by Barry Sharp
During the San Jose conference, several discussions on North American regional meetings took place: at the Board of Directors meetings, at the Advisory Council meetings, and at a Birds of a Feather (BOF) session.
No clear consensus was reached by week's end. Some mention was made about a "CUG Lite," which was quickly renamed a "CUG Workshop." This might be held during Fall '97, maybe before or after Supercomputing '97. Again, nothing concrete was decided on.
Needless to say, with all the expected changes that are envisioned to occur over the next several years, there probably will be some momentum to return to two CUGs per year. As regional director of the Americas, I will be sensitive to this issue.
At this point, it is really up to members to make their wishes known to the CUG organizers. Remember, one reason why one CUG per year was voted on was due to the time and efforts of volunteers becoming drained. Without additional volunteers coming forward, the continuation of two CUGs per year was clearly not seen as an option!
