Paul Lussier said: > In a message dated: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 14:52:02 EST > Jeffry Smith said: > > >There were only two of us there, so it probably wouldn't have hurt to totally > >cancel the meeting. On the other hand, we had one meeting cancel on short > >notice, and got several e-mails to the list about people who showed up because > >they don't / can't monitor the list during the week. Jerry Feldman of BLU > >suggested having backup plans for meetings, to prevent this problem (that's > >why I went to Martha's anyway, at least I got a nice dinner ;-). > > Right, which is why I was asking. Do people in general feel that we *should* > have backup plans, or do we not care? Are the people who used to care no > longer on the list, and therefore aren't coming to meetings, or are they still > here, yet not actively monitoring the list during the day for whatever reason? > > I'm all for having backup plans, but I also don't want to waste other people's > time making them (nay, forcing, requiring even) to hang out and eat dinner, > and possibly drink good beer if they don't have too :) > -- > I know one of the reasons for having the backup plans is for new people who may have heard of the group and the "standard" meeting time/location of the local chapter, decide to attend, and don't find anyone there. They then may get p****d off enough not to come back. One thing I remember from one of my business classes was the power of negative word of mouth. I don't remember the exact numbers, but it went something like "Every pleased customer will tell 5 of his friends. Every upset customer will tell 10 of his friends." I know we're not a business, but we are trying to promote Linux, which means getting it into businesses. This is something to consider. How do we ensure the new guy doesn't get mad just because we had a scheduling snafu? Especially since the newbie is the one most likely NOT to be plugged into the "network?" Note that the backup plans don't have to be complex, they may just be "someone being there, ready to talk Linux." jeff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeffry Smith Technical Sales Consultant Mission Critical Linux [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone:603.930.9739 fax:978.446.9470 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Thought for today: calculator [Cambridge] n. Syn. for bitty box. ********************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the *body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter: unsubscribe gnhlug **********************************************************
