[dayton-oracle] Aug. 28 organizational meeting minutes

From: "Catherine Devlin" <catherine.devlin@xxxxxxxxx>
To: dayton-oracle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:43:31 -0400
I think we'll make a practice of posting minutes from each meeting here at
dayton-oracle, but follow-up discussion should go to
dayton-oracle-organizers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

--  Minutes from Aug. 28 organizational meeting  --

In (+ ), I'm inserting things that weren't discussed in the meeting but that
came up later, or that I wanted to add after the meeting.

Attending: Matthew Morrisey, Vijay Pasupuleti, Howard Carson, Dave Van
Zandt, Catherine Devlin

In general, we dedided to start the group with a minimalist and experimental
approach - doing "the simplest thing that could possibly work".  This means
that pretty much everything we're deciding can flex later, as we look for
solutions that meet the needs of the membership.

BUDGET:

For now, we'll avoid having either income or expenses - excess complication,
and meeting fees could deter attendees.  Events will be free, refreshments
will be bring/buy your own.

MEETING LOGISTICS:

meet in evenings - better for members who can't take work-hours to meet
meeting times overlap with dinner, so food should be available for purchase
for now, this means restaurants
1st tentatively planned for Panera Bread on Brown St. in Dayton (has
separate room, wireless access)
may move location around area to draw in people from various areas
(Middletown?  Springfield?)

possible non-restaurant locales:
  company offices
  MAX Tech Training office, New Horizons
  public libraries
  colleges / schools

(+ for non-restaurants, a plan to chip in informally for refreshments may be
appropriate, the way the Dayton Linux SIG gets pizza.  Problem: laptop
keyboards do not like pizza grease.)

MEETING CONTENTS:

Problems with traditional imported-speaker/passive-audience format:
  expense of importing speakers
  sometimes boring
  no differentiation from nearby traditional groups (OOUG, GCOUG)
Alternatives:
  local and nearby speakers, especially group members
  live demonstrations (inspired by Ohio InfoSec's "Now They Own You" series)
  group laboratory work - bring laptops, experiment on topics together
  (+ BarCamp-style?)

Possible future aspiration - arrange circuit for imported speaker to visit
several local groups on a single trip (Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis,
Toledo; Dayton as the hub)

OFFICERS:

Interim officers chosen by acclaim, volunteerism, and/or press-gang:
  President: Catherine Devlin
  Webmaster: Dave Van Zandt
  IOUG liason: Matt Morrisey

Will schedule genuine elections soon

"Meeting planner" position will rotate - Matt Morrisey will do first meeting

RECRUITMENT:

30 members currently on mailing list.
Oracle Corp. should be tapped to provide list of potential members

Howard Carson will pursue contacts at UD & Sinclair for student recruitment

An article in GDITA Technology First would be good

AFFILIATIONS:

Status as a Dayton Microcomputer Association (DMA) Special Interest Group
(SIG) will avoid need for our own organizational boilerplate (incorporation,
insurance, etc.)

Becoming an International Oracle User Group (IOUG) Regional User Group has
benefits:
  access to list of potential speakers, sponsors
  list of potential members

(+ Problem cropped up the following day: IOUG's RUG coordinator thinks we're
too geographically close to OOUG, InOUG to form RUG.  Discussion will follow
on dayton-oracle-organizers.)

ASSIGNMENTS:

Matt: look for speaker for October meeting among contacts at Smartronix;
arrange Oct. meeting
Catherine: contact Oracle Corp. for more potential members
Dave: start on website (once host is procured)
Everybody: keep recruiting!

-- 
- Catherine
http://catherinedevlin.blogspot.com/
[dayton-oracle] Aug. 28 organizational meeting minutes

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