SPUG: Future of SPUG?

[jerry gay]

On 10/20/05, Tim Maher <tim at consultix-inc.com> wrote:
> I'm glad Andy was willing to take on the SPUGsponsibility, during
> a difficult time when we didn't even have a regular meeting
> space. But maybe Andy's shoulders are getting tired now, and
> would like some help carrying the load?
>
i'd love to help. i've not been in seattle long, so i don't know many
of my fellow SPUGsters well, but i was active in my previous community
(phl.pm) and have long ago recognized the benefits of membership.

i don't know the history of spug, how it was run in the past, and i
greatly appreciate the time andy has taken to make this group work.
thanks for everything, andy! i'm enthusiastic about perl, i have been
helped a great deal by the community, and i'd like to give back in
whatever way i can. if there's anything i can do... i'll try my best.

> Whatever's wrong with this patient, I think we should strive
> to diagnose it quickly, and stabilize the vital signs ASAP,
> before SPUG ends up dead--or even worse--in a persistent
> vegetative state.
>
if i may offer some suggestions on what i've seen since may, i think
the meeting planning has pretty much been left up to andy, with nobody
stepping up to say "my skillset is <foo> i'd like to give a talk on
it". so, i'm stepping up and saying, my skillset includes parrot
development (i'm a committer for parrot, the virtual machine that will
run under perl 6) and i'd like to give a talk on it. i'll need one
week's notice to prepare, so if there's interest, and i'm given the
time i need to prepare, i'll present. i've never presented this info
before, so it can be a learning experience for us all (me included!)

also, i think the following would benefit us as a community:
~an organizing committee (president or board, treasurer, etc)
~periodic committee meetings (via phone, in person, or email) to
discuss spug activity
~an easy-to-update list of subjects for talks, either by those who
want to give them, or those who want to hear them
~a periodic review of talks, events, etc. with requests for and
scheduling of speakers by the spug organizing committee
~a wiki free of spam, so it can be reliably used
~more activity on spug-list -- q&a, events, off-topic stuff, whatever.
from what i understand, spug is a large community, but the frequency
of communication belies that fact.

being somewhat of an outsider, i don't know if any or all of this
exists, so please don't come down hard on me if it's there and i have
missed it. these are just my opinions on things i think would make it
easier for me and others to request and present, and for spug to run a
more regular meeting schedule if, as tim suggests, the burden does not
fall on the shoulders of one man.

again, i'm openly offering more than critisism/advice. i'm offering my
services to do whatever i can to help spug recover from it's recent
slump in activity, and make this community thrive again.

please let me know what i can do to help.
~jerry