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SVLUG's March 1999 meeting date of March 3 coincides with the LinuxWorld Expo. Our March meeting will be held at the LinuxWorld Expo on March 3, 1999 from 7-9PM at the San Jose Convention Center.

We'll meet in the Meeting Rooms A-F, up the stairs and all the way to the left/east. We may need to hold off entry to the room until the convention center crews finish reconfiguring it for our meeting after the BoF sessions are over.

We chose the subject of "Running an Effective Linux User Group" because we're expecting many more visitors from out of town than usual, due to the convention. Local and visiting attendees are encouraged to speak up with what they think works and what doesn't.

Our meeting will be held after all other convention activities for the day are over. As usual for an SVLUG meeting, attendance is free.

The Panel Discussion

We are in the process of inviting leaders of Linux User Groups to participate in the panel, from anywhere across the country or around the world who will be in town for the convention (or any other reason.) It doesn't matter if your LUG is from a small town or large metropolitan area - as long as you believe your LUG has been effective for your area and you have advice that can help others running, starting or participating in LUGs in their own areas. If you would like to participate, contact SVLUG's speaker coordinator, Sam Ockman at <ockman@penguincomputing.com> or the SVLUG officers at <officers@lists.svlug.org>.

The panelists so far (in alphabetical order) are:

Eugene Clement,independent computer consultant, Palm Springs, California

Eugene is the founder of the Coachella Valley Linux Users Group (CVLUG) in Palm Springs, California. After NetDay 96 failed to materialize in Palm Springs, he realized some more training was going to be necessary for school administrators and staff. After joining IELUG in the distant Riverside area, he formed CVLUG for the Palm Springs area. One of the things this new LUG does is arrange old-computer giveaways for teens, after they install Linux to put new life in the systems. They've found it's a great learning platform.

Chris DiBona, Director of Marketing, VA Research Linux Systems, Mountain View, California

Chris is webmaster for Linux International and the Vice President of the Silicon Valley Linux User Group. Among Chris' many high-profile activities, he led the "Great Linux Revolt" of 1998, where SVLUG handed out 500 Linux CD's at stores which opened at midnight on June 25, 1998, the opening day for Windows 98. He also coordinated SVLUG's booths at the Comdex Enterprise and ISPCon conventions. Actually, Chris has been involved in just about everything SVLUG has done since he was elected in December 1997.

Ian Kluft, Software Engineer, IOS Technologies Division, Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, California

Ian coordinates the web software on SVLUG's web server and was given the title of SVLUG Vice President of Engineering at the February 1999 meeting. He helped coordinate the "Silicon Valley Tea Party" on Nov 11, 1998, where SVLUG handed out 400 Linux CD's in front of the party for the opening of the Microsoft Developer Center in Palo Alto. As a spoof of Microsoft's "Win98 Launch", Ian built a model rocket using Win98 CDs (cut in half) as fins for SVLUG's "Launch Win98... on a Rocket!" on June 28, 1998. He's been in leadership positions in various clubs related to computing, aviation or Ham Radio since 1985.

Jeff Rose, US Postal Employee, Tavares, Florida; US Marine Corps 0331 (ret)

Jeff is the acting president for Everyone's Linux User Group (ELUG), which meets in Orlando and serves Central Florida and the Space Coast area. Currently he is working to get 501(c)3 Non-Profit Incorporation status for this new LUG. He says he has aspirations of involving local school and administrative governments as well as businesses as a whole to see Linux demonstrated on-site, head-to-head with NT and Novell. Jeff says he's very pleased to be afforded the opportunity to be visiting the "Holy Land" (Silicon Valley) for the first time!

Seth Schoen, UC Berkeley student and independent consultant, Berkeley, California

Seth is a student, programmer, and Linux enthusiast residing in Berkeley. His interests include Linux, classical literature, classical music, and languages. A Linux user since 1994, he has served as Publicity Director and general instigator on the Board of the Cal Linux Users Group (UC Berkeley), and given Linux seminars and demos under the auspices of CalLUG. He is currently on leave from UC Berkeley, and continues to be active in CalLUG and the Bay Area Linux community.

Randy Sommerfeld, System Administrator, Mountain Internet, Squamish, British Columbia, Canada

Randy is the Chairman of the relatively small Squamish Linux Users Group that covers the Sea to Sky Corridor north of Vancouver, BC. The SLUG has been involved in a number of interesting projects involving a local ISP and the Sea to Sky FreeNet Association. The group used a (Canadian) federal grant to assist in setting up three community Net access sites, which run Linux and provide a location for installfests.

Let us know if you'd like to be on the panel. We'll fill in more people from LUGs in the Bay Area if we don't get enough from out of town.

Directions to the Meeting Room

We are still obtaining specific directions within the Convention Center. IDG has confirmed we have a meeting hall with seating capacity for 400. (We've had more people than that before so it may be SRO. But that's still more chairs than we've had at a meeting before.)

Directions to the Convention Center

The San Jose McEnery Convention Center is at 150 West San Carlos Street in San Jose. For driving directions to the Convention Center, see the map at the San Jose Convention and Visitor Bureau.

For VTA Light Rail riders, use the San Jose Convention Center station at the midpoint in the light rail line. The train operator will call it the "Convention Center" station. (Be careful not to confuse this with the Santa Clara Convention Center at the northern extremity of the line.) The light rail station is in the middle of San Carlos Street in front of the entrance to the Convention Center.

Acknowledgements

SVLUG would like to thank IDG, organizers of the LinuxWorld Expo, for making this meeting hall available. In order to do this, they will be reconfiguring the walls/dividers. They'll remove the walls for the smaller meeting rooms from the BoF sessions and make one large meeting hall with seating capacity of at least 400.