| Trev71 |
So, next question, order will be Andy, Andree, Aleksey, Danielle and Drew... |
| Trev71 |
One sec.. |
| Trev71 |
Moderator copy/paste issues :) hang tight a second please.. |
| Trev71 |
What methods do you think would work for reaching out to members and providing more community to them (other than IRC and mailing lists)? -- From Dan Rich. |
| Trev71 |
Andy - you are up... |
| vt102 |
typing... |
| vt102 |
I believe LOPSA is currently recruiting a paid Community Manager, and I believe this was a great decision by our current board. Community is important. Tools and methods are less important that having someone capable helping organize it. |
| vt102 |
There are so many "social" tools out there that it seems almost inevitable that there would be some fragmentation of the community. But the community manager could curate the most important ideas and propagate those through the largest and most important communities, whatever those become. |
| vt102 |
EOF |
| Trev71 |
Andree ? |
| Trev71 |
-- and a reminder, send your questions or follow ups over to Adam (aluck), thanks ! |
| NMSwede |
Well… As much as I love IRC, the younger generation doesn't seem to know about it. If we use it as a tool for reaching out, the audience probably won't be huge. LinkedIn, Facebook, etc are important. Like Andy is saying, the Community Manager will be a huge help, and I also think trying to reach out at job fairs, etc. At least have a flyer that can be printable, and a link sent to people we know that does recrui |
| NMSwede |
ting, etc. It might be useful, might not. Word of mouth helps as well, so encouraging current members (like Aleksey said - you get out what you put in) to help with this will be key. \n |
| NMSwede |
That was an EOL there, btw... |
| Trev71 |
Yea, I saw that... lol |
| Trev71 |
ok, next up Aleksey please... |
| atsaloli |
Aleksey Tsalolikhin: For reaching out to members, there is no substitute for live communication. Chapter meetings are awesome -- I'd love to see more L.A. area LOPSA members participate. I wish it was easier for me to get in touch with them (or even know who they are). |
| atsaloli |
The LOPSAgram is great -- I read mine eagerly every month. And I always greatly enjoy the Annual Community Meeting. Let's keep that in and do a bit more on connecting individual members with their local chapters. EOF |
| Trev71 |
Danielle ? |
| ClothoMoirai |
For tools Slack is worth investigating; most of my tech interaction outside of work is on that platform these days. |
| ClothoMoirai |
I certainly support the decision to bring in expertise in a Community Manager. |
| ClothoMoirai |
I believe our strongest tool at this point is to be in person and getting us into the organizations where we were not seen previously, to integrate our community there. |
| ClothoMoirai |
EOF |
| Trev71 |
And, Andy... |
| vt102 |
Drew |
| ClothoMoirai |
I think you mean Drew. |
| Trev71 |
Yes indeed I do. |
| Trev71 |
You guys/gals don't need me either way :) |
| NMSwede |
Trev - I wouldn't be so sure - it's a pretty rowdy crowd in here tonight... :) |
| Trev71 |
You don't know the half of it :) |
| Trev71 |
Drew is up, no pressure, just a reminder... |
| druonysus |
Nothing replaces in person. In person methods are the strongest and easiest ways for us to build connections. As part of this, I think we need to make sure we have a lively and attractive presence at conferences. Also, we need to find pace-makers in our current local communities and help them grow personally and professionally to put themselves out there… that is to say, booths and talks at conferences, attending meetups and generally |
| druonysus |
talking to people about LOPSA. This benefits them and if they can also talk about how their participation LOPSA has helped them it would go a long way. We need to encourage people to connect with others. If we make sure the benefits are there, it will be easy for them them to tell their peers about the good thing that is LOPSA. |
| druonysus |
END |
| Trev71 |
Thanks for those answers... |
| Trev71 |
Next question we will jump to Aleksey first, Danielle, Drew, Andy and then Andree... |
| atsaloli |
ok |
| Trev71 |
ok "Some of you have mentioned student outreach as part of sustainable membership retention. As a student in perpetuity, I'm interested in this. Could the candidates please elaborate on what they think can be done to do this, what concrete projects or relationships they can build to acheive this goal? What does a successful student outreach program look like? |
| Trev71 |
" |
| atsaloli |
I did a presentation on the sysadmin career path at the UCLA computer club a while back. The room was packed! |
| atsaloli |
There are computer clubs at other local colleges and universities, for example USC. |
| atsaloli |
In addition to the "what is a sysadmin and what does a sysadmin do" type presentations, interested LOPSA members could offer talks on Linux basics, troubleshooting etc. |
| atsaloli |
As we don't have a "student" membership in LOPSA, success would be measured by students actually joining the profession when they enter the workforce and being professional members of LOPSA. |
| atsaloli |
of course they could join now as well and mayhap we could offer a student discount |
| atsaloli |
ultimately successful outreach would equal a growing member base |
| atsaloli |
EOF |
| Trev71 |
Thanks Aleskey, Danielle please.. |
| ClothoMoirai |
System adminstration is not a field that seems to be often shown to students in their academic career typically so I believe there is a lot of room. We certainly see this with interns at my current workplace. |
| ClothoMoirai |
They need to be shown it as a career option but including information that could mean they decide that it is unsuitable for them. |
| ClothoMoirai |
LOPSA presence on campus will go far here. When I was a part-time student at UNC-Chapel Hill I often saw companies do presentations with soda and pizza that were well attended. |
| ClothoMoirai |
But that's the first step. I will admit that I'm too far removed from current students to say what would continue to appeal to them and would seek further information before I could commit to extended plans. |
| ClothoMoirai |
EOF |
| Trev71 |
Thank you, Drew ? |
| druonysus |
Connecting and collaborating with colleges and universities is a good place to start. That covers the formal students, but I think meetups and other local learning and networking events are another good way. I think we can also help students and people in general to understand the different specialties and careers/career paths available to people with knowledge of systems… show them how we can help them form a community of enthusiastic |
| druonysus |
and effective learners. By doing this we not only help people start out to feed the industry with a strong pipeline of next generation of talent. As more people discover the benefits of LOPSA as they learn and grow, it will encourage them to remain a lifetime active member. |
| druonysus |
END |
| Trev71 |
Thanks Drew! |
| Trev71 |
Andy ? |
| vt102 |
The primary goal would be discussion of career paths and the skills that are neeeded. I learned SysAdmin while in school, but it wasn't in the classrooms. It was through in-person mentoring and on-the-job training. |
| vt102 |
Now more that ever, people need guideposts in their career and understanding how the pieces fit together. It would be a poor DevOps engineer who ignored decades of valuable, hard-learned SysAdmin expertise! |
| vt102 |
I am currently exploring a multi-facted student program locally, by coordinating several local usergroups to interact with each other in real, meaningful ways. |
| vt102 |
The dev usergroups code an opensource project, the LOPSA members package and operate, the PMs organize, and those interested in management manage it. Technologies and topics could be selected specifically to gain widest exposure. |
| vt102 |
Alternately, somebody like a LOPSA member could join the developers, to gain some empathy and understanding of their experiences. |
| vt102 |
I thought to encourage the work to be done as though remote, since more work is done that way today, to give that experience as well. It then occurred to me, that if people were working as though remote, there's no real need for it to be a solely local program. |
| vt102 |
It may or may not pan out in the end, but I think it's a good example of an idea to give students or people in other careers exposure to a realistic work environment and/or possible careers. |
| vt102 |
EOF |
| Trev71 |
Thank you, and Andree ? |
| NMSwede |
Many areas in NM are pretty rural. It's hard to get students to do stuff after hours. I taught at UNM for 5 years before going to where I'm at now. I've seen local ACM chapters fail here, etc. just because so many students have families, and other things to do. |
| NMSwede |
When I was in school, the computer labs were full, because few really had useful computers (too early for linux) at home. |
| NMSwede |
We networked there. This does not happen very much today, when everyone has laptops and does work from home. |
| NMSwede |
However, students are still important - The reason, I think students are important is because they are us, but in the future. However, there aren't many sysadmin hackathons organized. |
| NMSwede |
Why, because there isn't a specific "let's just do fun sysadmin stuff..." |
| NMSwede |
We sorta need something to support for it to be really useful. Something like Cluster building, or similar. |
| NMSwede |
I think if we as a group can organize some activities around this, maybe do a networked event something like helping multiple groups of students setting up a redundant system across multiple schools or something like that, something that's useful. |
| NMSwede |
Advertise it, perhaps in support of some specific other activity that also draws people. Meetups, or the like. Like Danielle said, academic programs don't teach systems administration, and without hands-on experience, it's almost impossible to learn. A push in that direction, I think, would be great. EOL. |
| Trev71 |
Thank you for those answers, Candidates. |
| Trev71 |
So, we are approaching the 90 minute marker and I think its time to wrap things up a bit. |
| atsaloli |
Thanks for keeping us on track |
| Trev71 |
I would like each candidate to give us a brief closing statement, I'll default to the initial order of Drew, Andy, Andree, Aleksey and Danielle. |
| Trev71 |
Meanwhile I want to remind everyone that the transcripts for both sessions will be available on the lopsa.org website for your review... |
| Trev71 |
and that we need your vote --> https://election.lopsa.org |
| lopsabot |
Title: LOPSA Election (at election.lopsa.org) |
| Trev71 |
We can open this channel up, after the closing statements. |
| Trev71 |
Drew, you are up. |
| Trev71 |
We had some well thought out answers tonight, much appreciated candidates... |
| Trev71 |
Voting ends on July 1, 2017.... |
| Trev71 |
And another quick reminder, one of our candidate, Danielle White, did miss the first LIVE event and her answers to the questions are posted on our news page. |
| Trev71 |
Part 4 of the Lopsa Live, June 14 event http://lopsa.org/blog/4906590 |
| theWarner |
To no fault of her own. Unfortunately, I was unable to provide enough notice. |
| Trev71 |
Be sure to catch up on her answers ! |
| druonysus |
I want to say thanks to everyone for being patient with me as I know I have not cranked these answers out at the fastest pace ever. I hope everyone can detect the care and thought I have put into my answers. I care. A lot. I care about LOPSA and the success of our organization and, very importantly, it's members. I would love to bring my unique skills to the board to help us collectively leverage what I have learned in my diverse set of |
| druonysus |
experiences into this new domain. However, I want to be clear that I know there is no one size fits all answer to our success. I know what works well to speak to people in big cities will be different than attracting people in smaller, more spread out areas. What we have to offer for students may not always be the thing that keeps the long time members sticking around. When I worked sales it was very important that I would read my customer |
| druonysus |
to be able to communicate to them and speak to their needs most effectively. As a technology professional, I think learning in important and I think that is at the core of what we have offer each other as LOPSA members and as a board member I hope to do much learning and growing as we all find more success together. Lastly, I want to thank everyone who submitted questions as well as everyone involved in this election, including my fellow |
| druonysus |
candidates. |
| druonysus |
END |
| vt102 |
In summary, I am running for the board because I give a damn about system administration and LOPSA, and I am willing to give my personal time and energy to them. |
| vt102 |
FIN |
| Trev71 |
Andree ? |
| NMSwede |
Up until now, I haven't been a terribly active member of LOPSA, but I have been a paid member for several years. Someone thought I would be a good board candidate and nominated me - I still don't know who, but I'll find out eventually :) I'm honored to have been nominated - and I see the tremendous benefits that being part of this organization can be. I |
| NMSwede |
have this nack for getting involved in stuff, and when I do - I typically get involved at a relatively high level. As a board member of LOPSA, I will definitely be more active, and get to know a lot more of you significantly better. I can't really think of a better community in which to be more involved in. If elected will do my best to help the organization reach the goals we set for it. EOF. |
| Trev71 |
Aleksey ? |
| atsaloli |
What you get out of LOPSA is related to what you put into it. I intend to put more into LOPSA. =) My primary concern is to get our membership growing -- I'd love to see us reach and pass the 1,000 mark. |
| atsaloli |
The LOPSA-LA "Build a cloud day" event got lot of interest. I'd like to do more hands-on events like that in LA. I encourage any LA-area LOPSA members to get in touch with the LOPSA-LA chapter (www.meetup.com/lopsala) -- we need your energy and ideas. |
| atsaloli |
Thanks to the leadership committee and the organizers/moderators of the LOPSA-live session. Thanks candidates for running. Thanks everyone for coming out and participating, and hello to the LOPSA members reading the session transcript! |
| atsaloli |
EOF |
| Trev71 |
And Danielle ? |
| ClothoMoirai |
I appreciate everyone's time today and the confidence of the nomination. |
| ClothoMoirai |
We clearly at a critical point and I will work toward ensuring LOPSA can meet these challenges. |
| ClothoMoirai |
Across the questions here tonight and conversations with others I have been able to quantify those challenges and will focus on meeting them. |
| ClothoMoirai |
In the short term I am doing work to get LOPSA into places where we haven't been, such as the All Things Open conference, Girl Develop It, and students. |
| ClothoMoirai |
Those venues include many individuals who have either not felt welcome or were simply missed in the past, particularly women and minorites, and Windows admins. |
| ClothoMoirai |
For LOPSA to remain viable this must improve and I am comitted to seeing that through, including in person such as at ATO which is local to me. |
| ClothoMoirai |
EOF |
| Trev71 |
Thank you... |
| Trev71 |
I want to take a quick moment to thank all of the members for coming out and showing personal interest in the direction of the organization. |
| vt102 |
Thanks Trev71, scott5, theWarner, and my fellow candidates! |
| Trev71 |
Also, of course, the candidates for wanting to play an active role. |
| Trev71 |
Please review the transcripts -- and Vote! https://election.lopsa.org |
| lopsabot |
Title: LOPSA Election (at election.lopsa.org) |
| theWarner |
Thanks so much, everyone. |
| Trev71 |
Thanks everyone! |
| theWarner |
Vote! =) |
| NMSwede |
Thank you for organizing all this, and for all the thoughtful questions as well |
| atsaloli |
Thank you! =) |
