- GNHLUG Mission Statement
I'm not sure that GNHLUG has ever had a written mission statement. I believe that the mission of GNHLUG should be something like this, but we should all agree on something at this meeting:
Open Source Software Education and Advocacy
The mission statement should be the guiding principle of the LUG, and should be considered in all pursuits of the LUG. If something that we do doesn't fit in the statement, we need to reconsider whether or not we should be doing that activity, or changing the mission of the organization. If we're failing to live up to the mission, we need to change what we're doing so that we do live up to the mission.
- Goals For First Year Towards Achieving Mission
I'd like to propose that we attempt to organize a community outreach someplace in the state at lease once a month. We should organize such efforts six months in advance, and expect that the membership share this work. I have just completed the first such event with a talk at the Henniker Rotary Club. I've also roped a few volunteers into delivering talks that are already developed, in the interest of seeding the monthly program schedule, so that our membership can begin planning for six months out (for a June or July event).
I don't believe that our meetings (as they've been) qualify as "education and advocacy", because I believe that our meetings have traditionally be held for the benefit of the membership (not the community). Of particular exception however is Rob Anderson's recent series on intro to Unix/Linux at UNH. This is an ideal example of the kind of outreach that we need to be doing.
- Organizational Requirements of Achieving Missions
I don't believe that our current informal organization is able to support outreach programs such as I propose. There is little accountability, and more importantly, nobody but the chairs and sub-chairs have specific jobs to do. Therefore, only a few people do all the work unless specifically asked.
- Formalizing The Organization
I propose that we formalize our membership. This doesn't mean that we need to do anything special, but it may be reasonable to have some minimal hoop to jump through to be a member. I think that there are a lot of people on the mail list that don't really care about meetings because they're in Zaire. Should they be considered members with a vote?
I further propose that we eventually transition this from a benevolent dictatorship to a simple election process. We can do voting online, and do so on a regular basis (such as annually).
Another part of formalizing will involve signing up people to do work. I dislike the term 'committee', so I'd prefer to think of these people and their groups as daemons or subtasks. 
Let's begin by assuming that the chapter chairs will take care of lining up talks, and will keep in touch with everyone else in the leadership group, so that we have good communication.
After that though, I'm thinking that groups concerning themselves with publicity, etc. may make sense. This way, if we're trying to put together a talk at a local bookstore in July, there's someone who's in the know about publicizing this kind of stuff can help out, and can call upon others to help.
As soon as we have formality, we should have a charter that describes how the organization works. The charter is also a requirement of....
...which I also believe that we need. Education and Advocacy costs money. Money for postage, copying, coffee and donuts, etc., and being a 501(c)(3) will allow those who donate to realize a tax advantage. It's not clear to me why we declined to proceed with this, but I suspect that there was a reluctance, or perhaps the lack of a perceived need, to formalize our organization. I think that we need the organization now, we can benefit from the NFP status, and this decision should be revisited. On our immediate wish list is a data projector!
Linux International cooperation
maddog has a plan for LI that involves LUGs, where LUGs can use LI as a resource, and visa-versa. I'll let him go into detail on this at the meeting, but I'd like what we do and how we do it to fit into his vision for LI.
In summary, I feel that GNHLUG can be a truly meaningful organization to the people in the communities which we serve (and I do believe that we should think of ourselves and conduct ourselves as a service organization). To do this, we need direction (a plan), organization (people who are expected to do specific work), and execution (we start Monday). I feel that we have the opportunity to be the prototype of how LUGs can work.
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