14:59 1 minute to this month's #lopsa-live 15:00 and it's time...for the May 2008 instance of #lopsa-live 15:01 * Hydroxide cheers and grabs the popcorn 15:01 I'll start by repeating a bit of what you have probably seen, and most of this month will be open question time 15:01 The board has come up with a pretty long list of committments as reported in the April Memo to Members 15:02 I'll refer you back to that for the details: http://lopsa.org/Apr2008Memo 15:02 We have up-coming conference we will have a presence at: YAPC:NA 15:03 we will also be at TechBash 15:04 I think Jesse has some more comments on YAPC:NA 15:04 Thank you, sir. 15:05 hrm. I understood it to be at 5pm, not 4pm 15:05 As announced, David Parter and I will be teaching a two day System Administration Master Class at the YAPC::NA conference. 15:05 (I'm wrong, nemmind) 15:06 Details of the class are at: https://lopsa.org/YAPCNA2008Class 15:06 The press release will arrive online today, as well. 15:06 Title: LOPSA at YAPC::NA 2008 - System Administration Master Class | League of Professi ... 15:06 Please feel free to contact either of us if you have any questions about the course. 15:06 Also, we will have a booth during the YAPC conference, so please stop by! 15:06 pck: back to you, sir. 15:07 After the course will you put up the notes on the web? 15:07 thanks, jtrucks 15:07 but I'll pull him back to answer that question 15:08 it depends on how the class goes, and what the participants want 15:08 we will publish a review of the course from our perspective, yes. 15:08 as to the level of detail, that is not decided at this time and won't be until the class happens. 15:09 any other questions about the YAPC::NA master class? 15:09 I was thinking, if it wouldn't dilute the value of the class, to post the notes for folks that couldn't attend. Maybe at least a detailed outline/ToC? 15:09 asm2train: yes, we will have more details after the class. 15:10 Thanks. 15:10 jtrucks: is there a cost for the course beyond the YAPC::NA cost? 15:10 Hydroxide: The course is a $200 registration fee, which is in addition to the YAPC::NA conference fee. 15:11 gotcha, thanks. 15:11 thanks again 15:11 are most LOPSA training sessions extra cost relative to the conference they occur at, or is this a YAPC::NA policy rather than a LOPSA policy? 15:11 next on the list is another of the new exploratory projects that is seeking volunteers 15:12 that we'll get to as soon as this topic ends :) 15:12 sorry for prolonging it :) 15:12 oh that's fine 15:12 Hydroxide: generally we work with the conference organizers with what they have for a plan 15:12 questions are _good_ 15:12 based on looking at the YAPC::NA master class list, it looks like the $200 thing is a YAPC::NA policy 15:12 in this case, the Master Classes are all two day $200 courses, one of which is ours 15:12 yes. 15:12 https://www.theperlreview.com/cgi-bin/events.cgi is the class list. 15:13 right, gotcha. good to know. I have no problem with LOPSA using a "when in rome" policy for such things 15:13 in the case of other conferences, we've done the same. 15:13 ya. 15:13 Therefore some classes are $150, some $200, and vary in length. 15:14 in this case, it's a high value for the registration fee because it isn't just a three hour or one day course. 15:14 sure 15:14 We are working with OLF (Ohio Linux Fest) and SCALE (Southern CA Linux Expo) for more training offerings 15:15 cool 15:15 we are also interested in finding other places and events that we can partner with to reach more sysadmins. 15:16 I noticed some stuff about college campuses in the april memo. are you interested in doing training for aspiring sysadmins who are currently in college? 15:16 If anyone has any ideas on events that might be a good fit for us, please send email to education@lopsa.org 15:16 Interested? yes. But we don't have a concrete plan specifically for students 15:16 right. ok. will discuss more outside this meeting, as time permits 15:17 We hope that the on-campus mini-conferences will attract students, and give them some good stuff to think about 15:17 sure 15:17 It is, however, something we've discussed as a future goal to have when the timing is right. 15:17 * Hydroxide nods 15:18 BTW for the event partners, we are aware that our two repeat events are linux events, and while perl is used on windows, YAPC is probably perceived of as another *ix event, and we'd like to reach out to windows and other sysadmins and events... 15:20 which is why we have a booth at TECHbash this year, and we hope to support them with talks in the future. 15:20 any other conference or training related questions or comments? 15:21 thanks again, jtrucks 15:21 and dparter! 15:21 up now is the other new exploratory projects that is seeking volunteers: LOPSA Podcasts 15:21 which means dparter isn't done just yet 15:22 Hi again, everyone! 15:22 * jtrucks waves 15:22 As many of you know, we are considering producing a podcast, or "something". We think a podcast has a lot of potential, but we know it is a lot of work too. 15:23 We need volunteers for a team to put together a plan, or, if we decide it is not a good idea, to report that back to the Board 15:23 mail was sent to the discuss mailing list, and it is also posted on the web site: lopsa.org/node/1615 15:23 um, http://lopsa.org/node/1615 15:24 Title: Help with proposed LOPSA podcast | League of Professional System Administrators 15:24 you don't have to be an expert on podcasts to help with this part 15:25 any questions? 15:25 (or comments) 15:26 it would be wise to have a decent slate of content lined up before starting. I've seen a lot of podcasts run for a couple issues then run out of material and sputter out 15:26 is there any 'vision' behind the podcast concept? 15:26 yes to both of those -- 15:26 they're not in the post... 15:26 oooh, vision. "Miss Cleo Tells Your Sysadmin Future" 15:26 we know that we need to have a lot of content ready in advance 15:27 we were planning a pre-live run of a half dozen episodes or so 15:27 to keep ourselves going. 15:27 as far as vision, I am not sure if you mean "what will the show be like" or "what is the goal?" I have ideas on both, but I do want to hear from the team and the community before we make firm decisions 15:27 I'm not saying so much "ready" as that you know what your'e doing and that it has some ongevity to it. More or less the same vision issue vchat cwilson mentioned, phrased a bit differently 15:28 dparter, I urge the members of that project to think hard about what content is appropriate for a podcast. Listening without seeing the speaker, or listening for a long time is often not a good way to convey a lot of info. 15:28 "do you know what you are doing and why you are doing it?" 15:28 mizmoose: and for all we know right now, that could be a brilliant addition, you want to do a role as Miss Cleo to talk about up-coming sysadmin issues using that schtick? 15:28 * asm2train seconds allbery_s last point 15:28 As a short answer, I don't think we can do a lot of "news" in a timely manner -- there are lots of web sites that cover tech news pretty well (althogh maybe a roundup would be worthwhile) 15:29 I also don't think a podcast can replace a local chapter technical talk 15:29 * jtrucks nods 15:29 so we are thinking of shorter segments that people can listen to, enjoy, and learn something from 15:29 supported by material on the web site that people can go to for links, summaries, background, etc 15:30 This may sound like a joke but what about short debates between two or three people on a topic. Say, mailman auto-bounce considered harmful. :-) 15:30 pck: I'll warm up my bad jamaican accent :-P 15:30 yes, we are definitely thinking of doing things like that 15:31 asm2train: interviews and panels are on the slate of options, yes 15:31 it sounds like some thought has already gone into this. is there a topic / wiki page that details more so we don't rehash / revisit what has already been talked about? 15:31 likewise, we can take non-controversial topics that people ask onthe mailinglists and irc abuot, and get two senior sysadmins to discuss how they would approach the problem 15:32 cwilson: I have a wiki page with info, but not (yet) where eveyrone can see it. For sure the exploratory team will start with that, and then decide how to move ahead -- to openthe discussion to everyone on lopsa.org, do some surveys, or ??? 15:33 and at a certain level if you build too much consensus ahead of time you end up not taking any risks. so it'll also be important for whoever's involved on the podcast to just up and do things they think will be worth doing. 15:33 Two sysadmins and you expect no controversy? :-) 15:33 so, if you are interested -- in content, format, technical issues -- please join the mailing list. we are going to have a con call or irc chat soon to map out the work that has to be done to make a more concrete plan 15:33 * cwilson nods 15:34 anything more on the podcast idea? 15:36 thanks, dparter (and other comments/questions) 15:36 that's pretty much all of the prepared topics we have for today, so the remainder of the hour is for other questions, comments, etc 15:37 Budget report? Membership numbers report? 15:37 website report? 15:38 The membership numbers are continuing to grow, last time i checked we were approaching 1,000 very nearly 15:38 will probably hit that this summer 15:38 especially with the annual boost we get for Sysadmin Appreciation Day 15:39 For which we're also soliciting volunteers. Brilliant segue opportunity, asm. 15:39 For the budget, we're in good shape thanks to our Platinum sponsor. Steven's goal and commitment for the year is to get us to be cash-flow positive, and he thinks it's doable. 15:40 but of course if anyone has a giant pot of money that they're dying to get rid of, LOPSA will be most happy to use it to the benefit of the profession....:) 15:40 and it's tax deductible in the US! 15:41 RE: website update - The Tech Team has our development site up and running for the upgrade. 15:41 We are working on either replacing our custom modules with newly available modules or writing those modules we need to port to the newer Drupal version. 15:42 In addition, there is work ongoing for a better UI experience. 15:42 As has been mentioned in the recent past, we are focusing on a more streamlined appraoch to generating and maintaining timely and useful content. 15:42 that is part UI and part site infrastructure. 15:44 If anyone is familiar with Drupal module development (or PHP in general), and is willing and interested in helping, please contact myself on IRC, via email jtrucks@lopsa.org, or contact the Technical Services Committee Chair Travis Campbell ( HCoyote on IRC) 15:45 I think that covers the questions I've seen, did that cover everything asked so far? 15:46 Sure -- but I'd love to see on the web site somewhere the stats on membership: Growth rate, sources/reasons for joining, etc. 15:47 asm2train: part of our upgrade is to build a better reporting infrastructure that allows reports like that are better than the partially manual work we do on that front now. 15:47 sources & reasons for joining may touch on privacy in some instances 15:47 so we'd have to look at that rather carefully 15:47 but I'm not opposed in principle. 15:47 it's certainly technically possible. 15:48 though we will have better raw numbers reporting in the future. 15:50 thanks 15:50 we still have 10 minutes, any other questions or dive deeper on one of the previous topics, etc? 15:51 Any news on the next SADays, or if there will even be a next SADays? 15:51 Oh, and elections. 15:51 They're just about a year away -- time to start thinking of the next batch of candidates. :-) 15:52 as far as Sysadmin Days (our training program), right now we don't have one on the schedule. We are concentrating on partnerships with existing events, which is lower risk for us and a higher payoff in reaching sysadmins who haven't heard of us before 15:52 That's fair. 15:53 It's been working for us, too. :) 15:53 last year we did a 1-day (4 1/2 day classes) training at OLF, and we did 1 day at SCALE 15:53 both events were happy and we are working with them now on plans for this year 15:55 as far as elections -- we are almost 1/2 way through the 2-year board term, so it is time to start thinking about candidates for the next board. Our leadership comittee (which has no board members on it) also is our nominations committee 15:55 Yes, I know -- I'm on the committee, remember? 15:55 asm2train: yes :) 15:55 asm2train: yes, but not eveyrone here knows that 15:55 I was suggesting the the Board and everyone else start thinking about it now. 15:56 Pulling into the dstation; gotta go. 15:56 right 15:56 for those who don't know, elections are in June 2009 (13 months from now) 15:57 I for one welcome the suggestion to start thinking about it now...since I was only involved on one side of it last time, your experience is needed to help us know what our needs are 15:57 [which I will echo to asm independently since he just had to leave] 15:58 2 more minutes, any final questions for us? 16:00 that's a wrap, then 16:00 * jtrucks thanks pck and everyone 16:00 the next #lopsa-live should be June 12 16:00 one more hour later as we gradually work our way into evening hours before wrapping back around 16:01 and I echo the thanks for board and members for helping LOPSA grow and improve 16:03 pck has changed the topic on channel #lopsa-live to LOPSA Live! Next meeting: 2008 June 12 at 5-6PM US/Eastern 16:03 yeah -- if you have any thoughts on future Bored peple, please let us know: leadership@lopsa.org