ubuntu-us-ohio team mailing list archive

[Cheri Francis <cheri703@xxxxxxxxx>]

To Start, I invite you all to check out my wiki page to find out a bit
more about me! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Cheri703 Everything that is
below is also written at the bottom of the page there, so if you end
up feeling a bit of deja vu, that's why!

On with it:

My main goal for the Ohio LoCo is: Help people find us! There are tons
of people out there who would love to hear about Ubuntu, are using
Ubuntu but don't know about the LoCo team, or know about the LoCo team
and don't participate/come out for whatever reason. I feel that we
could be doing a lot more as a group to ease the process of getting
involved. By making things more fun and enticing for new people, it
will make it more fun and enticing for existing members!

I moved to Mansfield and wanted to get together with other members. As
far as I knew, there was only ONE other person who used Ubuntu in my
area, but I figured it was worth a shot to get an Ubuntu hour going.
At our last meeting (after close to 6 months of having them) we had 10
people come! That's awesome! There are lots of smaller areas in the
state that could use the support of the LoCo to encourage activity and
participation.

I'm not saying that people need to devote a ton of their time to the
LoCo, I'm just saying that with occasional effort, we could make our
group AWESOME. I feel like the group has been fairly stagnant for a
long time, new people join the LaunchPad page, but then vanish.
Granted, a lot of people might not WANT human interaction (we are
geeks after all ;) ), but for those who do, it is NOT especially easy
to go out and meet new folks.

If I am on the council, I'd hope to help inspire the other ReLoCos to
get out and DO things, meet people, proselytize a bit. Even if you
aren't a huge fan of the newest versions, there are PLENTY of older
versions and other flavors that you can be enthusiastic about!

At UDS-O, Mark Shuttleworth stated a goal of reaching 200 MILLION
users within 4 years, the Ohio team can help with that process. We
have some awesome and knowledgeable people, we just need to share
that!

I don't have ONE overreaching plan for how to FIX the LoCo, I think we
would be much better served by having the Statewide LoCo as a support
piece, a resource for the ReLoCos. Someone who lives in an
under-represented area could come to the LoCo and ask for
ideas/support/etc, and have help in creating a plan for THEIR area
specifically. I think this would be the best way to move forward,
though that doesn't discount having larger events for everyone!