SPUG: SPUG is on the map (of course)

[Andrew Sweger]

Even without the White Camel Award to Tim Maher this year at OSCON'02,
SPUG has received significant mention several times during the conference.
People from all around the world recognize SPUG as one of the oldest,
largest, and most successful Perl User Groups. I've known this for years
but I had no idea so many other people knew it.

Case in point: I hung out with The Perl Foundation folks in a BOF session
tonight. It was a discussion on organization and funding. Advocacy,
training, and the relationship of the Perl Monger community to TPF kept
coming up. The Perl Mongers form one of the backbones of the Perl
community. Nathan Torkington raised SPUG as an example of how it should be
done (but even London.pm does good things for Perl too!). Since I've been
to just about every SPUG meeting ever (until recently), I pointed out that
the reason SPUG is so successful is due in large part to Tim's extensive
efforts to keep the group focussed and consistent (and stepping to the
plate many, many times to share his (growing) knowledge of Perl). It's a
great deal of work and personal investment (but hopefully no sacrifices).

The Perl community will be turning to SPUG (and other PM's) to put
together the manual on how to make and keep healthy Perl Monger groups
around the world. Healthy Perl Mongers are one of the best ways to
encourage the use of Perl and make people's lives easier (and possible). I
know we've done this a few times in the past, but this is a topic that
should be reviewed periodically. Please put forward the things you feel
make SPUG work. What are we doing right?

What is it about SPUG that makes you go to the meetings (besides
location!)? What makes you keep reading this mailing list (the Math Genius
thread may be an example)? And finally, would you pay $5.00 a month to
continue being a member? I was about to say I'm kidding (cause it ain't
legal). But I've changed my mind. I want you to really think about it. Do
you get any personal value from Perl (does it make your work easier than
the alternatives or maybe you simply enjoy the elegance of expressing your
ideas in the Perl medium)? If you could see yourself dropping a fiver into
the basket at each meeting or maybe when you've learned a better way to
solve a problem, why not consider just rolling that into a check to The
Perl Foundation for $50 each year. If you really get value for the effort,
think about making sure this resource will be here tomorrow for everyone.  
I'm not asking anyone to go broke doing this. Perl is for everyone, even
those who cannot or will not donate. You decide.

If you have made donations (whether monetary, goods or services to the
community), Thank You! If you want to help, your donation is
tax-deductible (for now anyway, and it might not be someday if I have my
way). For details, see the foundation's web site (below).

There are several ways to donate. You may send a check made payable to
"The Perl Foundation" addressed to:

The Perl Foundation
170 College Avenue, Suite 230
Holland, Michigan
USA 49423

You may also make contributions online securely using Visa, Mastercard, or
American Express. A PayPal option will be coming soon I'm told. Please
forgive the state of the web site. Dan Sugalski informed us that it is
undergoing a much needed rewrite. One of the more requested changes is to
clearly identify the relationships between (and history of) the various
organizations involved (YAS, TPF, PM, etc.).

The official web site is:

  http://perlfoundation.org/

Thank you for listening.

-- 
Andrew B. Sweger -- The great thing about multitasking is that several
                                things can go wrong at once.





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