Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
All of your initial thoughts are correct Phil, follow MPG's advice and get something going: informal, wiki page (copy another chapter's structure), and mailing list (file a ticket on Trac), and start meeting once a month after work. I do see formal Chapters in OSGeo (I notice the Japan chapter just had a call for renewing their paid memberships), but it is really up to you and your local community, how formal you want to get. Most important: get together and share and have fun! :) -jeff On 2014-04-22, 11:00 PM, Phil Nugent wrote: Thanks for sharing your perspective and experience Michael. I've been thinking along the same lines for getting started by having an informal, after hours meeting with a talk and general discussionand food and beer never hurts. ;) I'm encouraged that I'm thinking along the same lines as someone who's been through it. ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
Thanks for the feedback Jeff. Like I told MPG, there seem to be alot of people here interested in areas that align with OSGeo's mission and beyond and it would just be nice to have informal meetings offline and aside from work, so that's how I'll approach it. Thanks again for your input! On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 7:16 AM, Jeff McKenna jmcke...@gatewaygeomatics.com wrote: All of your initial thoughts are correct Phil, follow MPG's advice and get something going: informal, wiki page (copy another chapter's structure), and mailing list (file a ticket on Trac), and start meeting once a month after work. I do see formal Chapters in OSGeo (I notice the Japan chapter just had a call for renewing their paid memberships), but it is really up to you and your local community, how formal you want to get. Most important: get together and share and have fun! :) -jeff On 2014-04-22, 11:00 PM, Phil Nugent wrote: Thanks for sharing your perspective and experience Michael. I've been thinking along the same lines for getting started by having an informal, after hours meeting with a talk and general discussionand food and beer never hurts. ;) I'm encouraged that I'm thinking along the same lines as someone who's been through it. ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
2014-04-23 15:10 GMT+02:00 Phil Nugent philip.j.nug...@gmail.com: Thanks for the feedback Jeff. Like I told MPG, there seem to be alot of people here interested in areas that align with OSGeo's mission and beyond and it would just be nice to have informal meetings offline and aside from work, so that's how I'll approach it. Thanks again for your input! Everything important is already said but maybe you can enjoy this talk I did last year at FOSS4G Buenos Aires about OSGeo Spanish LC and the Geoinquietos spread (kind of small city LCs). The slides are in Spanish but Google Translate does a good enough job. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=essl=autotl=enu=http%3A%2F%2Fjsanz.github.io%2Fslides-201304-foss4gba%2Fgeoinquietos%2F By the way, just as a side note, here in Valencia we did a full year of geobeers before starting to meet on a more serious place (University, no beer allowed). Good luck!! -- Jorge Sanz http://www.osgeo.org http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jorge_Sanz ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
What I learned in Corvallis: Have a meeting scheduled for the same time slot EVERY month. Then be there, even if you don't know if anyone will show up. If no one else shows, you still have a committed time to study and learn with no distractions. Don't you want that anyway? If one or two people show, you work together. If 4-5 or more show then you start having presentations, formal or not. I think I got the most out of those informal sessions. In Corvallis meetings varied anywhere from 1 (me!) to 15-20. Formal format with topic and speaker does not guarantee attendance! I am sure the OSU calendar impacts it but the big mistake I made the first year was taking a summer break and then not restarting in the fall. Just ignore the calendar and keep going. Trying to get a speaker every month is sure to burn you out. Now that I am moving I assume the Corvallis group will just cease to exist. I also plan on starting a similar group in Santa Rosa as soon as I find a location for meetings. The first 2 or 3 meetings were stressful to me. (I'm a geek!) After that it's just fun. Brian (still in Corvallis) ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
Thanks for the input Jorge! I'm thinking geobeers will definitely be part of it :) On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 9:44 AM, Jorge Sanz js...@osgeo.org wrote: 2014-04-23 15:10 GMT+02:00 Phil Nugent philip.j.nug...@gmail.com: Thanks for the feedback Jeff. Like I told MPG, there seem to be alot of people here interested in areas that align with OSGeo's mission and beyond and it would just be nice to have informal meetings offline and aside from work, so that's how I'll approach it. Thanks again for your input! Everything important is already said but maybe you can enjoy this talk I did last year at FOSS4G Buenos Aires about OSGeo Spanish LC and the Geoinquietos spread (kind of small city LCs). The slides are in Spanish but Google Translate does a good enough job. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=essl=autotl=enu=http%3A%2F%2Fjsanz.github.io%2Fslides-201304-foss4gba%2Fgeoinquietos%2F By the way, just as a side note, here in Valencia we did a full year of geobeers before starting to meet on a more serious place (University, no beer allowed). Good luck!! -- Jorge Sanz http://www.osgeo.org http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jorge_Sanz ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
Thanks for sharing you experience Brian! That's a great point about consistency...I'll have to remember that when I get started. On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 1:01 PM, Brian Wilson br...@wildsong.biz wrote: What I learned in Corvallis: Have a meeting scheduled for the same time slot EVERY month. Then be there, even if you don't know if anyone will show up. If no one else shows, you still have a committed time to study and learn with no distractions. Don't you want that anyway? If one or two people show, you work together. If 4-5 or more show then you start having presentations, formal or not. I think I got the most out of those informal sessions. In Corvallis meetings varied anywhere from 1 (me!) to 15-20. Formal format with topic and speaker does not guarantee attendance! I am sure the OSU calendar impacts it but the big mistake I made the first year was taking a summer break and then not restarting in the fall. Just ignore the calendar and keep going. Trying to get a speaker every month is sure to burn you out. Now that I am moving I assume the Corvallis group will just cease to exist. I also plan on starting a similar group in Santa Rosa as soon as I find a location for meetings. The first 2 or 3 meetings were stressful to me. (I'm a geek!) After that it's just fun. Brian (still in Corvallis) ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
On 04/23/2014 10:01 AM, Brian Wilson wrote: Santa Rosa So moving into OSGeo California territory? FYI, the closest current thing is the GeoMeetup in SF area that Ragi runs. http://www.meetup.com/geomeetup/ For everyone else: In big states it's a little harder for a Chapter to hold meetings more than a few times a year. A core group of friendly acquaintances close enough to meet once a month seems to work well. FYI, Linux User Groups are one such model to look at. My town has managed to have one for 15 years with attendance from 3-100. All it takes is one person constantly organizing. Thanks, Alex ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
Hey all, I’m wondering about general guidance or anecdotal experiences of creating a local chapter or informal users groups. I’m wondering whether it helps to have a fleshed out mission and objectives with some sort of general roadmap or whether critical mass of interest is gained organically over time and to not worry about the details and just create a wiki page to guage interest. I am thinking of organizing a small seminar series at work for people interested in FOSS4G, but beyond that, do you all have any guidance for reaching out to potential cohorts in a fledgling chapter’s region? I have thoughts on the mission of the chapter aside from goals aligned with the greater community, but wonder if it’s better if that arises naturally as, and if, more people become involved. Any guidance is appreciated. - Phil ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance
Phil: Don¹t worry about the formalities: just find a few people who will regularly attend and talk about cool stuff, and then let things organically grow form there. It may take time, but be patient. Remember, a cool group of five people sitting around chatting for an hour is perfectly fine: you don¹t need to have a fancy venue, dozens of people, or Big Name speakers. CUGOS (www.cugos.org) has been around for 7(!) years now, with monthly attendance averaging 20-30 people (we hit a record 53 last week). Just off the top of my head, some of the things we¹ve learned over the years: * Try to find a place you can meet regularly, rather than switching venues all the time initially, just a conference room at a local library or university is fine. Or perhaps one of your core attendees has a company meeting room available after hours. * Try to connect with your local college or university. Seniors and grad students can present projects they¹re working on. Students looking to graduate soon need to network, find skills they¹re missing, etc. * Don¹t overly restrict yourself to Open Source GIS. If you get a chance to host a good talk on some new GIS app or technology outside the open source realm, or a cool new open source thing outside of GIS, go for it. If a local GIS company wants to pitch their services, why not? * Get a mailing list going you¹re likely to reach 10x the number of people on a list over in-person meetings. In fact, consider just starting with a mailing list, letting it grow for a while, and then hold your first face-to-face meeting once you¹ve got some traction. * Food always helps. Pass around a hat for donations and you¹ll almost certainly wind up with a bit of profit from the evening you can use to seed the next meeting. * Going out for beers afterwards also helps. We get probably get 1/4 or 1/3 of our attendees socializing at a local bar for an hour or two after our the actual meeting itself. (We¹ve reached the point where we need to give the bar a heads-up call in advance so they¹re prepared for 10-20 people to walk in all at once and ask for a table.) * When you get a critical mass, hold outreach events: it¹s a public service first, and as a side-benefit it will promote your group to others who may be interested. Every year CUGOS holds an all-day event on the campus of UW that attracts a lot of attention. Some of our members also volunteer their services for various events like career fairs, mapping parties, GIS Day at local schools, training, informal workshops and sprints, etc. Good luck! -mpg From: Phil Nugent philip.j.nug...@gmail.com Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at 6:15 PM To: discuss@lists.osgeo.org Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance Hey all, I¹m wondering about general guidance or anecdotal experiences of creating a local chapter or informal users groups. I¹m wondering whether it helps to have a fleshed out mission and objectives with some sort of general roadmap or whether critical mass of interest is gained organically over time and to not worry about the details and just create a wiki page to guage interest. I am thinking of organizing a small seminar series at work for people interested in FOSS4G, but beyond that, do you all have any guidance for reaching out to potential cohorts in a fledgling chapter¹s region? I have thoughts on the mission of the chapter aside from goals aligned with the greater community, but wonder if it¹s better if that arises naturally as, and if, more people become involved. Any guidance is appreciated. - Phil ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
