Kelly Leveille wrote:
Hi All,
I had a few ideas about for the meetings I thought I'd air for others to comment on.
Ideas are good. Comments are free. ;-)
Someone asked about "newbie" friendly topics, so how about a "command of the month"? It might be fun to have a different person each month do a micro presentation (10-15 mins max) on a single command. It should be enough to introduce the command & then provide a couple brief examples of usage scenarios. These presentations should be all demo (terminal) with no slides required. This might be a good way refresh the memories of the more experienced users, enlighten us "newbies" & would provide a not so stressful way to get more of the group members to become "presenters". Finally, the same command could be explored in more detail in the newsletter which might encourage more contribution there.
The meetings do tend toward the more advanced topics don't they... For the most part, I'm starting to catch on. This is after eight or nine years as a member of the group though. I don't think anybody would have a problem with a "newbie session" every now and then. However the majority of those actually going to the meetings aren't newbies and may be turned off if there were no more advanced topics.
I suppose we could look at alternatives for presentation times. There was, at one point, a second day set aside just to get together socially and talk computers. I don't think we had more than three or four people show up. I suspect if the group spun-off a newbie session in a similar way the results would be the same. Maybe (if it's OK with Steve) we could have the newbies meet at the table out in the hall at 6:30 before the main meeting... I like your idea about micro-presentations. Maybe we could have an advanced one and a newbie one taking place in different rooms. The users would know in advance which one they would want to attend. The groups would then join together for the main meeting.
On a related note, I was asked to give the MWCS a newbie level presentation on Linux equivalents to typical Windows tasks. Stuff like how to show a process list within a GUI, where to find the system information, or what is the equivalent to the "My Computer" icon. If things work out the presentation will take place at the next MWCS meeting (a week before the MUUG meeting). If anyone wants to attend that presentation they are more than welcome to drop by. I can even give the same presentation to the MUUG if anyone wants.
Second, it might be a nice change to have the presentation during the first half of the meeting, then take the break & finish with the round table. For longer presentations, we could take the break after an hour & resume after the break. This would allow "breathing room" for longer presentations as well as a an opportunity for more focussed round-table session following the presentation. As a side benefit, it would also provide the option of getting home earlier (without missing as much of the presentation) to anyone who was not able to stay to the end or not interested in the discussion that followed.
Yeah, but the door prizes are still at the end of the meeting. Right. ;-)
Seriously... I can see advantages to both ways. For example, with the current format the discussion is not necessarily limited to the content of the presentation. No offence to any of the presenters, however there were times when the round table discussion was more informative than the main presentation. I'd suggest your format if the presenter had to leave early or if the weather was likely to turn bad. The thing is we probably don't want too many people leaving early either because if there is nobody left to answer questions then when will questions get answered? We can't put the burden on the exec to stick around when everybody else has left. Last nights demo of the Ham radio spreadsheet was a happy bonus (I thought it was a practical application to show what can be done with computers in general and Linux in particular), but would there have been as many people sticking around for it if Gilberts presentation went on first?
BTW, in my experience the "###" generally means the number is to big to be displayed in the cell. The solution is to format the cells to display the number in such a way as to fit the cell width. Alternatively the column could be made wider.
I've been a member for a few years now but don't know if this approach was ever tried.
I remember a couple of times when the presenter went first because they had to leave early.
Any comments?
Good ideas. Worth more discussion.
Kelly
Later Mike