[H-GEN] My nomination for President

[David Seikel]

All seems reasonable to me, except...

On Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:14:02 +1000 Russell Stuart
<russell-humbug at stuart.id.au> wrote:

>    [2] The assumption here is the only assets Humbug has are used at
> each and every meeting, and are passed between those responsible for
> opening and closing the meeting.

HUMBUG also has the magazine, book, and software collection that is
managed by the librarian.  Not to mention the server computer /
computers that the email lists, web server, and whatever else run on.
The servers are best left in whatever colo they reside in, and not
dragged to meetings.  The software and paperware collection was too big
to drag to meetings on a regular basis last time I checked.

Some old meeting equipment that was replaced a few years ago when I was
secretary has been left at my place.  That just gathers dust in some
out of the way spot in my kitchen.  I don't mind it being there.

At the risk of hijacking your nomination thread, but because I feel
like being thorough today, I'll mention three things.  

When we did upgrade the meeting equipment, I was pushing to replace the
box usually known as hydra (the computer at the front that is the
meeting router and proxy) with something much smaller.  A shoebox sized
computer, though we could probably do it's job with something that fits
in your pocket these days.  My intention was to drastically reduce the
size and weight of the bundle of meeting equipment that has to be
dragged around twice every fortnight.  If you remember it was me doing
most of the dragging that year, by foot and bus, despite someone always
objecting to my lack of car ownership every time I nominated.

The second thing is that there has been an on going procrastin.... er
project to install some library software so that members can see online
what is in the library and request the librarian to bring it to the
next meeting to borrow, and track those loans.  Having actually had
some experience as a librarian in government public libraries, and
having used that experience to write professional library software as
part of my work, I had at one stage offered to write such software.  It
was partly written already when I made the offer, based on a RAD tool I
was developing, so the initial development was rapid.  If I remember it
was knocked back by the committee at the time coz it was written in the
wrong language.  

The third thing is a clarification on what it means to "run" a
meeting.  There should always be a designated responsible person in
attendance at meetings at all times.  This is why sometimes an exec
member has to miss going out to dinner.  It does not have to be an exec
member, but should be someone that is vetted by the exec.  Before I
ever joined the exec I was often nominated as that person while those
exec members that where present left for dinner.  During my last tenure
as secretary the exec selected a list of people that could do that job
when the need arises.

The other obligation for running meetings is to either undertake to
have the meeting equipment at the next meeting before it starts, or to
pass it on to a suitable person who can get it there at some point
between the meetings.  This often means also being the one to set up
the equipment, but it has been my experience that you can usually find
someone at the meetings early enough that knows how to do that.

In general I support your ideas.  Some will complain that it all sounds
like too much work, but I'll point out that it's work that needs to be
done, done properly, and seen to be done properly.  Volunteering for
the exec committee means you are willing to do what the club needs to
be done.  I'm all for intelligently reducing that work load when we can
though, by reducing the meeting equipment load, automating things with
software, and whatever other measures make sense.  We have enough high
powered geeks in the club to accomplish such things.
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