[Steering Committee] JUG Updates

[Jason Lee]

Good evening! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's. 
Bumping this to make sure it didn't get lost in the end of the year 
hustle. :)

On 12/14/22 11:19 AM, Jason Lee wrote:
>
> This may be a long email, so be please be patient.
>
> I haven't given up hope on restarting the JUG, but it has, no doubt, 
> been a slow, up hill effort. Given that we're on the cusp of 
> Christmas, not much more is going to happen this year. Next year, 
> however, I'd like to get the ball fully rolling, which means settling 
> topics of
>
>   * How often to meet
>   * Where to meet
>   * Sponsorships
>   * Presenters
>
> It's hard to prioritize any of those as more important than the 
> others, so I'll just start with one: the meeting place.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As things stand now, we have two options: Francis Tuttle and Oklahoma 
> Christian.
>
> Francis Tuttle:
>
>     Depending on which campus we get to use, FT might be a better
>     location, but they also seem a bit more rigid about facilities
>     reservations, etc. If it's the Reno location, it's right off of
>     I-40 for easy access from all over the city. If it's the Rockwell
>     campus, then it's buried in far NW OKC. It's right off the
>     turnpike, but that's a turnpike and pretty far north. There are
>     other campuses that might be an option, but those are the two I've
>     seen mentioned, IIRC.
>
>     We also have a long-standing relationship with FT, so that
>     /should/ help grease some wheels, but they still have procedures
>     to follow, so that's something to keep in mind.
>
> Oklahoma Christian:
>
>     David North, a professor at OC, has offered to host us on campus,
>     but that's farther north than we typically meet, which makes
>     things more difficult for some (Hobby Lobby, Norman, etc). It is
>     "just" off Broadway Extension (and fairly close to I-35), so it's
>     mostly highway getting there, but it's still pretty far north.
>
>     Having it on a campus like that might actually help draw in a new
>     crowd, as, /hopefully/, we'd be able to entice some of the comp
>     sci students to attend (and even present). Side note: once/if
>     we're back up full speed, I intend to reach out to local unis to
>     try to get the word out to their comp sci depts and try to pull in
>     some more students.
>
> *Question 1:* Which of these options seems the most 
> appealing/effective? Making other suggestions is also an option.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> How often to meet is, I think, a fairly easy question. We've done 
> monthly, but we don't have to stick to that, necessarily. We would 
> need a steady stream of presenters, of course, so that makes me think 
> we aim for semi-monthly?
>
> *Question 2:* Is semi-monthly an acceptable starting point, or should 
> we push for monthly?
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Whether we go monthly or semi-monthly, we're going to need something 
> to present. I can beat the bushes in my little circle of tech friends, 
> and I have some presentations I'm working on for conferences, but the 
> J in JUG is for "Java", not "Jason". Nobody's going to want to show up 
> and here me yammer every time :P
>
> *Question 3:* Does anyone have presentations ready (or that can be 
> made ready) to present, or does anyone know someone willing to show 
> and present?
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Sponsorship is always a tough one. Ryan applied for Techlahoma 
> membership. He asked for $640 for food for 8 meetings, as well as 
> venue and social media announcements. Hopefully that should cover us 
> (and may take care of question 1). If that falls through or we were 
> expecting too much, please be thinking about options for finding 
> sponsors. The things that we need/would like are:
>
>   * Lunch for attendees
>   * Audio/video equipment for in the room
>   * Streaming capabilities
>   * Online RSVP
>   * A physical location to meet
>
> There are companies that offer these to JUGs. I have it on my list to 
> contact them to fill in any gaps that we may have with Techlahoma 
> membership. Any input/assist from the rest of the SC would be very 
> much appreciated.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading this far. I really hope 
> we can get things back on track soon. I think Java User Groups are a 
> great asset for everyone involved (I know I've benefited greatly), so 
> I'd love to nurse ours back to health. :) I truly appreciate 
> everyone's help as we try to (re)build the group, but if you feel you 
> no longer want to be involved, there are no hard feelings. You can 
> either lurk or unsubscribe.
>
> Thanks, and I hope to talk again soon. :)
>
>
> -- 
> Jason Lee
> OKC JUG President
> https://jasondl.ee
> https://twitter.com/jasondlee <https://twitter.com/jasondlee/twitter>
> http://linkedin.com/in/jasondlee
-- 
Jason Lee
OKC JUG President
https://jasondl.ee
https://twitter.com/jasondlee <https://twitter.com/jasondlee/twitter>
http://linkedin.com/in/jasondlee
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