<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Executive Summary:</b></div><div>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:</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Read further for a more detailed background and other possible options</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Consider coming or writing to the steering committee.</div><div><br></div><div><b>The Details:</b></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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:</div><div><br></div><div>1) We no longer provide lunch, and expect each attendee to bring his own lunch.</div><div>2) We continue to provide lunch, but require that each attendee pay a flat fee for lunch, say, $5.</div><div>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.</div><div>4) Someone in the group donates the food, or, alternately, the entrepreneurial might find a nice business opportunity here.</div><div>5) Continue business as usual and then suspend operations should funding dry up.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks for taking the time to read this giant missive. Your feedback is greatly welcome.</div><div><br></div><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>Jason Lee, SCJP</div><div>President, Oklahoma City Java Users Group</div><div>Senior Java Developer, Sun Microsystems</div><div>Mojarra and Mojarra Scales Dev Team</div><div><a href="http://blogs.steeplesoft.com">http://blogs.steeplesoft.com</a></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></body></html>