Board meeting Minutes/31 March 2008

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Prior:
17 March 2008
Board meeting Minutes Next:
14 April 2008



Minutes approved: 28 April 2008

Present
Trey Harris (chair), Derek Balling, Matthew Barr, Philip Kizer, Chris Palmer, David Parter, Jesse Trucks, Bob Apthorpe, Deepa Solanki
Apologies
Stephen Potter
Opened
8:07pm Eastern Time
Closed
9:49pm Eastern Time

Consent Agenda

Consent agenda passes.

Standing Reports

  • Executive Director's report
  • Treasurer's report (second meeting of the month only)
  • Membership report
  • Technical services report
  • Conference/events activities report
  • Development report (Meeting focus at first meeting of the month)
  • Upcoming MtM (last meeting of the month only)

2008 Infrastructure commitments

The LOPSA Board is committing to the following infrastructural improvements in 2008:

#lopsa-live and other direct-to-member communications (Kizer)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. Make sure we hold a #lopsa-live every month (or at least every non-LISA month)
  2. Watch that board queries get assigned/answered so that we never have un-answered
  3. Make sure we have a consistent and known-to-all-board-members message prior to conferences/events

MOTION by Kizer: The LOPSA Board commits to improving direct-to-member communications in 2008 by holding a #lopsa-live every non-LISA month, watching queries to the Board to be sure they are answered, and having a consistent message prior to conferences and events. Motion passes.

LOPSA "evangelist kit" (Palmer)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. Revamped about us section of the website
  2. Powerpoint presentation & text outline guidelines for member-delivered presentations advocating joining, volunteering for, and/or sponsoring LOPSA.
  3. Flyers & brochures on the same areas for presenters to hand out at meetings.
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  • Dedicating Palmer's LOPSA time to it until done.
  • May be good to have some help from others (Philip K?) on Memo to Members during high time-commitment parts of the year; early April, late May, and late September/October are highly booked.

MOTION by Palmer: The LOPSA Board commits to delivering an "evangelist kit" in 2008 by revamping the 'About Us' section of the website, delivering slides and guidelines for member-delivered presentations about LOPSA, and producing flyers and brochures on the same areas for presenters to hand out at meetings. Motion passes.

Project management tool (Solanki, Trucks)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. Research and select a web based PM tool for the LOPSA Board, Staff, and Committee projects
  2. Configured and functional PM tool made available for use by LOPSA Board, Staff, and Committee members as needed.
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. Volunteer time of:
    • Executive Director
    • Board Contact (Trucks)
    • Any project lead requiring PM tools
  2. Cost: $600 - $1200 per anum (depending on the package purchased and vendor chosen)
    • We may try for a sponsorship in lieu of cash payment.

MOTION by Harris: The LOPSA Board commits to adopting a project management tool in 2008 by researching, selecting, and configuring a web-based tool for LOPSA Board, staff and committee projects. Motion passes.

Chapters and locals (Apthorpe)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. 5 new chapters in 2008
  2. New chapter kit

MOTION by Apthorpe: The LOPSA Board commits to improving chapters and locals support in 2008 by starting five new chapters and producing a new chapter kit. Motion passes.

LISA 2008 presence (Barr)

Proposed 2008 deliverables

Show the flag at LISA, the largest SA conference of the year

  1. Have a fully staffed booth for recruitment & evangelism
  2. Host LOPSA After Dark
  3. Host meeting w members.
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. Acquire Booth
  2. Acquire Suite
  3. Acquire food & drink for suite
  4. Acquire people to staff booth. Indenture is better than all out slavery, but we'll compromise.
  5. Acquire tshirts, schwag for booth
  6. Sign up for BOF, and attempt to arrange large board presence.

MOTION by Barr: The LOPSA Board commits to a strong LOPSA presence at LISA 2008 by hosting a meeting with members and LOPSA After Dark. Motion passes.

Website technical revamp (Trucks)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. Upgrade current web site backend to Drupal 5.7.
  2. Rewrite or replace custom add-on modules (e.g. payment processing)
  3. Upgrade 3rd party add-on modules (e.g. Google Analytics)
  4. Change UI (look, feel, and navigation) for better user experience
    • Easier to create content
    • Easier to navigate content
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. Volunteer time of
    • The TSC Chair and
    • The Tech Team
    • TSC Liason both working as a tech team member and guidance and planning with the TSC Chair.
No anticipated costs at this time.

MOTION by Apthorpe: LOPSA commits to upgrading Drupal and associated modules with the goal of providing a better user experience making it easier to create and navigate content.

2008 Program commitments (Discussion)

Discussion on possible 2008 program commitments:

Resume Standards Project (Harris)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. A white paper on why the RSP is needed
  2. A draft standard on skill-level nomenclature
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. Wiki (already provisioned)
  2. Email list (already created)
  3. Committees:
    1. Policy/planning committee
      • For white paper and draft standard
      • Include HR representation
    2. SME (subject-matter expert) committees
      For proof-of-concept work on skill levels in two or three areas (hopefully a diverse set, like a hard-tech non-vendor-specific skill, a vendor-specific skill, and a soft skill)
    Policy/planning committee could include SMEs

MOTION by Harris: The LOPSA Board commits to producing a white paper on the Resume Standards Project and a draft standard on skill-level nomenclature in 2008. Motion passes.

LOPSA On The Road (Parter/education committee)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. 10 sites for speakers tour
  2. major publicity
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. speakers
  2. Major ("national") sponsor
  3. Local sponsors and hosts
  4. national advertising: $5000 (estimate)
  5. travel: $5000 (500/site)

Expanded Conference commitments (Parter/education committee)

Proposed 2008++ deliverables
  1. Expand participation in OLFU to full 1-day training program plus booth
  2. participate in YAPC::na program, booth
  3. booth at LugRadio
  4. participate/presence at additional conferences (especially non-linux?)
  5. Expand participation in SCALE training program (Feb 2009)
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. shipping budget for booth materials
  2. misc budget for booth materials: $1500
  3. budget for shirts, etc for speakers
  4. OLFU needs more details and a budget
  5. SCALE needs more details and a budget

Guest Speakers at Locals (Parter/education committeee)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. LOPSA sponsored guest speakers at 5 Local/Chapter events
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. volunteers
  2. travel budget: $2500
  3. misc budget (door prizes, etc): $500

Campus mini-conferences (Parter/education committee)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. Four on-campus 1-day sysadmin mini-conferences (details will vary by site)
  2. 1 or 2 guest speakers for each
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. coordination with hosts
  2. hosts maybe able to cover costs
  3. press releases and other publicity
  4. door prizes, handouts, etc
  5. max $500 travel costs each: $2000
  6. refreshments (local sponsor? reg fee?)

LOPSA Podcast (Parter/Trucks)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. monthly podcast starting September 2008 (4 in 2008)
  • Is it at all feasible to have it (and the next month) ready for sysadmin appreciation day?
  1. we may be able to get sponsors
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. volunteer time
  2. Equipment:
    1. Any somewhat modern Apple OS X system (Windows or Linux systems can work, as well, but it's most cost effective in time and software do use OS X)
      • Not required to be dedicated for this purpose
      • Many Tech Team and Board members already own the computer system needed
    2. A quality microphone
      • Not built into system
      • Headset mics for each participant is ideal for phone or net based interviews or discussions: $40 - $100/headset (though many people already own them, and for non-LOPSA participants they would likely have to supply their own headset/mic)
      • Stand alone mic ideal for studio/quiet area interviews or discussions: $50 - $200 (high quality is important)
  3. Software: iLife (for Garageband) or Final Cut Express/Pro for Soundtrack or Soundtrack Pro (Garageband is already loaded on most OS X machines).
  4. Tech staff time: $500
  5. Editorial/producer: $500
  6. misc: $500
  7. Shirts/thank-yous for volunteers: $200
  8. note: costs might be higher if we have to pay for multiple test shows during the summer
  9. note: estimated budget for 2009: above x3?

Hosted member mail (Balling)

Proposed 2008 deliverables
  1. Working mail system.
Resources required to meet these deliverables
  1. Tech-team members interfacing the solution with our member database.
  2. Potentially rack-space at the hosting company for hardware.

Adjournment

There being no further business to discuss, a motion was made (Balling) and seconded (Palmer) to adjourn the meeting at 9:49pm EDT.