see it as not being a 'serious' LUG. I'd advocate having it be somebody not on the LUG or LA ctte. somebody else in the community who can use this bit of cross-group communication as a good way to contribute to the wider community. e.g. for LUV, I could be the guy for 2007 - neither on LA ctte or LUV ctte, but pretty well connected to both and understand what's going on.* [*] this shouldn't be taken too literally as a "give stewart more work" thing. > This is why I made the suggestion of the Conference of Australian LUGs - > it means that at least once a year a LUG exec member can meet with > others and LA to share ideas and knowledge and hopefully develop > strategies to better run their LUG and expand their membership. I think > that the teleconf participation by a LUG rep is also an excellent idea > to help LUG-LA communications - possibly putting this on a rotational > basis amongst LUGs (rather than just asking for calls for participation) > may be a good way of ensuring that everyone gets to participate. perhaps LUG people joining LA ctte for full/half a day at their f2f? a fly in/out from the most populated areas of the country is pretty cheap (i'd be fine for springing for a hotel for anyone travelling from one coast to the other though) > On the issue of getting speakers, etc. to LUGs - this is something > TasLUG's been discussing for a while. We want to try and have a major > event in addition to our regular monthly meetings once a quarter eg. get > someone (either interstate or overseas) down to talk at least once a > quarter or run some other major event. It'd also be great to get a > LA-rep down for one of these so we can all "touch-base". However, the > limit of 50 LUG members may be a trifle high for many small-yet-active > LUGs (TasLUG has over 50, but many others that are just as active do > not) - the measure probably should be more based on activity with a > smaller min. member number or alternatively on a purely discretionary > grants basis, then the LA community has an opportunity to comment before > making a speaking grant - although this adds extra admin to the LUG and > to LA. i really think we need a page somewhere that easily lists how to contact LUGs for the "i'm in your area for work/holiday, is it a good time to speak at your lug?". A number of us try to be proactive, but are rather busy and travel does really sneak up on you. > As far as getting internationals down to talk, maybe try and co-ordinate > these talks with international visits for LCA - eg. after LCA maybe some > speakers would be able to do a talk for a LUG or two. I know many of > them are too busy and only fly-in/fly-out but if LA can even get 2-3 a > year that will reduce the cost as the international leg of their fare is > already paid. certainly. would be a good plan to encourage this for 08. want to be the co-ordinator of convincing speakers to travel a bit after the conf? i know that several international guests have toured Tasmania at various points and loved it... surely checking out the local FOSS groups would be awesome too -- Stewart Smith (stewart@linux.org.au) Committee Member, Linux Australia
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