On 14/05/2014 20:48, John Gilpin wrote:
Geoff,
I have been following your ramblings about the QL-is-30 "Workshop"
with more than a little interest (but not much!!)
Your comments regarding the help and interest for this event coming
only from overseas, leads me to see that you have experienced the same
apathetic response that the current QUANTA committee members have, for
many years, experienced from the South-UK QLers (and especially QUANTA
UK Members). Although the percentage attendance of the UK QUANTA
members at QUANTA events during the last decade has been unacceptably
low, it is far greater than the attendance of the OS QUANTA Members
(which one can count on one had with half the digits removed!). It
will be interesting to see what the attendance is like in Edinburgh
from both UK and OS.
So far of the names I have 9 are overseas and 8 UK. (I believe there are
two more overseas but I do not have their names.) All told 6 countries
should be represented.
Those of you who have spent some time as a "QL Trader" have the
benefit of a wider address book of QLers than QUANTA has (their
address book is limited to UK and OS members past and present), which
gives you the edge when it comes to filling the void left by the
apathetic UK QLers.
All the OS QUANTA members, have been invited (like the UK ones) to
every event that QUANTA has put on, be it a Workshop (one or two days
in length), Show or any other name that you would like to call it
(QUANTA has consistently called it a workshop on the grounds that it
is the attendees who make it into whatever type of event they want,
when (and if) they get there.)
In practice I don't think Quanta shows have been workshops for about 10
years, with the exception of QLis21 and possibly 2011 when we had
Quanta issues (constitution and subscription).
You have also identified that when QUANTA were able to attract UK
people with any QL savvy to a QUANTA event, then we used them to give
a talk or demonstration (and under the direction of a previous QUANTA
Chairman, contributed financially to their out-of-pocket expenses - a
move which has been greatly criticised as "QUANTA Workshops/Annual
General Meetings cost too much to put on"). But then, QUANTA has got
both money that it is not afraid to spend (since no one else seems
interested in using it) and some equipment which you are welcome to
use if you need it (Projector & Screen for presentations).
Very good policy and much appreciated. I was going to make use of it
when I did the activities for Solihull in 2007, but I think my speakers
all said it was not necessary.
As far as I know we don't need to use any of Quanta's equipment,
although I was prepared to request the projector. The church are being
generous in letting us use their facilities.
One thing I would appreciate from Quanta is if someone would be prepared
to say a few words about electronic participation in meetings. I am not
thinking in terms of the technical details, but more how it has turned
out in practice.
It is also fair to say that the current QUANTA Committee have been in
service for many years unlike some other EX-QUANTA committee members
who, when times got tough, backed away from their volunteered
responsibilities, or resigned from QUANTA altogether!
And finally, you seem to have accepted that one needs local people on
the ground to investigate the availability of suitable venues for an
event such as QL-is-30 and expecting people to travel hundreds of
miles to do this is a complete waste of time, effort and money.
So we wish George Gwilt, John Sadler and all the QUANTA SQLUG Subgroup
all the best in their efforts to host the QL-is-30 event in 2014. See
you all there. :-)
Indeed George and John have not yet been given all the credit they have
deserved,
Best wishes,
Geoff
_______________________________________________
QL-Users Mailing List
http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
