> If LOPSA is trying to do anything, it is trying to create community so that good things happen all over the country. This would destroy that.
I'm not going to wade into this right now, but for the record, one of the most common comments I hear about LOPSA membership is, "I'd be interested in joining, but there's no chapter near me". Clearly, my response is an emphatic "LET ME HELP YOU START ONE!", but for a variety of reasons, it can't always happen. The nationally livestreamed periodic event that you go on to mention would be a big boon to those people in parts of the country and world where there aren't yet chapters. We're working on a way to build and present this idea in a way that makes sense. The label branding might not have been spot-on in the original email, but the spirit of the idea is solid. --Matt On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 11:23 AM, Tom Limoncelli <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Chris Palmer <[email protected]>wrote: > >> so you may end up with a situation where project Y doesn't happen because >> nobody wants to do it, and project X doesn't happen because when someone >> comes >> along and really wants to do it, folks say "but project Y is far more >> important...: >> > > You just described the concept of business discipline. > > There's a trade-off between being inventive/creative vs. distracted beyond > hope. There is a middle ground. > > I have not yet said if I am for or against a virtual chapter. I simply > asked, "What problem does this solve? How does that fit within our > mission?" Nobody has answered either question. (and it is amazing what > chaos asking such basic questions caused). > > Now I'm going to take off my "tom who tries to stay neutral" hat and put > on my "tom who is involved in a local chapter hat". > > This project does not fit within the priorities identified by the board. > In fact, it goes against them. One of the top priorities is to build > local chapters. A virtual chapter would sap potential members from local > chapters. There would be no reason to attend a meeting if LOPSA national > was creating content that was free and attracted big name speakers. The > local chapters are important because they build community and provides > networking opportunities that only work in-person. If LOPSA is trying to > do anything, it is trying to create community so that good things happen > all over the country. This would destroy that. > > I think there is a place for some kind of nationally livestreamed periodic > event. Can it be done without putting the local chapters at risk? > > The two biggest problems I see local chapters having is (a) finding > content and (b) finding new members. How are you helping fix those two > problems? > > One way would be, rather than having it be a "virtual chapter", simply > have it be a monthly speakers series that is done via Google Hangouts Live. > This would raise awareness of LOPSA in general, which would increase the > number of people that local chapters could recruit from (helping problem > B). At the start of each on-line event there should be a brief and subtle > mention that local chapters exist, and show a URL that helps people find > their local chapter, or start a chapter themselves. Local chapters could > have "viewing parties" where people get together in-person to watch the > talk (live or recorded) and then discuss it in person. Local facilitators > could use the viewing party as an ice-breaker to encourage networking. > (helping problem A) Perhaps they would schedule a local speaker to go > first before the viewing, or the viewing event would be separate. > > The other benefit to doing it this way is that is is more likely to get > off the ground than virtual chapters. Sometimes projects at LOPSA never > launch because we get mired in forming the infrastructure. It will take a > long time to set up a chapter, go through all the motions, figure out how > to define and manage membership, etc. Don't risk losing momentum during > all that. Starting a speaker series is light weight; you need 1-2 people > to start recruiting speakers and 1-2 people to do PR. There's no membership > structure to set up, and people can join LOPSA using the normal channels > that exist already. > > That might not be what you were looking to do initially, but I think it > would have a higher chance of success and be more in alignment with the > organization's goals. > > Tom > > -- > Email: [email protected] Work: [email protected] > Skype: YesThatTom > Blog: http://EverythingSysadmin.com > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > >
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