Alan DuBoff wrote On 10/13/06 02:45,:
On Wednesday 11 October 2006 10:08 pm, Jim Grisanzio wrote:
So ... where do we go from here?
Good question and I'm sure there will be a lot of response, but wanted to add
this point. (I need to head into the office)
I have run a lot of user groups over the past 25 years. I was involved with
the Tokyo PC User Group back in '82, which you may have noticed is still
going today (although I suspect they're having a harder time holding it
together with more interest and other groups such as OpenSolaris and/or Linux
in Japan).
I'll have to check 'em out. I've been talking a lot with the NSUG lately
-- they are Solaris, Java, SPARC, everything.
The most difficult piece of running any user group is by far getting great
speakers to give presentations.
I agree. But what else could we do that doesn't necessarily involve
presentations?
Now, I will go on record as saying that I have been very fortunate with
SVOSUG, since there has been access to many great engineers to offer
presentations from Solaris Engineering. And yes, I realize that many folks
are not as fortunate as we are, and that places a larger burden on them of
who will speak, what they will speak on, will it offer enough interest for
all, etc...
Yes, you are very much at ground zero there, my friend. :) But things
will diversify over time. The user groups are growing pretty well now.
The Czech group has met a great deal this year, and they are having
their second all day event. And in China, the Shanghai group, which is
new, had a good turnout for their first meeting. We're up to 40 user
groups now, but I'm not sure how many are active on a consistent basis.
The came names keep cropping up on ug-discuss. However, at least the
seeds are there, and several groups are very active.
I tell you this, because I am reaching a point where there are less people as
of recent, and this month I had 2 projects that were not ready for folks to
talk about just yet, even though they are in OpenSolaris already. The
engineers need some more time before they really give a decent presentation.
I have been advocating we figure out a way that we can share and participate
in our user group meetings, globally. BayLISA, for instance, used to
broadcast on the MBONE, and folks could watch in real time as the meeting
took place. We have not been able to create this global presence yet, and we
do have the technology available to use today, so we should be able to do it.
What would it take to do this? I assume we'd need a little cash, right?
I like the idea, though.
Oh, question: you are still doing phone access to your meetings, right?
This will not solve the problem of interacting with other members of the user
groups, talking shop, and networking in general. Many folks have come to
SVOSUG to meet some of the Sun engineers who show up on a monthly basis.
However, if we had a way for folks to participate, maybe we could have a
broadcast to a given location where a group of folks we also get together,
watch the streaming video in real time, and be able to ask questions to the
speaker/presenter, as well as being able to "network" with the local folks as
well.
I will leave this thought with you, I need to get into the office.;-)
Oh, and I almost forgot. You guys really need to get that Alan DuBoff guy over
to Japan. He would speak/present on most anything if Sun would send him over
there. He does speak some Japanese and knows and understand the culture over
there quite well, so could be a good person to have. Sun management should
consider sending that guy!<wink>
hey, you are welcome to come, man! The guys here are doing an install
fest next month, and I'm going to go to that. I'll send back some pics.
But maybe in the spring? I hear it's nice here in the spring time. :)
Maybe you can do an Alan tour: Japan, Korea, and China. An Asian install
fest. No, seriously, we need help in getting an Korean group started.
I'll be there for the OpenSolaris Day at Tech Days next month, so I hope
to find some people who are interested.
Jim
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