[Lopsa-regional-project] tasks

[Jim Hickstein]

>> I'm looking for a reason to take time during my local group meeting to
>> mention LOPSA. If I can't tell our members why I think LOPSA will
>> benefit *them*, I won't waste their time talking about LOPSA. I think
>> that's a vital part of the information packet.

I second Adam.  As I said after a recent local-group meeting (talking 
about LOPSA): "I'll give them fifty bucks ... once."  After that, I need 
to be sold to continue to support it.  Just now, I can't stand up and 
tell anyone else they should throw in their fifty bucks.  Not yet.

> OK. The question still stands. We haven't yet come up with anything
> that works as justification for you and several others, I think.

I think the general heading of "education" is where the value will be, 
and specifically under the subhead "deals".

Discounts on relevant training programs and materials, and 
certifications (Cisco, for instance; I think I can pass the CCNA cold 
but I could use a 30% discount to help motivate me).  Discounts on 
books, if people still buy books: Amazon sends a kickback to the 
affiliate site; how about passing that back to the member?  In cash. 
(OK, PayPal.)  Amazon will send me a kickback for a $4000 laptop. 
(www.imap-partners.net/links.shtml)  As a LOPSA member, I should be able 
to arrange this through LOPSA and get a piece of that action, if not the 
whole thing.  As a member, I should be able to create a link to anything 
I want to buy on Amazon, technical or not (maybe subject to editorial 
review).  CafePress items at cost (and not just LOPSA), including a $12 
allowance/gift-certificate there just for joining (making the first 
t-shirt or coffee mug effectively free).

The possibilities are endless, and the figures can be astounding. 
Jennifer Davis has done some of this kind of thing in the BayLISA orbit: 
A $45 membership there is potentially worth thousands, just this year. 
Her talents at cold-calling people for such sponsorships and discounts 
should be harnessed at the national level.  If my $50 to LOPSA could 
easily be worth >$200 in training discounts in a year, and potentially 
worth >$500, it becomes a no-brainer.  LOPSA need not be in the business 
of defining or proctoring certifications, any more than BayLISA does.  A 
whole business of related (if not exact) certifications has grown up 
while SAGE argued about it.  Leverage them.

> Do you think the standards project ( building a heirarchical list of
> standards from different organizations ) would be worthwhile?

Doesn't strike me positively.  I'm not sure I understand it.

> Do you think the Pretty Good Practices project ( documenting good
> practices and why they're good practices ) would be worthwhile?
> I think you like the short topics books ( enough to write one anyway :).
> Is that a direction you'd like to see LOPSA go

I think the literature is good enough already: TAL's books, and now ITIL 
(maybe), and the web itself.  ITIL training/certification is another 
area I'm interested in, but underfunded for at the moment.

> https://lopsa.org/projects
> 
> The jobs board?

Already reasonably well served by outfits with better economies of scale 
(Dice, Monster), though sage-jobs-offered is a useful niche player that 
LOPSA could replicate.  (Mirror? Cross-post? Cross-promote?  Someone 
needs to tell recruiters this is someplace they should post to get the 
cream of this specialized profession.)

Another discount idea: Outplacement services.  I have a fat booklet in 
front of me from an outfit called Lee Hecht Harrison, on loan from a 
friend who went through their mill a while back on an ex-employer's 
nickel.  I might pay some cash (but not full price) for such a thing 
myself.  (P.S. I'm in a job search just now.)

Speaking with my IMAP Partners hat on for a moment, we (the royal "we") 
would be interesting in partnering (you should pardon the expression) 
with LOPSA to offer their members ongoing discounts on hosted email 
service, starting with our existing "RIF special": It's free for up to 3 
months if you're between jobs.  For unemployed LOPSA members, we could 
make that indefinite (for the term of membership).  Having your own 
domain looks better on a resume than a yahoo address, ne?  For the rest, 
we could throw in a year of domain registration ($15) if we see that 
much cash up front for the other services.  (Pay for ten months, get 
twelve and a domreg.)

> Putting on ( and giving membership discounts when appropriate ) localized
> conferneces and events?

Possibly.  Again, leverage: What's the stance for USENIX conferences? 
Any discount for LOPSA members?  SANS?  EDUCAUSE?  Other such outfits? 
Vendors?  These can be events that are only tangential to system 
administration per se; people have other interests.  Graphics Press (for 
instance)?  Toastmasters?

Often they will give a substantial discount simply in exchange for 
having their event promoted to your membership.  The -announce list 
could carry a monthly forecast of all the cool ways you can benefit from 
your memership, including upcoming events.  BayLISA's biggest problem 
(and it's not serious) is letting the supplier authenticate someone as a 
BayLISA member without a membership card: currently, if you know the 
password ("BayLISA") you get the discount.  Being on the -announce list, 
however, should not get you all the member benefits; this needs stronger 
enforcement at the national/worldwide level.

> We also have a project from Trey to come up with some resume standards for
> sysadm.

Who will pay attention to them?  Who are they for?

I asked my brother, who has recruited high-level IT people for a living 
for 15 years, "Have you ever heard of SAGE?"  "Only from you" was the 
reply.  That's pretty pathetic^Wdiscouraging.  My $50 should help fund 
some serious promotion activities at the national and worldwide level, 
getting in front of employers and contracting firms.  The 
job-description booklet was long ago and far away, and is still 
apparently a secret known only to a few.  (It could probably stand to be 
updated, I suppose.)