[Maine-pm] Hello

[maine-pm-admin at mail.pm.org]

On 6/10/03 at 8:20 AM, maine-pm-admin at mail.pm.org wrote:

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> On 10-Jun-2003, maine-pm-admin at mail.pm.org wrote message "[Maine-pm]
> Hello"
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > I just joined the list, although I don't live in Portland (I live
> > in Lovell). I'm involved with a Perl group over this way, but I was
> > curious about the Portland group. Anything going on?
> 
> Nothing much, unfortunately.  We haven't had much luck in the
> recruitment process.  
> 
> How's the activity there?
> 
> 
Ebb and flow :-)

We have a dozen people on the mailing list and attempt monthly meetings.
Meeting attendance has varied from almost everyone to cancelled due to
lack of turnout.

Here are some things we tried to get the word out and increase
membership and interest:

Other user groups - We will occasionally post meetings and events on
websites of other user groups. We also have a link on a local 'IT
Workers' website. This has been perhaps the best method so far. Does
Portland have a Linux user group?

Local Media - The local paper and cable have free community
announcements. This has not been as effective, but it's free and means
just emailing them monthly, so...

Word of Mouth - Simply having each member think of everyone they know
who might be interested and contacting them.

Spam - Just kidding ;-) But we have sent emails to local companies who
likely employ geeks to inform them of the group.

I would think the University would be an excellent place for you to
recruit.

I think the bottom line though is that these groups are often sustained
by a few motivated individuals who keep the group afloat as interest
ebbs and flows.

Regards,
Andrew
andrew at broscom.com

btw - anyone going to YAPC next week?