On Sun, 8 Feb 2004, Amish Munshi spake thusly:
My only problem is to get speakers to speak on something, today there is no one to speak on any technical topic and the number of people interested in coming for the meet is decreasing.
Let us look at reasons why someone would want to attend such a meet.
#1 Meet other GNU/Linux users #2 Learn something new #3 Have fun #4 #1 #5 #2 #6 #3 ...
Of which we have a minor success at #1. #2 and #3 remain unfulfilled. In the last few meet I have been to there have been a high percentage of newbies. But they dont turn up for the next meet. Shows that they do not get what they expected form the meet. Other like me go to meet folks I know. Spending half a day to meet some folks for a few minutes is expensive.
Why dont we have more informal meets with a lot more FUN in them? Order some food. Eat. Drink. Discuss stuff. People will come only if they can enjoy the experience. For me, I did NOT enjoy the last few meets which were extremely drab will all of us sitting done in some classroom trying not to nodd off. Instead of having seminars and talks we should aim at "informal discussions". Get rid of the protocol and the politics. If we collect some small amount for the food and drink I guess we could separate a small percentage of it for other LUG activities and expenses.
Bottomline is, GLUG meets are boring. And we need to seriously look at this issue.
just my two paise worth.