Re: Fwd: I would like to start a local PUG - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

"Santiago Zarate" wrote:
> Greetings, i am Santiago Zarate, a postgreSQL enthusiast from
> venezuela, and
> i would like to start a PUG. i already know about 10 people
> wanting to go
> with it... and well i would like some guidance, since its my
> first step with
> all this...
>
> any help/suggestion are going to be very very welcome

Hi Santiago!  What an exciting project!  Ten people is a great start.
I'm part of PDXPUG (the Portland, Oregon [USA] PUG).  I think we had 3
or 4 interested people at first, and we just had our first anniversary
meeting with 21 attendees.  Our fearless leader Selena Deckelmann is out
this week and will probably add to my comments here when she gets back.
Meanwhile, here's what we did:

Meeting topics:  We started out by lining up topics & speakers from our
core group of interested people.  It can help to have speakers scheduled
a couple of months in advance, but that's certainly not a requirement.
Bonus tip: Have a backup presentation prepared in case a speaker has to
cancel at the last minute.

Facilities:  Portland is the home of FreeGeek, and we use their (free)
meeting facilities.  I have no idea what you have available in
Venezuela... maybe try local universities, community centers, libraries?
Businesses may be willing to donate space for a monthly meeting too.  Of
course, somebody's house or a pub will work, but IME those meetings end
up being more social than technical.  (I guess it all depends on what
you're after. :) )

If presenters are going to use a projector + laptop, make sure the
correct cables are available.  If using whiteboards, make sure there's a
selection of *working* pens.  (I carry my own.)

Members:  We have a mailing list
(http://archives.postgresql.org/pdxpug/) and a page on the PUGs site
(http://pugs.postgresql.org/), where Selena posts meeting announcements
& recaps.  I *think* Josh Berkus is the person to talk to about getting
those set up.  Announcements include the time, location, speaker, and a
description of the topic, and usually go out twice: a week before and
the day before/day of.  Selena writes up a recap of each meeting ("this
is what happened last night, it was brilliant and we had an incredible
amount of fun.")  We get a lot of positive feedback about the recaps.

If you're lucky enough to have them, other LUGs and local universities
are good pools for expanding your group base.  For example, we're
planning a joint meeting with our local pHp users's group.  Some of our
regular attendees & speakers are graduate students in the local uni's CS
department.

From a social perspective, make sure new people are greeted.  It's
really, really discouraging to go to a meeting for 6 months before
anybody will talk to you.  We do an "introduce yourself" round at the
beginning of the meeting when we have new people, and try to make sure
they get invited to the pub afterward with the rest of the group.

You: Don't be surprised if you are really, really tired after the
meeting.  It is a lot of work being in charge, even just for an hour
meeting. :)

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

- gabrielle -
PostgreSQL Army of Smurfs

- gabrielle -