[ale] RESEND: ALE meetings, leadership

[Benjamin Scherrey]

On Tuesday 31 July 2001 10:25 pm, Eric Z. Ayers wrote:
<snipped>
> * I feel the group is at a crossroads. Obviously, the mailing list
>      is still very active, and there are a lot of neat ideas flying
>      around there. Meeting attendance is strong at 40-60 people per
>      meeting.  However, at one time, we averaged over 100 per meeting,
>      and garnered enough enthusiasm to support a massive annual
>      Linux event in Atlanta.
<snipped>

Eric,

	I was at the formation meeting for ALE and have attended a number of 
meetings in the past but Thursday evenings became impossible for me I'm 
afraid (so are Mondays in case someone suggests them as an alternative). 
There's no question, however, that you and the rest of the leadership have 
handled this group in a most professional manner which is a great credit to 
you all. Finding replacements of similar quality has got to be a damn near 
impossible task. 

	I'd love to be able to attend ALE meetings again and Emory would be fine for 
me but the meeting times would have to change to something my schedule 
allows. Anyone else think Tuesdays would be okay???

	As far as how to increase attendence - that's tough. I know that the after 
hours hacker sessions at the Linux General Store helped keep a sense of 
action and hands-on fun going. Its too bad that's gone. I'm still kinda 
annoyed that they renamed and move the ALS. The new name/concept is so hokey 
I doubt I'd attend if it came back here. Of course, Linux was *new* back then 
and has matured into a reliable (aka boring?) business tool that has all the 
responsibilities of an adult now. I guess these things are slightly 
inevitable. I'd only suggest that the group do some project that lends itself 
well to lots of hands and could be relatively self organizing (like Open 
Source, right??? ;-) ). Perhaps a more informal show here in Atlanta at some 
location like SciTrek. I know that the local robot hobbyist group does some 
neat stuff there.

	Of course all this is Blue Sky and I'm the last person with the time to 
pursue any leadership role outside of my current commitments so I don't know 
what else to say. ALE is a great group and has been led by some impressive 
people and I'd hate to see it decline into a PC users group. This might mean 
that ALE has to start owning some assets and that the group be more formally 
organized to be able to pull it off. I'm interested in hearing any other 
suggestions.

	regards & later,

		Ben Scherrey
--
To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" in message body.