SPUG: Meeting Venues/SPUG Bifurcation

Tim Maher/CONSULTIX tim at consultix-inc.com
Wed Oct 13 16:14:36 CDT 1999


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According to Dave Campbell:
> 
> Having seen all the messages on this subject go flashing past, I am
> curious as to how the final decision will be reached.  Is this in
> essence a 'vote' for a site, or is there an organizing committee that
> will ultimately decide?

Tim Says>
	"Hello, This is the Organizing Committee speaking, may I help you?"

HISTORY
During the 18 month life of SPUG, we've never had to worry about coming up
with an egalitarian site-selection process before, for the simple reason
that we've never simultaneously had more than one choice available to
us! 8-}

Things look a little different now!  We currently have the following options:

	Fred's Cancer Center
		(for $100/night)
	SpeakEasy, Downtown Seattle
		(although some have doubts about basic suitability)
	Lucent, in Redmond (520 and Redmond Way)
		fancy conference room, reportedly
	Maxim Group, Bellevue (520 and ?; near Bellevue Way, I think)
		only basic conference room?  still awaiting details . . .
	A Chicken-Coop in Woodinville
		deluxe; $50/night

I think that's the entire list, apart from our friends who've offered
unthinkable accommodations in Shelton, Cheybogan, and Mauritius, but
if I've accidentally left out a location,  let me know.


TIME TO SPLIT, LIKE AN AMOEBA?

It's true, as we've bounced back and forth between Eastside and Westside
locations, we've lost and found new members every time.  I would have
thought it suicidal to split the group into East/West factions last
year, but now that we've got considerable momentum and 278 people on
our mailing list, it might be worth trying a bifurcation of the group!

I propose the following: we come up with a short-list of possible venues,
representing the best options on each side of the Lake, and take a vote,
in which each potential attendee would indicate their single favorite
choice.  For each side of the lake, we declare the biggest vote-grabber
the winner, and proceed henceforth with two separate meeting schedules.

POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

If the votes were to come out 80% one-side, 20% the-other, I would expect
that the minority population might have trouble recruiting speakers
for their meetings, if they follow the current model of recruiting from
within the ranks, but what the hell, that 20% wouldn't be traveling to
the other side anyway, so they might as well try to move out on their own
(maybe meeting every other month, etc.).  Personally, I think the more
likely outcome would be in the 60/40 range, which would give better odds
for the viability of the separate sub-groups.

THOUGHTS?

What do the rest of you think about this plan?  Let us know . . .

*==================================================================*
| Tim Maher, PhD  CEO, Consultix &    (206) 781-UNIX/8649          |
|      Pacific Software Gurus, Inc.   Email: tim at consultix-inc.com |
| "The UNIX/Perl Training Experts"    http://www.consultix-inc.com |
|Classes: 11/1 Shell/Utils  11/15 Adv Shell  12/7 LINUX  12/13 Perl|
*==================================================================*
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