[Lopsa-regional-project] chapter models

[der.hans]

moin moin,

at SCaLE we had several people talking about creating local groups for the
SoCal region.

I suggested they do what I'm trying to setup for LOPSA-US-AZ, which is
provide presentations for already established groups rather than starting
their own meetings.

A little background.

In Phoenix we already have lots and lots of tech meetings going on
every month. We also have a lot of geography to cover. Our local LUG has
regular meetings on both sides of town, but they're actually mid-metro
even though they're 30 miles apart.

LOPSA-US-AZ would be hurting to find a central location as it would still
require people to drive a long way to attend. We would also have lots of
competition for resources.

If we work with already established groups we can hit different parts of
town. We can also be OS-neutral by working with Windows, Mac, Solaris,
Oracle, etc. groups rather than just PLUG.

We have helped with PLUG since we got established, but last month we
publicly started sponsoring topics.

We provided a talk on Puppet. This month we're bringing in Splunk>. My
goal is to provide a talk every month to one of the 3 PLUG[0]
meetings. After we've established that, I want to actively try to work
with other tech groups/activities in Phoenix and eventually other parts of
the state.

LA suffers from the 'lots of geography to cover' problem Phoenix has, so I
think the Phoenix model would work well there. San Diego might also
benefit from it and I expect that many sprawl metros in the west will.

I think LOPSA can help this model a couple of ways.

The primary assistance is helping us get sysadmin presentations that
would target those other groups. I can easily provide lots of *NIX
presentations, but have no windows or mac presenters available to me. We
also have a strong DR group here, so maybe a good DR talk from a sysadmin
perspective would be good. It'd be great for PLUG :).

Another way for LOPSA to help is by providing official info to the other
groups. We are a real organization, so let's not look like we're running
the show out of someone's closet :). Promo via the LOPSA calendar and
maybe even occasional press releases would also help.

I think the regional project should work on some materials that will help
local groups develop speakers. Information on recruiting good speakers
and volunteers. Information on creating good technical presentations.
Information on drawing in external speakers. That type of thing.

It would also be good to have a well maintained canned presentation on
LOPSA. Something that can be used by local groups. Even more important is
the 3 minute "What and why is LOPSA" intro for when we sponsor talks.

Finally, LOPSA needs to actively follow up with those trying to start
local groups and provide resources. If the new group need a web site and
mailing list we need to get them up and running in quick order. I've found
our follow through on providing assistance to be lackluster. That's true
for most volunteer organizations, but we specialize in infrastructure, so
we should be able to do better than average :).

ciao,

der.hans

[0] It's easy to work with PLUG since most of us are members of PLUG and
I'm PLUG's chairman :).

ciao,

der.hans
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