[NBLUG/talk] State of the LUG (Talk post for discussion)

[Allan Cecil]

A couple people have commented that they would want to see a booth at an upcoming fair but I haven't seen any volunteers to staff it so I'll pitch the idea at tonight's general meeting and see what comes out of the discussion.  If we can get a coordinator lined up and enough volunteers to work the booth it might be something worth doing.  I do not know how much a booth would cost and I also know that we do not have any kind of existing banner or other "advertising" printed out so we'd have to decide as a group if it made sense to seek donations to cover those kinds of costs.  Thanks again for the suggestions everyone,

A.C.
******

On 03/03/2014 03:32 PM, Allan Cecil wrote:
> I like the idea of having a booth at the fair as that would definitely generate exposure.  The Sonoma County Fair is later this year so perhaps we can get a committee together to staff a booth there.  I'll bring it up at the next board meeting.  Thanks for the suggestions!
>
> A.C.
> ******
>
> On 03/02/2014 04:36 PM, Mike Rice wrote:
>> This interesting problem pops up occasionally with clubs, and I think is an inevitable part of existence. I'm currently president of the Clallam County Amateur Radio Club, but kept listening to NBLUG after I left the area. I think it's interesting!
>>
>>
>> But enough of that. Here are some direct idea seeds:
>>
>>
>> 1. Everyone in my house uses Linux in one form or another. It's installed on all computers, of which we have several, and kept up-to-date with one stubborn exception (she won't let me touch it). I only fire up XP on the occasion I have to use the single application I haven't yet discovered how to run but that's for another discussion.
>>
>> 2. My #2 son is learning java from an Aussie in Oz over Skype on his cobbled 64-bit system. Secretly I think he fancies her, but that's for another discussion.
>>
>>
>> 3. I use fldigi to let my computer converse with my ham radio using a box of transformers and resistors I threw together in an hour. Sure, I had to read a manual, but that's for another discussion.
>>
>> 4. My router uses Tomato, but that's just me. Some folks in my ham club are toying with HSMM-MESH (High Speed Multimedia Mesh) using wrt54-relatives as an exercise. We also have some packet activity for fun and ARES. Oh yeah, those are different discussions.
>>
>>
>> 5. Getting participation?
>>
>> Yesterday I sat a table for the Kiwanis Kids Fest to advocate for ham radio and got a few nibbles.
>>
>> We'll have a booth at the county fair this year, and are trying to get a curriculum feeder with local middle/high school teachers.
>>
>> We hold classes twice yearly and offer FCC testing to anyone who's interested.
>>
>> We use and overuse club members to get more contacts for presentations and lectures.
>>
>> Recently we held a hackfest/antenna build as an entry for folks who didn't already have something to show for it. The kicker? Port Angeles is smaller than Santa Rosa and we advertised in the local paper. Sure it cost but we charge an annual membership fee where NBLUG doesn't, and we hold fundraisers and raffle old things of interest.
>>
>>
>> 6. Based on your fabulous examples I started a LUG in Brookings, Oregon, when we lived there in 2009. I'm not there, but the SCLUG still meets in spite of cruft. Nice guys, the lot of them. (do not search in CA, NZ, UK, or AU)
>>
>>
>> Um, I think I've said enough on this topic for now. Thanks for listening.
>>
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> C. Mike Rice
>> KF7VZZ at gmail.com
>> dolo724 at yahoo.com
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Allan Cecil <allan at nblug.org>
>> Greetings,
>> I encourage everyone to share their thoughts about this State of the LUG update on the talk list and I look forward to a lively discussion.  Thanks,
>>
>> Allan Cecil
>> President, North Bay Linux User's Group
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