On Wed, Jan 08, 2003 at 12:10:28AM -0500, John wrote:
> On Tue, 7 Jan 2003 21:39:35 -0500, Paul M Foster wrote:
>
> -> There are any number of good ideas like this out there. What
> they lack
> -> is someone to actually _do_ them. I'm better at managing than
> promoting,
> -> which is why at one point we had a young fellow whose job it
> was to
> -> promote SLUG. He moved away, and since then, no one has done
> it. We
> -> don't necessarily need someone to be our PR person (unless
> you just want
> -> the job), but if you have a promotional idea and enough
> time/guts to
> -> carry it out, that would be _really_ helpful.
>
> Paul, a couple of things to note:
>
> First, keep in mind that Michael, who started this thread, had a
> larger scale in mind. I'm not sure I agree with him that this
> is the way to go, nor do I disagree--I just have no opinion on
> it. However, I do have a tendency to think smaller/more local.
>
> Second, one important element in Michael's thinking, I believe,
> was to harness the Linux guys who are out of work. Kind of a
> win/win for both Linux and these individuals.
>
It kinda sounds like you thought I was running down Michael's ideas. If
so, that wasn't the case at all. Whenever someone asks for ideas, as a
group we can come up with a lot of them. My point was that they'll never
go anywhere unless someone steps up to actually do them.
> In any case, I don't think "promote SLUG" was the goal in his
> thinking, nor in mine. It's more a case of: "promote Linux",
> and "harness Linux guys who are looking for opportunities". Of
> course, the fallout from those two goals will certainly be a
> plus for SLUG!
>
Agreed. I don't much care whether it's SLUG or Linux that's being
promoted, though I think you can tie the two together to enhance SLUG.
> Now, to specifically address your comments: is that PR guy
> still available by email, or do you know what kinds of things he
> was planning?
>
<grin> Well, I kinda blindsided him with the suggestion that he be our
PR. I don't think he knew what to do really, and I doubt that he had any
concrete plans; he never came up with any ideas that got carried out,
anyway. His biggest assets were that he was enthusiastic, well-spoken,
and fit a business ethnic (dress, diction, communication skills). I have
no idea where he is now. He was engaged to a veterinarian who moved out
of the area, so he went with her.
> I don't want to sound like I'm ducking, but I am so very new to
> Linux, it certainly limits what I can do to help. Has SLUG ever
> developed a list of "speakers"; ie, people who are willing/able
> to speak in front of small groups, and who also have enough
> depth of knowledge?
>
I'd love to have such a group. There are three problems, as I see it. 1)
A lot of people have terrible stage fright. They don't do well as
speakers because they're so nervous. 2) A lot of guys who have guru
level knowledge simply can't express things in terms any simpler than
integral calculus. 3) A lot of guys who can speak well don't know beans
about Linux.
This isn't to say I don't think it's a great idea. I'd love to have
people around who could do this, and if you can find them, I'm there.
For our meetings, there are no "entrance requirements" for speakers. If
you can speak English, you can do a presentation.
> Digressing for a minute--I remember a time, many years back,
> when I was working at a company with a great bunch of people.
> There came a time when the company was bought up, and we could
> see the axe coming, some months in the future. Some of us
> started having meetings every couple of weeks over coffee, just
> brainstorming ideas for ventures, etc. A lot of interesting
> ideas came from that.
>
> It has sounded, on the SLUG list, as if there are people
> unemployed, and underemployed, and also people who have a real
> taste for startups. Any chance that they might want to meet
> from time to time for bull sessions, and/or have a mail list for
> discussions? One thing I often wonder about: if one or more
> Linux guys wasn't working, is there any way that they could make
> some extra money by offered scheduled classes? Don't shoot this
> down--all I'm saying is that maybe a sub-group of SLUG might
> want to kick these ideas around. Again, these kinds of things
> can mesh with local vendors who will find it easier to sell a
> Linux box if training is readily available....
>
Robin mentions the training angle in a later email on this thread, and
suggests caution. He's been around much longer than I have, and I
suspect he's right.
Meetings can be a vehicle for "bull sessions". If 4-5 guys want to get
together prior to meetings, or after we've conducted the main business,
they're welcome to.
> Are you getting any feedback about that "helpers" page? Is it
> working? Do we need to promote just that particular feature,
> perhaps?
>
If I ever get feedback about it, it will be slim. I'm sure someone's
getting something out of it here and there, but they're probably not
going to call me up and say, "Gee, Paul, I just made $10,000 off that
page! You're my hero!" But there was a lot of enthusiasm for it to
start, and it wasn't too much of a problem to put up the page and
maintain it.
> As for me, bottom line, if you want somebody to put in a few
> hours helping out, I can do that. Participate on a promotion
> committee, I can do that. If you need Linux knowledge...no way!
> Check with me next year! If you want a list set up just for
> discussion of opportunities (and not Yahoo!), I can do that.
>
> I hope this isn't too off topic for this list. If so, I
> apologize. Anybody that wants to email me off list should feel
> free to do so.
>
Well, it's Linux and it's SLUG, and it's not insulting, so I think it's
pretty much on-topic. ;-}
Paul
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