I’m interested in starting a discussion here. When COVID-19 hit the world, everything shut down, which is understandable. Fast forward to now and we’re around the corner from welcoming in 2025. While things aren’t perfect, hosting in-person meetups is much more feasible now yet I’m not seeing this happen. Thoughts?
I’m not seeing a lot of Ubuntu LoCo activity at all, but that’s a whole other discussion. For the groups I do see activity from, at least in the U.S., I’m really just seeing online only events. Why is this? Are online events preferred? Is the issue that people are having trouble finding venues? Something else?
Opinion: If you broaden the timeframe to 20 years, Linux user groups of all types, including LoCos, seem to have been drying up.
20 years ago, I watched people drag tower systems around to meetings…because there was a problem to demonstrate, hoping the greybeards solve. Groups did annual InstallFests. The distro wars will in full swing, with flamethrowers and hair-pulling about this distro or that distro. There was a lot of news to share.
Today, most of those problems simply don’t exist anymore – whole classes of bugs vanished. When was the last time most people (not you specifically!) had trouble adding a printer? When was the last time you needed on-site help installing? The distro wars ended. The news and support moved online.
My own local Linux User Group has slowly evaporated down to a social hour. Nobody has unsolved problems to demonstrate. Release-upgrades simply work. Installing is routine, dull. We chat about what we are playing with, and about our jobs and families and other hobbies.
The in-person experience must be worth the trip now: It’s not essential to meet with my computer club. It is essential to meet with my nice friends.
I’m not sure if you’re refering Arizona LoCo’s activity. But if it’s right, I think you might want to have a look at this posting.
There could be many reasons for some LoCo teams prefer online over in-person. Like you know, In-person baisically require some input on finding some good place then making people show up at the place on the day.
As most LoCo leaders work with LoCo stuff on their free time after their main work, in case they are really busy with their own matter, they might prefer online over in-person. Or if the country or region that LoCo covers doesn’t have high density of population or the area is big, that could be reason behind difficulty to gather people in a place which could be another reason to prefer online.
When Covid-19 hit, it was practically impossible to meet physically in Arizona because most of the public places, restaurants, coffee houses, etc. were either closed or were limited to take out only. Our Team Leader made the decision to go to on-line events which was accomplished very quickly. After the initial panic died down I moved my events back to physical. Those in the Phoenix metropolitan (where most of our membership is located) did not. I found that it was extremely difficult to gain new members while conducting an event on line as was trying to talk a newbie through an install on his computer.
As to why some LoCo events are still on line, there are numerous reasons. During Covid-19 it became obvious to restaurant owners that separate rooms where events could be held were at a premium and they could charge for them. Since our LoCo doesn’t charge dues or have any money (as is the case with most LoCos), places that were free before were no longer usable. Secondly, members who ran events pre-Covid moved, died, lost interest, or became otherwise unavailable and no one has stepped up to replace them. The result in Arizona was we lost 3 of our 4 Ubuntu Hour hosts. The Team Leader has attempted to keep those events alive by hosting on-line Ubuntu Hours himself but the attendance has sagged.
Our other big events were the twice a month installfests in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This is a case of what was before free is now expensive. Businesses that have a room big enough and the required facilities (internet, tables, chairs, etc.) now want to charge for their use. Installfests outside of the Phoenix area have moved back to physical, but the Installfests in the city are still on line and they have turned into Linux workshops. Attendance has also decreased.
As has already been stated, on-line events are easy. However, you are not going to grow your LoCo with solely on-line events. At least we (the Arizona LoCo) have not been able to do so.