[NTLUG:Discuss] Do LUGs Still Matter?

[Leroy Tennison]

Stan Gatchel wrote:

> Leroy,
>
> Thanks for your suggestions. I was wondering if we could have some 
> regular program for newbies and if we did that, would anybody show up?
>
> Long ago (yikes! 3 years ago this April) we held a 1 day seminar at 
> the Grand Prairie High School called "Linux in Education, Spring 
> Conference." It was all organized by a wonderful teacher there named 
> Marilyn Hagle, who, on her own, put Knoppix on all the workstations in 
> her class. She became a Linux enthusiast and decided to hold this 
> conference in 2002. She obtained approval from the school posted for 
> help on some sites. That's where I learned of the conference and wrote 
> to her. Several of the LUG members helped (Dennis? Tom?). We only had 
> about 20 people attend, but some came as far away as Austin and some 
> were from Dallas. It was completely focused on elementary education. 
> Some students even gave demos. The people who attended really 
> appreciated it.
> Marilyn still has the link up:  http://www.hagle.com/index.html (click 
> on the speakers and links to see the agenda)
>
> The conference assumed no previous knowledge of Linux (or even 
> computers for that matter). Through a series of presentations, we 
> stepped people through the basic ideas in simple terms.  All the 
> presentations were developed in OO.o 1.0. The presentations given that 
> day have been sent everywhere. In fact, Marilyn still sends these 
> presentations to people.
>
> One of the attendees, Gil Brand, who lead the NTPCUG Linux SIG every 
> month at North Lake College, asked me to present some of these 
> segments at their meetings, which I did. I don't think many newbies 
> were there but they listened (with my luck, they were probably all sys 
> admins ;-)
>
> There seems to be a lot of interest in Linux but most people barely 
> understand what they use now. When you throw Linux at them it can be 
> overwhelming, so they stay with what they know. Would these people 
> show up at the meetings if we held a regular newbie sessions (maybe 
> separate from the main session?)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Stan
>
>>
>> Stan,
>>
>> A suggestion for you.  If you feel that there isn't enough activities 
>> for newbies then do this: During the month, write down a list of 
>> questions that come up and bring them to the meeting (my further 
>> recommendations are that you do so as they arise so you don't forget 
>> and that you print them on paper with enough room between each to 
>> write down an answer).  There's usually someone at the 9am Linux 
>> Installation Project who can answer them (no, it's not the primary 
>> purpose for the time but if someone has answers and you have 
>> questions and don't interrupt the installation process then who 
>> cares).  You can also use the time between meetings and after the 
>> main meeting to ask questions. Finally, tell us what's lacking.  
>> Chris has indicated that he is looking for new ideas and I believe 
>> that most of us are willing to help.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
Hmmm, now I'm asking "Who is the newbie?"  Sounds like you have been at 
it for a while.  Dennis goes through a beginners class before the main 
meeting on a regular basis.  We have an installation meeting at 9am 
every month.  Who is our audience and what are we missing?