<p dir="ltr">Hi Arnulf,</p>
<p dir="ltr">I agree...I found the summary very helpful and had planned on creating a page from it. I will put it up later today. Additional thoughts and experiences on what made other use groups or chapters successful are welcomed.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Thanks,<br>
Phil</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Apr 23, 2014 5:19 AM, "Arnulf Christl" <<a href="mailto:arnulf.christl@metaspatial.net">arnulf.christl@metaspatial.net</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<br>
Phil,<br>
please consider joining this list.<br>
<br>
<br>
Michael,<br>
thanks for this great summary.<br>
<br>
<br>
Folks,<br>
it would be great to condense Michael's thoughts on a Local Chapters<br>
page on the OSGeo Wiki, for example here:<br>
<a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Local_Chapters/Starting" target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Local_Chapters/Starting</a><br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Arnulf<br>
<br>
PS:<br>
Sure, I'd like to do(-ocratic) this myself but will not be able to<br>
commit until next week, so if someone has the time please go ahead...<br>
<br>
- -------- Original Message --------<br>
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance<br>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 18:49:08 -0700<br>
From: Michael Gerlek <<a href="mailto:mpg@flaxen.com">mpg@flaxen.com</a>><br>
To: Phil Nugent <<a href="mailto:philip.j.nugent@gmail.com">philip.j.nugent@gmail.com</a>>, <<a href="mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org">discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a>><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Phil:<br>
<br>
Don’t worry about the formalities: just find a few people who will<br>
regularly attend and talk about cool stuff, and then let things<br>
organically grow form there. It may take time, but be patient. Remember,<br>
a cool group of five people sitting around chatting for an hour is<br>
perfectly fine: you don’t need to have a fancy venue, dozens of people,<br>
or Big Name speakers.<br>
<br>
CUGOS (<a href="http://www.cugos.org" target="_blank">www.cugos.org</a>) has been around for 7(!) years now, with monthly<br>
attendance averaging 20-30 people (we hit a record 53 last week). Just<br>
off the top of my head, some of the things we’ve learned over the years:<br>
<br>
* Try to find a place you can meet regularly, rather than switching<br>
venues all the time – initially, just a conference room at a local<br>
library or university is fine. Or perhaps one of your core attendees has<br>
a company meeting room available after hours.<br>
<br>
* Try to connect with your local college or university. Seniors and grad<br>
students can present projects they’re working on. Students looking to<br>
graduate soon need to network, find skills they’re missing, etc.<br>
<br>
* Don’t overly restrict yourself to "Open Source GIS". If you get a<br>
chance to host a good talk on some new GIS app or technology outside the<br>
open source realm, or a cool new open source thing outside of GIS, go<br>
for it. If a local GIS company wants to pitch their services, why not?<br>
<br>
* Get a mailing list going – you’re likely to reach 10x the number of<br>
people on a list over in-person meetings. In fact, consider just<br>
starting with a mailing list, letting it grow for a while, and then hold<br>
your first face-to-face meeting once you’ve got some traction.<br>
<br>
* Food always helps. Pass around a hat for donations and you’ll almost<br>
certainly wind up with a bit of profit from the evening you can use to<br>
seed the next meeting.<br>
<br>
* Going out for beers afterwards also helps. We get probably get 1/4 or<br>
1/3 of our attendees socializing at a local bar for an hour or two after<br>
our the actual meeting itself. (We’ve reached the point where we need to<br>
give the bar a heads-up call in advance so they’re prepared for 10-20<br>
people to walk in all at once and ask for a table.)<br>
<br>
* When you get a critical mass, hold outreach events: it’s a public<br>
service first, and as a side-benefit it will promote your group to<br>
others who may be interested. Every year CUGOS holds an all-day event on<br>
the campus of UW that attracts a lot of attention. Some of our members<br>
also volunteer their services for various events like career fairs,<br>
mapping parties, GIS Day at local schools, training, informal workshops<br>
and sprints, etc.<br>
<br>
Good luck!<br>
<br>
- -mpg<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
From: Phil Nugent <<a href="mailto:philip.j.nugent@gmail.com">philip.j.nugent@gmail.com</a><br>
<mailto:<a href="mailto:philip.j.nugent@gmail.com">philip.j.nugent@gmail.com</a>>><br>
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at 6:15 PM<br>
To: <<a href="mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org">discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org">discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a>>><br>
Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter Guidance<br>
<br>
Hey all,<br>
<br>
<br>
I’m wondering about general guidance or anecdotal experiences of<br>
creating a local chapter or informal users groups. I’m wondering<br>
whether it helps to have a fleshed out mission and objectives with some<br>
sort of general roadmap or whether critical mass of interest is gained<br>
organically over time and to not worry about the details and just create<br>
a wiki page to guage interest. I am thinking of organizing a small<br>
seminar series at work for people interested in FOSS4G, but beyond that,<br>
do you all have any guidance for reaching out to potential cohorts in a<br>
fledgling chapter’s region? I have thoughts on the mission of the<br>
chapter aside from goals aligned with the greater community, but wonder<br>
if it’s better if that arises naturally as, and if, more people become<br>
involved. Any guidance is appreciated.<br>
<br>
<br>
- - Phil<br>
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