Stuff related to attracting new members, etc.
[updated by Karl B, 18aug06]
Table of contents
Membership committee ideas and status
Completed projects
Rejected ideas
Existing benefits
Benefits to the greater TeX community supported via membership in TUG
Old list of eight reasons for joining TUG
Send items that should be on the list to membership@tug.org
Membership committee ideas and status
- Lance's idea about $35 fee and decoupling TUGboat
- Implemented
- Dave idea to make TPJ be for members only (at least articles,
perhaps columns): there was some exchange of ideas about this among the
board around 11/11/05. Several people were mildly or strongly for this,
one was against it, and Lance suggested making only a whole-issue-PDF
version of the journal be for members-only.
- idea of creating a computer-based programmed learning system
for TeX/LaTeX to sell as a TUG product or a member-only product
- Steve's idea of a Best of TUGboat volume: Steve, Karl, and Dave
have reviewed several volumes for plausible candidate papers, in
botb.txt.
- Implemented
- Implemented
- Trial membership
- Introductory slide show that Dave promised to have done by July 15:
a fairly complete first draft now exists (12/5/05); see slideshow
- Implemented
- Karl is working on a list of error message, but needs help from
someone to make it publishable; see http://tug.org/errors.html
- contacting other groups, e.g., UNIX groups: Robin (and others?) is working on this.
From Klaus on this subject: Robin reported about her visit to the O'Reilly Open Source Conventionand she found out a lot of people know TeX, use TeX or sympathize with
TeX. These people we have to attract. They have to learn about TUG,
what TUG does and the fees are spent for good things. We have to show
TUG's face. Dante was able to convince some magazines to care about
TeX (and also found some authors supplying articles), e.g.
LinuxMagazine, LinuxUser, and c't , the most relevant German computer
magazine. I already mentioned the DANTE edition published at Lehmanns
(both the PSTricks book as the KOMA-Script book were sold more than
1000 times), info pages about DANTE in books (Franzis), booth at
LinuxTag and so on. People see such efforts, and they appreciate them,
and then they don't really care if the membership is $10 more or less.
- Implemented
- Steve suggests a comparison of TUG's benefits and fees with the
Society of Typographic Aficionados:
http://www.typesociety.org/memlevels.html
- Doesn't work -- see "rejected category"
- Implemented
- in the context of the discussion of the gold membership, Steve
suggests a fund raising drive to let people know about ways to donate
- eliminate early bird discount: part of some board discussions
- TUG roll of honor: this has been "assigned" to a committee of Phil
and Barbara, no forward motion as of 4jun06.
- Knuth Scholarship: http://tug.org/knuthsch.html -- it has not been updated or
awarded for some years. There is some sentiment for changing it to be
open to anyone, not just non-technical people. Phil expressed interest
in this being addressed. No forward motion as of 4jun06.
- Will Robertson suggests: If TUG could somehow procure the rights
to a decent enough typeface, they could offer it gratis to all
(possibly new?) members of TUG as an incentive to join.
Karl responds: We could make it be a "gold" benefit, and make it for
a "commercial" typeface, i.e., one that would never be freely available
anyway. That way it is a real benefit of joining TUG. This could
actually be quite an incentive.
- Discount for first-year members: being discussed a bit
- CTAN CD cost recovery and new-member rate: Karl suggests trying
this in summer, after the usual renewals and new memberships have fallen off.
- (karl) another publication idea: all the core latex documents
(leaving off sources).
- (karl) came up at practex06 at rutgers: make a nice
typographical+tug poster for members (available electronically? but
page size ...), maybe sell on the side.
Completed projects
2. Auto-renewal and electronic discount were approved by the board.
6. Idea of adding a table of contents to TUGboat sorted from introductory to advanced (see last two issues) [Steve suggests including a better title]
7. Electronic billing was probably another name for
autorenewal; see point 2 above.
10. Member-only access to on-line copy of TUGboat during first year after publication
13. Interview project: is well established and on-going; see www.tug.org/interviews
16. Auto-renewal was on the list yet another time; see point 2 above.
Rejected ideas
gold membership with no significant added benefits but perhaps
a certificate and/or trinket: motion withdrawn in the middle of voting
15. have joint memberships with other TeX user groups where the money comes first to
TUG and then gets sub-distributed: the experts say it probably doesn't work
Existing benefits (no claim of value is made)
- intangible benefits, e.g., be part of the TeX community, support TUG supporting TeX,
be more visible for being recruited to work on TUG projects, etc.
- TUGboat hard copy and on-line access a year before non-members get on-line access
- TeXLive and ProTeXt DVD and CD on request
- WinEdt registration discount
- Free OzTeX registration
- discounts at TUG store
- discount on TUG conference fees
- get announcements to the membership
- ...
Benefits to the greater TeX community supported via membership in TUG
- texhax list and texhax archive search
- lots of links on TUG web site
- home pages and web sites on TUG server for various TeX sub-communities, e.g., tex live, teTeX, protext, web2c, pstricks, pdftex, hyperref, tex4ht, fontinst, eplain,
tds, historic archives
- collaboration with other TeX users groups on activities such as CTAN, TeXLive, etc.
-
- ...
Old list of eight reasons for joining TUG
- Publications: All members receive 4 copies of TUGboat,
4 copies of
TeX and TUG NEWS, and a membership
directory. One of the four TUGboat issues contains
the proceedings of the annual meeting, so if you can't make
the meeting, you can still keep up to date with the latest
developments. As well, TUG publishes special single-topic
items in its TeXniques series; some are guides and
summaries of TeX and LaTeX; others offer descriptions of
major software packages (e.g., PiCTeX, EDMAC).
- Books and Software:
A "one-stop shop," TUG carries most TeX macro packages
as well as TeX publications and products. The Radel
collection
of public domain TeX software for microcomputers is now
available through TUG, too. Members benefit from a 10%
discount on all items available from TUG.
- Membership Networks: TUG
maintains and distributes a complete membership
directory
annually. Members are listed alphabetically, geographically
and
by institution. These lists facilitate easy member-to-member
communication within TUG's worldwide network.
- Information Referrals:
TUG can connect you with site coordinators -- specialists
in
implementations of TeX on various computer architectures
--
as well as other resource volunteers. These experts are
available
to answer your questions about TeX, TeX-related software
and
other technical matters.
- Annual Meetings: TUG's Annual Meetings bring TeX users together to learn
the
latest in TeX applications and innovations through
seminars,
talks and informal gatherings. They offer an opportunity to
connect with other TeX users at every level. Each
conference
is informative, but always informal and friendly -- the
perfect
forum for valuable interaction and exchange of ideas on
TeX.
- TeX Worldwide:
When you belong to TUG you connect with other TeX user
associations around the world. Information about their
activities is published regularly in TTN; reciprocal
membership
arrangements are available with some of the European groups.
- Training:
Each year TUG offers seminars and classes for beginner,
intermediate and advanced TeX users throughout North
America and Europe. TUG will customize on-site courses to
meet your company's specific needs.
- Discounts: Discounted Annual Meeting fees, Student rates for membership (50% off
individual rates!), Discounts on the purchase of selected TUG\
publications,
Discounts on TUG-sponsored courses