[OKC JUG] Changes for the OKC JUG

[Ivan Zhidov]

All good points. Although I'm not sure what 'deficit spending' is about, 
I think the idea of JUG members paying CoCo membership to help pay for 
the meeting facilities is the right way to go.
The only adjustment I have to it is to drop the requirement for those 
with CoCo membership to be present at the meeting. Given that I'm 
already paying CoCo membership I don't need to have an obligation to 
show up at JUG meeting to be counted.

Ivan

Jason Lee wrote:
> One of the things we in the JUG leadership have always tried to stress 
> is that this is *our* group.  While there may be a few of us making 
> the decisions, all are welcome to come to the meeting and help us make 
> those decisions, even taking over leadership if so desired.  That 
> being the case, we try to operate the JUG with complete transparently. 
>  To that end, I'd like to take some time to discuss the state of 
> things concerning our group.
>
> *Executive Summary:*
> Due to economic considerations and a desire to not spend more than we 
> take in, starting in July we will discontinue providing food. 
> Membership will still be free and we will continue to meet at the OKC 
> CoCo. We are doing this to be able to continue to offer a wonderful, 
> free experience to our group. If you are concerned with these 
> decisions, please:
> - Read further for a more detailed background and other possible options
> - Consider coming or writing to the steering committee.
>
> *The Details:*
> As you may recall, late last year, we incorporated the JUG, which, 
> among other things, has allowed us to open and maintain a bank 
> account.  As a result of that move and the resulting, if meager, 
> account balance, we have been able to entertain larger, more long-term 
> arrangements.  One such arrangement, which we're still in the process 
> of finalizing, is a multi-month agreement with the Oklahoma City 
> Coworking Collaborative, or OKC CoCo.  As many of you have seen, 
> Derrick and his team have built a fantastic facility in downtown 
> Oklahoma City that solves a number of issues for us, the most pressing 
> of which has been space.  At several of our last meetings at the 
> University of Phoenix, we were standing room only.  To fix that issue 
> there would have doubled our costs.  The CoCo gives us much more room, 
> at only a modest increase in costs.  The CoCo also provides for the 
> recording and hosting of meeting videos, as well as a more central 
> location, which helps out those on the south side of the city.
>
> For those reasons, we feel such a partnership with the CoCo is a boon 
> to the JUG.  At the same time, we are able to help out Derrick and 
> crew who have been very active and supportive of not only the JUG, but 
> several other user groups in the area.  The catch is that such an 
> agreement requires an upfront payment for the facilities rental, which 
> is a normal and not unreasonable arrangement.  What that means is that 
> the lion's share of our current funds are now committed to this 
> partnership, leaving us with only a small sum left.  Seeing this small 
> amount, the SC discussed last month what we should do to make sure 
> that we can continue to operate.  While it is true that in the past 
> we've gone month to month in our funding, given the volatility in the 
> market and the loss of one of our sponsors, we feel that it would be 
> prudent to take steps to insure that we're not spending money we may 
> not get in the future.
>
> Having said all of that, we came up with a number of options for the 
> membership to discuss, select, etc.  Aside from the facilities rental, 
> we have two other regular expenses, door prizes and food.  With food 
> being the larger of the two, our proposals focused on that.  They are:
>
> 1) We no longer provide lunch, and expect each attendee to bring his 
> own lunch.
> 2) We continue to provide lunch, but require that each attendee pay a 
> flat fee for lunch, say, $5.
> 3) We move to a paid membership model, wherein members would continue 
> to get a "free" meal at each meeting but non-members would be required 
> to pay for the meal at each meeting.
> 4) Someone in the group donates the food, or, alternately, the 
> entrepreneurial might find a nice business opportunity here.
> 5) Continue business as usual and then suspend operations should 
> funding dry up.
>
> There are likely other options.  If one comes to mind, please feel 
> free to propose it.  We decided that, given the time frame, nothing 
> will change for the June meeting, but, starting with the July meeting, 
> one of these proposals (or, perhaps, one suggested by the general 
> membership) will be implemented, so if you have a strong feeling one 
> way or another, now is the time to make your voice heard.  The 
> Steering Committee meeting has opted to go forward with option #1.  We 
> can, of course, revisit decisiions, so if you've been thinking about 
> getting involved with the Steering Committee and have an opinion on 
> this matter, now is a great time to start attending our meetings.
>
> Thanks to the generosity of Derrick and the rest of the OKC CoCo 
> management, there is something you can do to help both the JUG and the 
> CoCo, and this is start a membership with the CoCo.  Since CoCo 
> members are already paying for time/space at the CoCo, if we have 10 
> CoCo members present at a given meeting, we get a discount on the 
> space rental.  If we have 20 present, we get the space for free.  This 
> is a great deal for the JUG, of course, but also helps the CoCo with 
> one of its missions, which is to support the local user group 
> community, so you might want to consider that option.
>
> Our hope, of course, is the economy soon begins to swing back up and 
> that our awesome local sponsors will still be in the position to 
> partner with us.  While there may be signs showing that that will 
> happen in the near term, we felt it best not to do "deficit spending" 
> and implement a strategy to insure the continued operations of the 
> JUG.  All of us on the SC feel that we get value from the JUG, hoping, 
> of course, that everyone else feels the same, so it is in the best 
> interest of all involved that the JUG continue to meet.  It is our 
> hope that this proposal will do just that.
>
> Thanks for taking the time to read this giant missive.  Your feedback 
> is greatly welcome.
>
> Jason Lee, SCJP
> President, Oklahoma City Java Users Group
> Senior Java Developer, Sun Microsystems
> Mojarra and Mojarra Scales Dev Team
> http://blogs.steeplesoft.com
>
>
>
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