Local groups document

[pterodactyl.corp.sgi.com">zwicky]

The following document on SAGE services for local groups was approved
by the board at the most recent SAGE board meeting. This is the
current list of services we offer; we expect to add new services to
the list as time goes by (for instance, we are currently working to
define a speaker registry service). Please send your comments and
requests to "sage-boardusenix.org".

	Elizabeth D. Zwicky
	zwickyusenix.org

	SAGE Local Group Support
	------------------------

SAGE believes that local groups provide important services
to the system administration community, and therefore
wishes to support them as much as possible. Because we also
believe that different formats and organizational
structures are appropriate for different local groups, we
do not want to specify one particular relationship that
makes something a "SAGE local group"; instead, we provide a
list of services that local groups can take advantage of or
not as appropriate for their situation.

These services are available to any not-for-profit group that serves
system administrators. Except as stated in the requirements for
particular services, SAGE makes no restrictions on
the nature or name of the group. Please remember that most of the
people providing these services are also volunteers with full-time
jobs outside of SAGE.

Requests for project funding:
	SAGE will entertain requests for funding of limited-term
projects (booklet publishing, establishment of speaker series, etc).
Calls for such proposals will be periodically announced, though the
proposals themselves will be entertained at any time.  Requesting
groups should identify a SAGE Board member who will be willing to
serve as "champion" for the proposal to the Board.  SAGE will consider
all proposals that benefit system administrators, but may give
precedence to proposals that benefit the system administration
community as a whole, as opposed to being limited to the local group.
Proposals that benefit the local group only will not be considered
unless the group contains at least one SAGE member.

Initial formation:
 	Advice, commiseration, and experience are available
from the sage-locals working group and its associated
mailing list, which is also a good place to find other
people interested in forming a group in your area. 
SAGE will provide you with the mailing list information for those
USENIX/SAGE members in your area who have authorized the release
of their information, as long as you agree to use the information 
only once, and only for the purpose of creating a non-profit
group for system administrators.

Publicity:
 	Any local group for system administrators that
provides contact information will be listed in ;login:, in
SAGE's WWW server, and any place else that SAGE provides
local group information. The WWW server by default has an
extremely basic page listing geographic coverage and
contact information; local groups can provide their own
page instead, or the URL for their own server. Local groups
may also use the sage-announce mailing list to announce
their meetings.

Insurance:
	Many public meeting places require liability
insurance for groups that wish to use them. SAGE can make
arrangements to extend its liability insurance to local
groups which meet the requirements of the insurance
company; this will always require that a current SAGE
member is a contact for the group and attends the meetings.
Other requirements will vary depending on the organization
of the local group and the locations it meets in.