Where we aren't

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: (This is from my May 23rd email.. mjg) : Well, things pretty much seem to be going downhill. I only got a couple of responses to my last email and forum postings and we had an amazing turnout of five at our last meeting (that's counting myself and the two people from CA). I appreciate the responses I have received, however I can't justify spending as much time on this as I do, for such a low attendance. I certainly can't ask vendors to come in for groups this small. I was very embarrassed to have CA engineer, Jack Brown, drive all the way from Chicago just for our meeting and have us produce such a poor showing. With the current lack of participation, I am not scheduling anything after our September meeting. I really hope you can prove me wrong with a huge outpouring of feedback on the Forum (http://www.cinug.net/cinug_forum.html). Let me know what I need to do to improve attendance (meeting topics, dates, times (give me some), locations, etc.). If I get some responses right away, I might even be able to make some of the changes for the next meeting. : Due to the lack of participation and responses, I have not contacted the other user groups or schools. Without people willing to participate, this would be pointless. Also, there have only been a few responses to the name change. Unfortunately, my earlier optimism was unwarranted. I am not willing to make an executive decision on this matter. Post your preference on the Forum as soon as possible. Finally, I've received no responses on the proposed I-Cubs outing, so I'm going to consider the event canceled. If you want me to reconsider, lets see some responses on the Forum. : Those of us that did attend the meeting had a good discussion regarding our poor turnouts. A couple of possible reasons mentioned: : Premium on time : This was agreed to be the biggest factor. There are two components, : professional and personal. : Professional : Certainly, everyone is seeing increased pressure to get more done in : less time. This is certainly true with network professionals. This : increase in professional time demands, leaves less time for other : priorities. : Personal : Everyone is less willing to commit personal time for non-personal : matters. We spend enough time working. Our personal life, especially : our families, are important. Our jobs are no longer our life. : High job market demand : Because of the high demand for IT professionals, professional development : and networking are less important. Most workers are changing jobs every 18 : to 36 months. They can work shorter hours and not worry about keeping their : jobs. : Changing demographics : Older IT workers are retiring. They always put in long hours and were willing : to attend this type of meeting as professional development and : professional/personal networking. Younger workers have a different work : ethic because they are more transient and the market for their skills is tight. : They seem to be pretty much 40-hours-a-week types. : The Internet : The Internet provides many resources to solve problems. Professional : networking is less essential to resolving issues. The new, faster pace : doesn't allow people to wait 'till that next meeting to get their questions : answered. It certainly has changed the way we do network administration. : (For us oldsters: Remember when you had to dial into BBSs on 2400 baud : modems for patches and drivers?) : Unfortunately we can't do much to counter most of these problems. : Our group isn't alone in this. Many national organizations are going by the wayside. The national Association for Systems Managers (ASM) organization has folded and most of their local chapters have either shut down or merged with other local professional groups like the Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP, formerly the Data Processing Managers Association). Our local ASM and DPMA chapters used to be able to get 100 to 200 people to attend their monthly meetings. Both were evening meal meetings. Now the merged chapter can't get 50 people to attend a special meeting with a national speaker. : The action most requested is to change to daytime meetings. I am split on this. Many of the most experienced people in the business are consultants and they would have a difficult time showing up for meetings during the day. On the other hand, many of the less experienced members that really can use the peer help want to meet during the day (when the people that can help them the most can't be there). It's a paradox. But, since no one is showing up now, we really won't be out anything by giving it a try. When do you want to meet? : If we can find a way to let more people know about the group, our numbers might increase. I've looked into purchasing mailing lists, but most have a $1000 minimum charge. No dues means no budget for expenditures. Networking seems to be our most promising resource. Please pass on information about our group to anyone you think might be interested. Another source we can leverage is our vendors. Local vendor support lately seems to be lacking. Work with your vendors. Have them pass on information about us to their clients. : Again, if you have any thoughts about the group, please post them in the Forum. I want to be wrong! : Thanks!

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