State of the GTUG

[Paddy Foran]

Hi everyone. First and foremost, thanks for your interest in a Buffalo
GTUG. It's exciting to see other people interested in a Google tech.

But on to business. We are in what I would deem an "infancy" stage at
the moment--we're gathering members, getting our feet under us, and
beginning to form ideas of what this group should be.

These are the GTUG chapter requirements for an incubating chapter:
1) Chapter has website
2) Chapter has mailing list & actively collecting interest and members
3) Chapter listing has a complete description
4) Chapter has held 0-1 events

An active chapter is defined as follows:
5) Chapter is an incubating chapter
6) Chapter has held 2 consecutive events

As of right now, we have 2 and 4 complete. After we complete 1, we
will have the opportunity to complete 3. After that, we can complete 6
in due course. Rather than throwing some more numbers at you, I'll
just sum this up: We need a website.

I've secured http://www.buffalogtug.org for us, and have it set up
with Google Apps (I'm waiting to hear back from Google as to whether
they'll extend the non-profit edition to us, even though we haven't
incorporated as 501(c)(3)). A lot of GTUGs simply use Google Sites as
their homepage, which we could easily do. That would get us listed
rather quickly. However, Google Sites doesn't offer us much
customization power. I thought, as developers interested in Google
tech, we may want to take on the learning experience of building a
rich, unique site in App Engine that could connect all of our
information for us. I have a slew of apps setup for us, and we could
use our site to tie together our Group, our Waves, our Docs, our
Picasa stuff, and all our other Google content. We could also offer a
way for our active members to list themselves as a for-hire database.

Obviously, I think an App Engine site would be superior. There are a
few things to consider, though:
1) It will take longer for us to get listed
2) It would require more work. I'm no designer, so I would certainly
need someone to step up and design for us. Though we could kind of use
that anyways, for things like logos, this is a bit more involved.

There are some benefits, though:
1) A unique web presence, something to set us apart
2) Much more useful
3) Showcases our skills
4) More in the spirit of the group

So, what do you think we should use for the website? We could even
offer a place holder page, to get listed quickly, and build the App
Engine site to replace it.

Our second order of business is to get support and members. I've
already contacted every University in Buffalo with a computer science
program, and am waiting to hear back from them. Hopefully, we can get
meeting space donated by one of them, though there is a Buffalo
hackerspace we can turn to as well. If anyone has connections, using
them would be appreciated. Also, helping to spread the word would be
wonderful. We're on Twitter (http://links.buffalogtug.org/twitter),
Google Groups (http://links.buffalogtug.org/group), and Facebook
(http://links.buffalogtug.org/facebook).

If you have any ideas related to the GTUG, please share them (and
vote!) in the Moderator install: http://links.buffalogtug.org/ideas

If you're a talented designer, please let me know--we could really use
a logo/icon/banner!

Again, thanks everyone for joining up with this. Let's make it
awesome.

Paddy Foran
Buffalo GTUG Manager

[Holytotemic]

I'll see what I can do for a design and I'm also gonna pop this on my
affiliates apge on totemsoup.com to generate some folks your way.

On Jul 21, 11:47 am, Paddy Foran <foran.pa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone. First and foremost, thanks for your interest in a Buffalo
> GTUG. It's exciting to see other people interested in a Google tech.
>
> But on to business. We are in what I would deem an "infancy" stage at
> the moment--we're gathering members, getting our feet under us, and
> beginning to form ideas of what this group should be.
>
> These are the GTUG chapter requirements for an incubating chapter:
> 1) Chapter has website
> 2) Chapter has mailing list & actively collecting interest and members
> 3) Chapter listing has a complete description
> 4) Chapter has held 0-1 events
>
> An active chapter is defined as follows:
> 5) Chapter is an incubating chapter
> 6) Chapter has held 2 consecutive events
>
> As of right now, we have 2 and 4 complete. After we complete 1, we
> will have the opportunity to complete 3. After that, we can complete 6
> in due course. Rather than throwing some more numbers at you, I'll
> just sum this up: We need a website.
>

> I've securedhttp://www.buffalogtug.orgfor us, and have it set up

[Paddy Foran]

Thanks, Holytotemic.

Also, nobody mentioned that the moderator install required a
BuffaloGTUG.org address, and therefore was unusable. >.< Oops! I've
updated the link (http://links.buffalogtug.org/ideas) to point to a
vanilla Google Moderator install--any Google account can submit ideas
now.

On that note, if you'd *like* a BuffaloGTUG.org account, let me know,
and I'll set one up for you. :)

Thanks,
Paddy Foran

On Jul 21, 12:00 pm, Holytotemic <holytotemic8...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'll see what I can do for a design and I'm also gonna pop this on my
> affiliates apge on totemsoup.com to generate some folks your way.
>
> On Jul 21, 11:47 am, Paddy Foran <foran.pa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi everyone. First and foremost, thanks for your interest in a Buffalo
> > GTUG. It's exciting to see other people interested in a Google tech.
>
> > But on to business. We are in what I would deem an "infancy" stage at
> > the moment--we're gathering members, getting our feet under us, and
> > beginning to form ideas of what this group should be.
>
> > These are the GTUG chapter requirements for an incubating chapter:
> > 1) Chapter has website
> > 2) Chapter has mailing list & actively collecting interest and members
> > 3) Chapter listing has a complete description
> > 4) Chapter has held 0-1 events
>
> > An active chapter is defined as follows:
> > 5) Chapter is an incubating chapter
> > 6) Chapter has held 2 consecutive events
>
> > As of right now, we have 2 and 4 complete. After we complete 1, we
> > will have the opportunity to complete 3. After that, we can complete 6
> > in due course. Rather than throwing some more numbers at you, I'll
> > just sum this up: We need a website.
>

> > I've securedhttp://www.buffalogtug.orgforus, and have it set up