View source for Branding/Meeting Notes 2017-03-13

{{:Branding}}

This meeting ended up being more about our own re-branding needs, and the business of running KWNPSA as a non-profit organization.  We'll have another session  in the future on '''Branding''' to discuss the experience and gather the advice of other organizations.

* We started with a discussion on the different syntaxes used in markup languages, eg. Markdown, Mediawiki, PMWiki, MoinMoin...

==== Hosting Services ====
* Many Non-Profit organizations are migrating from CCj/Clearline (Steph Smith, Cedric Puddy) to IndieServe (Mark Steffen)
* Marc Paré will take over the hosting for KWNPSA
** Marc is currently using 123EHost.com
** This is for the interim, until Marc has his own server set up
** The hosting OS will be Mageia
* Mailing Lists
** Steve Izma will be the Mailing List Manager
** We currently have our [http://thinkers.org/mailman/listinfo/npsa_thinkers.org Discussion] and [http://thinkers.org/mailman/listinfo/npsa-ann_thinkers.org Announcements] mailing lists on CCj/Clearline
** Steve will look after the mailing list migrations as soon as Marc has Mailman set up
* Wiki
** Mediawiki is being used by everyone at this meeting, 
** Currently being hosted at http://sobac.com/kwnpsa by Bob Jonkman
** Will be migrated after Marc has set up the Mageia server

==== Sponsorships ====
* CIRA - Has provided $100 for the previous and this meeting.
* TechSoup - provides low-cost Microsoft licenses to Non-Profit organizations
** NetSquared (part of TechSoup) is an umbrella group for Non-Profit organizations' IT staff
*** If we get a venue without A/V facilities, can NetSquared sponsorship provide, say, a projector? Marc to ask Eli...
* Microsoft 
** We will gladly accept Microsoft sponsorhip and host an evening dedicated to Microsoft products
*** Perhaps have as a guest speaker a product specialist from Microsoft?
** We will continue to focus  on Free Software / Open Source solutions at other meetings
* Google 
** Apparently Google is a sponsor or a member of NetSquared
*** but we have not seen support from our local Google office, eg. request for a venue

==== Formalizing the KWNPSA group ====
* The formal structure of the group will consist only of a Treasurer
** Marc Paré will be Treasurer, will take care of any finances received from sponsors, donations, &c.
** Funds received from sponsorships &c. will be used for venues, hosting costs, domain name costs.
* Bob Jonkman will ask Eli van Giessen to re-brand the [http://www.meetup.com/NetSquared-Kitchener-Waterloo/ meetup.com group] as '''KWNPSA - Kitchener Waterloo Non-Profit System Administrators -- a NetSquared Group'''

==== Marketing KWNPSA ====
* Business cards?
** We need someone to design a KWNPSA logo
*** The ''KW'' part is important to our geographic locale; highlight or separate KW from NPSA
** Marc Paré has found with other organizations that business cards are just as effective as posters
* Let more people know that KWNPSA exists
** Marc has a list of local KW Non-Profit organizations (??? LINK ???); he has contacted about 100

==== Meeting format ====
* KWNPSA has a collegial Round Table Discussion format, which suits Non-Profit organizations
** Contrast this with formal presentations at [http://kwlug.org/ KWLUG]
** or the social restaurant meetings of [http://kwvoip.ca/ KWVoIP]

==== Mailing Lists ====
* How do we deal with badly configured MUAs (Mail clients) that try to reply to the Announcements list?
* Do we need two separate lists?
** Steve Izma will investigate the use of "child lists" in Mailman
** "Child lists" will allow "Discussion" to receive "Announcements" so people only have to subscribe to one list
* DMARC problems
** Steve will activate "munging" on Mailman so badly configured mail hosts like Yahoo Mail will accept messages
* We will have KWNPSA branded e-mail addresses 
** To be seen if this helps or hinders the DMARC problem
** Lends authority to Announcements; requests for venues, &c.
*** Marc Paré [mailto:marc.pare@kwnpsa.ca marc.pare@kwnpsa.ca]
*** Steve Izma [mailto:sizma@kwnpsa.ca sizma@kwnpsa.ca]
*** Bob Jonkman [mailto:bobjonkman@kwnpsa.ca bobjonkman@kwnpsa.ca]
** Available to anyone who helps organize the group

==== Wiki ====
* Meetup.com is [https://www.meetup.com/boards/thread/32693362 closing its Discussion Forums] where we used to publish Meeting Notes
** Paul Nijjar has a .gzip file of all meeting notes
** Bob Jonkman will upload these to the Wiki (they're in the Public Folder as [http://sobac.com/owncloud/s/CQr2YmVw6VZ91We/download?path=/&files=npsa.tar.bz2  npsa.tar.bz2])
*** Public folder (RO): http://sobac.com/owncloud/s/CQr2YmVw6VZ91We
*** Upload folder (R/W): http://sobac.com/owncloud/s/35Gyy6yTOG5Ak9z (contact [mailto:bobjonkman@kwnpsa.ca Bob Jonkman] for the password)
** Steve Izma will write a script to convert these from Markdown into Mediawiki syntax and upload them
* Bob has been testing different data structures on the Wiki, eg. transclusions for meeting announcements, sub-folders for meeting notes.

==== Branding ====
* Description of group: '''Resource Group for Information Technology in Non-Profit Organizations'''
** Similar to a Mission Statement, if not identical
** Also the Vision -- use one phrase for all
** We will refine this description on the Discussion List with other members
* Are we '''KWNPSA''' or '''KW-NPSA'''?
** It's a non-issue, we'll spell it out in full on posters and whenever we make announcements
** Let's see what the Business Card designer does

==== Venue ====
* Marc Paré will pursue Communitech and the Downtown Community Centre for "venue sponsorship"
* A venue at Google may not be possible (high security facility)


Meeting notes taken by Bob Jonkman.