Excellent comments from the heart. Shawn may not have intended to trigger this, but there's a lot here that needed to be said anyway. Good job, Denys. -- Greg Cagle gregc at gregcagle dot com ex-Interex Board Advisory Member "Denys Beauchemin" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message news:9tv6qh0fd5@enews3.newsguy.com... > You know, the first time I read your response I was debating whether to > simply ignore you or say "Screw you!" For one thing, I have been on the > board only two years and before that I thought I did a fairly decent job as > a VOLUNTEER conference committee chairman. So how you can qualify my > contributions to Interex as only marginal over the last five years is a > little beyond me. I was not aware my contributions were being measured over > the last 5 years. > > Then I decided to be civil and to answer your comments and others I saw. > > You know, there is one thing about being a volunteer in such an organization > as Interex, it seems to be the same people who do the job over and over > again, although every once in a while, there is an infusion of new blood. > Other times, long-time volunteers just get tired and fade away. On the > other hand, the general apathy and the gimme, gimme, gimme attitude is ever > present. > > I ran for the board because I thought I could be effective on such a body > and it would be a new experience for me. The last few years have been very > difficult for Interex and while this is changing, it has taken a toll on > people. As you know, the past two HP World conferences have seen a > shrinkage in attendance. While substantial, the HP World shrinkage is > nothing compared the one experienced by all other conferences. I was just > at Comdex and that show is a mere shadow of itself. (More on this show in > another post.) Other conferences have been canceled or have seen 50-75% > shrinkage. HP World only went down 25% this year. Advertising revenue for > industry magazines has gone down all over the place; Interex has stayed > flat, actually showing signs of increasing. > > Membership figures have been going down steadily over the last several years > despite the best efforts of intelligent, dedicated people to reverse the > trend or even to stem the flow. It just seems that people do not see any > benefit in joining an organization of HP users, actually HP buyers and in > participating in the well being of the organization and coming up with new > creative ways of serving the membership, or supporting efforts to advocate > their position to HP and other vendors. > > What you and some of the other pundits and critics are ignoring are some > simple facts. HP World (and its earlier names) is the longest running > industry trade show in North America. It was ranked in the top three a > couple years ago, now it should be #2. Interex's worldwide advocacy survey > has been garnering a lot of attention and recognition within HP. The SIB > and other advocacy vehicles have been very useful in getting HP to address > many issues that would never have been addressed otherwise. The magazines > have maintained a high quality and have even improved over the years. The > Hot News, a weekly e-mail compendium of all things HP, is excellent and > compares favorably with any other such news e-mail. The web site keeps > getting better and more complete as time goes by. > > Now, let me tell you about the volunteers and their work. These volunteers > are few and far between but they do yeoman's work. The SIB, the forums, the > conferences, the solutions symposium, the advocacy surveys and others that I > am forgetting because it's late, these are all accomplished with volunteers > and some professional staff. I have forgotten how many hours and days I > have given freely to Interex and their users, but I can assure you that > contribution exceeds the ones from some volunteers and is dwarfed by the > contributions of other volunteers. Saying that my contributions over the > last five years have been marginal insults all volunteers. Maybe I am > getting old and grumpy, but I resent this. > > When one joins the board, the first thing one discovers and must abide by, > is the board speaks as one. There is no showboating by board members about > their accomplishments on the board, everyone is the same and there is only > one voice. This does not mean things are always lovey-dovey and rosy during > board meetings. I am here to tell you, there are some interesting dilemmas > and challenges, which are resolved within board meetings or private emails. > What one board member accomplishes is never seen by the outside world. It > is the whole board and by extension Interex, which accomplishes things. And > that is how it should be. Board members set direction for and monitor the > performance of, the organization. A large part of the direction is taken > from the members. If the members do not speak up or participate only > passively, the board and by extension Interex, must then set the course to > the best of its ability. > > (BTW, it is my opinion the HP Board of Directors should act the same way. > The current and coming fracas between various board members is NOT conducive > to the well being of the company. If he thought the merger was a bad idea, > he should have spoken against it a long time ago instead of voting in favor > of it and then changing his mind, as was reported.) > > So, if Interex does not do exactly what you and other pundits say it should > do, perhaps it's because you and they as members, are not making yourselves > heard. Just remember this, Mr. Shawn Gordon, I have asked time and again > for people to make their grievances (if they must, everyone has a grievance > of some kind) or their comments and especially suggestions known. I have > given the email address of the board where anyone can send messages, which > are read, I guarantee it. ([log in to unmask]) There have been very, very > few messages sent to this address and none with your name on it. > > For the record, we (the board and Interex) are well aware of the situation > regarding the HP e3000. We have taken some steps and are planning some > things, which will be explained more fully next week. FYI, there is a board > meeting this week starting on Thursday. The issue is definitely on the > agenda and steps have already been proposed, by yours truly if that makes > you happy to know. However, whatever comes out of the meeting will be from > the board and will be the direction for Interex. > > In the meantime, if you feel that renewing or joining Interex will do > nothing to help the situation vis-à-vis the demise of the HP e3000, then you > are sadly mistaken. Interex needs its members now more than ever, and the > MPE users need Interex now more than ever. It's a win-win situation. > > But just so there is no mistake, Interex represents all HP users, buyers. > That means the HP-UX, Net Servers and Linux folks as well as the MPE folks. > > Good night, > > Denys Beauchemin > Interex Board Member > > -----Original Message----- > From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of > Shawn Gordon > Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 4:45 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Using HP e3000 for the NEXT 25 years. > > On Monday 26 November 2001 02:33 pm, Denys Beauchemin wrote: > > An excellent question Mr. Clark. Interex certainly can AND will play a > > part in whatever future is created for MPE. Already the Interex web site > > has some announcements about this issue and there will be more > > announcements forthcoming, trust me on this (next week or week after.) > > > > In the meantime, let me once again urge every Interex member to renew > their > > membership when it comes due and for those of you who are not members, if > > there ever was a time to join Interex, it is now > > > Certainly not intending to downplay your significant contributions to that > organization over time, but they've been marginal over the last 5 years at > best, and I certainly don't see any reason to renew let alone join if you > aren't a member. What is the logic? > > > > > Kind regards, > > > > Denys. . . > > > > Denys Beauchemin > > * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * > * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html * > * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *