Fees at the door are always bad for people who could get their company to pay for their membership. But that said, I haven't attended for well over a year (as I live in LA). But I still love this email exchange. May I suggest a protocol for topics: Place a signup sheet for people to enter topics for upcoming months. Topic and person who suggested it. Moderator places a schedule for each month and a number of months ahead with the topic to be discussed, from the previously mentioned list of topics, giving preference to those suggested by the most people. Allow for someone to sign up to present a singular presentation on the topic. If someone does not stand up to do a presentation by himself, then that month becomes a "panel discussion". And for the panel, choose from those people who asked for that topic to be discussed. In the meantime, if special presenters become available, it would be easy enough to pre-empt the existing schedule... I hope this would work better than it has. And I apologize for not being able to support the group better. Jimmy -----Original Message----- From: owner-crime@private To: George Heuston Cc: crime@private Sent: 10/15/04 1:56 PM Subject: Re: A "State of CRIME" Message While I rarely get a chance to attend the monthly meetings, I appreciate the existance of the group and I enjoy (and sometimes benefit from) the email exchanges. I'd hate to see things fall apart. On the other hand, I've founded several organizations and I can certainly relate to George's issues. Unfortunately there isn't much concrete that I can do to help at this point. However -- a couple of thoughts regarding the sponsorship/meeting-cost issues: How about charging an at-the-door fee to cover some or all of the costs of the meeting room? A scheme like this might work -- 1) announce speaker and give an RSVP deadline (say 1 week before), 2) compute per-attendee admission fee based on number of RSVP's and possible sponsor support, 3) create RSVP name list, 4) collect fee at door (cash only) -- people who did not RSVP (ie name not on list) get in at 50% more than fee. I'm assuming the fees would be in the $5 range, otherwise it's time to look for a cheaper location :-) If some minimum number of RSVP's is not met, the meeting is canceled. And maybe the meetings could move to different areas -- Portland, Salem, Eugene, others? That way people that can't make the drive would be able to attend at least some local meetings. Might broaden the speaker base as well, and might bring in some co-organizers for the different areas. Raan Young
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