RE: Win a SAAB at COMMON ! -- MIDRANGE-L

Well, here's my two cents worth - and with the exchange rate for the 
Canadian $ that's closer to .01 US so take it with a grain of salt ! 
  :-)

RNTMOD(*ON)

Yes COMMON is an organisation of volunteers that kept growing and 
growing until it reached the point where it couldn't function solely by 
depending on volunteers.  Why ?  Maybe several reasons.  In the tough 
90's maybe companies are more reluctant to send people to conferences, 
or more specifically to send the same person to several consecutive 
conferences (pretty much a requirement for any volunteer position other 
than session manager).  Maybe COMMON shouldn't have tried to grow to 
the size it has ?  The only thing I think we can agree on is that no 
matter what had happened there would always be someone who disagreed 
with the direction taken.  Well unfortunately you can't please 
everyone.


I'm not saying I agree with every decision COMMON makes, and I don't 
know the answers for sure, but let me play devil's advocate for a 
minute here and try to see if I can come up with some potential reasons 
some of the decisions mentioned in the previous posts may have been 
taken.


COMMON GOOD PINS
Well, OK maybe I shouldn't have started with this one (maybe the devil 
will fire me for being a lousy advocate).
I have to say I agree completely with Larry on this one.  It does seem 
that the COMMON Good Pin has achieved the "exclusivity" of a plastic 
prize in a box of breakfast cereal from being handed out for reasons as 
trivial as "To Billy-Joe-Sue-Bob for delivering a GreenStreak highlight 
form to Headquarters for me when I was too hungover from 10 straight 
hours of getting s**t-faced on Bourbon Street and couldn't drag my 
sorry ass out of bed before the noon deadline".  I have six of those 
things, yet the one time I felt I really deserved one (when I was a 
session manager for one of Jim Sloan's sessions in Cincinnati back in 
1990 and filled in unasked as speaker at an 8am session when Jim had to 
leave the night before due to a family emergency) no one seemed to 
notice.  Maybe I was too "new" then and not part of the "politburo". 
  It does appear that to a large degree these things are now handed out 
like souvenir pins amongst the "elite" volunteers and thus have become 
almost worthless as a form of recognition for "outstanding effort". 
Maybe part of the problem is the way these things are handed out. 
Volunteers can sign out only two pins until Tuesday, at which point 
you're supposed to return any unused pins, and from Wednesday onwards 
it seems they're handed out to anyone with the ability to belch the 
first few letters of the alphabet.  No,  that ISN'T how I got mine - 
besides I can do the whole alphabet if I try !   :-)

Maybe handing out of the COMMON Good Pins should require the approval 
of a senior volunteer, board member, whatever.  You should at least 
need the same level of approval to hand one of these out as you need to 
make a change to GreenStreak.
And no more of this "free for all" for the pins after Tuesday.  We 
don't HAVE to give them all out just because we had xxx pins made up. 
Take the leftovers and crush them.  If you're short, order extras and 
mail them after the conference, and give recognition on the web site 
and/or in GreenStreak.  You don't order up a batch of Purple Hearts at 
the start of a war and have to make sure you use them all up, or 
someone goes without because they've "given out the allotment - sorry, 
try again in the next war".


CUDS
Well, like most thinks in the politically correct 90's I think we can 
place part of the blame for destroying CUDS on the damn lawyers. 
Society is going to hell in a handbasket and we're all along for the 
ride.  What can you do ?  (Yeah, I've heard the "Kill all the lawyers" 
cry before, but you can't do that because, er well, erm !   Well, you 
know, there HAS to be some reason why you can't do that ?).
I believe COMMON's liability was pointed out in the event someone got 
totally blotto on free booze and decided to harm themselves (or 
others).  Again, when COMMON was a smaller organisation maybe peer 
pressure helped to avoid any gross stupidity as you probably knew most 
of the people at CUDS.  It became so large that you were lucky to know 
more than a small percentage of those attending, and if someone was 
going overboard what business was it of yours ?
So we ended up with the token $1 charge so legally we're not plying 
someone with free alcohol to the point where they go out and do 
something stupid, like diving off the balcony or installing an NT 
Server to run their mission critical business applications.  Sorry, I 
couldn't resist that one !   =:-o
Look at it honestly and compare it to the cost of a drink in the hotels 
we use.  Is $1 really that bad ?
The buffet on the final night ?  As Friday afternoons have pretty much 
been dead and almost everyone now bails out of town Friday afternoon 
there's hardly anyone left anymore.  True, that means a small buffet 
would cost a mere pittance compared to what it used to cost, so I guess 
I can't see why this has been dropped.
As for the large screen at CUDS (World Series time a few years ago 
wasn't it ?) I don't think that's necessarily rules out if the 
conference dates happen to coincide again.  The new CUDS manager is a 
nice guy - give him a chance  - but if we don't start seeing some 
regional beers at conference instead of just Bud/Miller/Water I may 
have to beat on him myself !   :-)


PAID STAFF, PAID THIS, PAID THAT...
Waddayagonnado when you can't get enough volunteers because the old 
'senior' members have burned out and there aren't enough new volunteers 
?  COMMON was just plain growing too large to be run entirely by 
volunteers.  If profit were the sole motive would they be PAYING for 
all this help instead of just overtaxing the volunteers ?  Things cost 
more -  maybe that's inflation ?  The number of sessions has been cut 
back - maybe we were running too many sessions and many were sparsely 
attended ?  You run less sessions, people complain about the loss of 
choice.  You run too many, people complain there's too many sessions to 
choose from and it's overwhelming for new attendees.  Again, you can't 
please everyone, but at least you have to try something.


STAFF NOT DOING WHAT WE WANT
I don't think it's the staff making these decisions.  They are paid to 
do what the membership (via the Board) decide.
How do you influence the Board ?  Show up at MOM.  (Meeting Of the 
Members for those who don't know - and from the attendance many don't, 
or don't care - probably Thursday night in Anaheim).


AND (about time they all say!) The CAR !!!
Well, sorry Larry but I think you're off base completely on this one. 
And yes Charlie, with all due respect to one of the oldest COMMON 
members (no age crack intended) who has given untold hours of his time 
to COMMON, I think you are overreacting.

What's the point ?  What's the message ?  Is a booth at COMMON worth 
that much to the advertiser ?
It's a CONTEST/DRAW promotion during Expo - not an attack against MOM, 
Apple Pie and the Code Of Ethics.  Does EVERYTHING have to have a 
hidden agenda ?   Does everyone working to promote the conference have 
to have an ulterior motive ?  SAAB sells cars, not computer 
software/hardware/trade magazines or anything else they would want to 
"advertise" at the Expo.
The tie-in is that SAAB have been a long time AS/400 user, and have 
just rolled out a new dealer system using the latest AS/400 technology. 
Integrated PC Servers in AS/400's in dealerships.  Native Lotus Domino 
on the AS/400.  Isn't that a nice angle to publicise at what is 
basically an AS/400 user's group, a company dedicated to using the 
AS/400 to solve their key business problems ?
And if they want to accept entries during COMMON for a contest they are 
running to celebrate the launch of their new AS/400 based IRIS 
(Intranet Retail Information System) by giving away a nice shiny new 
US$40,000 + SAAB 9-3 convertible then what's wrong with that ?    What 
would be wrong if other companies who use the AS/400 in their mission 
critical business applications wanted to hold a draw to give away their 
products too ?  Nintendo,
Isn't it just a promotional idea to raise interest in the Expo ?  Isn't 
promotion something that you're SUPPOSED to do ?
Again, this is the EXPO, not something being run during sessions or at 
CUDS even.
If you've got something against gambling/betting/entering draws then no 
one is going to put a gun to your head and make you enter.

And sorry Charlie, but if anyone has realised this by now surely it's 
you, the Expo IS a commercial enterprise and has been for a few years 
now.  However I don't think (well I certainly hope, as I'm sure do MANY 
others) you should base any decision on whether or not to continue 
speaking at COMMON on an issue such as this.  I could certainly 
understand if you just decided that after over 20 years of giving your 
time to speak at COMMON when you could be out on the road earning money 
doing the same thing (or spending more time with your family - yeah, 
that DOES seem more important the older you get doesn't it !) it was 
time to call it a day.  But to let something as trivial as a contest 
draw during Expo influence your decision, well yeah, I think you're out 
beyond left field waiting to catch that 63rd homer  ;-)
I'm sure you'll never be announced at the beginning of one of your 
sessions with:
"In a moment COMMON will be presenting that well known RPG Raconteur, 
the Demon of the D-Spec, The King of the Calcs, the Amazing Charlie M ! 
  But first a brief word from our sponsor.
'Do you suffer from the painful itch of haemorrhoids ?   Try new 
Preparation H-Spec  .....' "


I know, let's blame it all on Northwest Airlines, the damn strike, and 
their poor underpaid, overworked pilots !    :-)

RNTMOD(*OFF)


Now one final point about when the car will be given away (AFTER I 
keyed all the above and just went back to the COMMON web site to 
check).  I've noticed the web page has been changed slightly and you 
will now note the addition of the words "The SAAB winner will be 
announced later this year."  So no it ISN'T going to be awarded during 
the conference !    (Yeah, I THOUGHT it sounded too good to be true). 
:-(



Neil Palmer         DPS Data Processing Services Canada Ltd.
                                             AS/400~~~~~
Thornhill, Ontario,  Canada    ___________          ___  ~
Phone: (905) 731-9000  x238   |OOOOOOOOOO| ________  o|__||=
Cell.: (416) 565-1682  x238   |__________|_|______|_|______)
Fax:   (905) 731-9202          oo      oo   oo  oo   OOOo=o\
mailto:NeilP@DPSlink.com    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.DPSlink.com        AS/400  The Ultimate Business Server 


-----Original Message-----
From:   Larry D. Bolhuis [SMTP:lbolhui@ibm.net]
Sent:   Monday, September 14, 1998 1:02 PM
To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject:        Re: Win a SAAB at COMMON !

   Well I haven't been at this as long as Charlie but when I first 
attended in
1988 I remember lots of VOLUNTEERS.  The organization WAS the MEMBERS. 
My boss
encouraged EVERY ATTENDEE from our company to VOLUNTEER.   I personally 
have two
'For the COMMON Good' pins.  For what? VOLUNTEERING, when NOBODY SHOWED 
UP to lead
sessions, we just did a BOF, great-no but better than nothing.  I was 
proud to get
them.  Now I see in the Green Streek every COMMON 'x nominates y and y 
nominates
x'  for a Pin(same people every time too). I guess those pins aren't 
worth what I
thought.
I remember CUDS was huge too, and a buffet on the final night for those 
who stayed
- What happened to that?, I even remember big screen TV for some sports 
events..

   Now it seems everybody is paid, Paid staff, Paid session managers. 
Profit seems
to be king.  Gotta make money!  For WHAT!?  COMMON is for the MEMBERS, 
NOT the
STAFF.  It seems that all the complaints that I have heard are from 
members (which
INCLUDES many speakers such as Charlie) that services are reduced, 
prices are
higher, sessions fewer, etc etc.

  I say if the current Staff is not doing what we want, we replace 
them!  After
all its our group isn't it?

  As for the Car, it's a bit over the top.  What's the point? What's 
the message?
Is a booth at COMMON worth that much to the advertiser?

  And Charlie, don't give up.  I don't believe that't the answer.  I 
have never
believed or will I ever subscribe to punishing the many for the 
misdeeds of the
few.  Again, if we believe the current board is out of touch, then toss 
em out of
office!

  Larry Bolhuis
  Vice President
  Arbor Solutions, Inc
  Grand Rapids, MI
  lbolhui@ibm.net

Charles L. Massoglia wrote:

> Does anyone else have a problem with this or am I out in left field. 
I'm
> not sure this is the image I want associated with a user group for 
which I
> volunteer to speak. It sounds more and more like a commercial 
enterprise.
>
> I have attended every COMMON since April 1977 in Chicago and have 
spoken at
> every COMMON since October 1977 in Boston.  I am debating whether 
September
> 1998 in Anaheim will be my last conference as a speaker.
>
> Am I overreacting?
>
> Charlie Massoglia, Massoglia Technical Consulting, Inc.
> PO Box 1065, Okemos, MI 48854, USA
> 517-676-9700  Fax: 517-676-1006  EMAIL: cmassoglia@voyager.net
>


>
> >I hope David doesn't consider this an advertisement and kick me off 
the
> >list !   =:-o
> >
> >Anyone check out the http://www.common.org/ page lately ?
> >Attendees at the Fall COMMON conference can enter a draw to win a 
SAAB
> >9-3 Convertible !!!
> >
> >
> >Win a new SAAB at COMMON's Fall
> >                                     Conference in Anaheim!
> >
> >
> >                                     There's a one-of-a-kind SAAB 
story
> >happening at the
> >                                     Fall Conference in Anaheim. As
> >part of a special
> >                                     promotion, SAAB will be taking
> >entries in their great
> >                                     car giveaway contest. SAAB has
> >picked the Fall
> >                                     Conference in Anaheim to kick 
off
> >their celebration of
> >                                     their Intranet Retail 
Information
> >Systems (IRIS),
> >                                     which helps SAAB retailers 
serve
> >customers and
> >                                     prospects more efficiently. 
IRIS
> >runs on an AS/400
> >                                     central server and was 
developed
> >jointly by SAAB
> >              and IBM Global Services. So while you're at the Expo 
area
> >during the Fall
> >              Conference, stop by the SAAB booth, see an IRIS
> >demonstration, learn about
> >              e-commerce solutions at SAAB and complete your entry 
in
> >their contest. Next thing
> >              you know, you could be driving a brand-new SAAB 9-3
> >Convertible. For more
> >              information about SAAB, visit http://www.saab.com
> >       (Saab USA at http://www.saabusa.com/ )
> >
> >
> >
> >Neil Palmer


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