by Tom Lasssiter
Part II - Obligations of Membership
Last month, in Part I, I discussed the benefits of HAL-PC membership. Foremost among those benefits is education. This month, in Part II we will discuss the foremost obligation - volunteering.
We are a “user group”, a group where users help each other. We do that by voluntarily assisting each other in the sharing of knowledge and talents to raise the level of each member individually and the organization as a whole.
HAL-PC has almost 13,000 members. About six members receive a paycheck from the organization, performing part-time administrative, clerical and bookkeeping duties essential to maintaining the membership rolls and business functions of the group. That lea ves the rest of us to carry out the educational and training roles and other tasks needed to assist each other in becoming better PC users.
Even our HALNet and Magazine staffs, all professionals in their own right, are all volunteers. Some of us can teach formal classes and run SIGs.
Others can answer phones, stuff envelopes, staff membership tables at monthly meetings and trade shows, and perform other tasks that may not be glamorous but which are absolute necessities in the overall day-to-day activities of HAL-PC.
Each of us has a talent that can be useful to HAL-PC. We are therefore obligated to (1) make that talent known and (2) use it to benefit HAL-PC . If each member donated just one hour of time per month we would have an astounding impact on Houston computer users. And one hour is not much to ask of you. Many are donating much more and have done so for years.
It is a super organization - made so by its members past and present. They are a wonderful group of people, sharing a common bond of desire to improve the computing knowledge of all wishing to drink from that cup. Those who have gone before, since 1982, have established HAL-PC as the world’s largest and premier PC user group. Please consider doing your part to further that mark. Learn what you can and pass it on to those coming after you—either by direct teaching or otherwise assisting in carrying out t he functions of HAL-PC.
You will gain an enormous satisfaction from such an endeavor. Working side-by-side with like-minded individuals toward a common goal is very emotionally rewarding. HAL-PC will thereby continue to grow and expand the computing knowledge of residents in th e greater Houston area. Contact Michelle Annis, Volunteer Coordinator (also purely a volunteer herself) and let her help you find your special place of fellowship and service.
Your $40 annual dues help cover the bills; it is your time that helps us cover the true role of HAL-PC - helping members become better PC users .
Call Michelle today at the HAL-PC office 713/993-3300.
Thanks for your membership—and your volunteer efforts.
Tom Lassiter is a HAL-PC and Board member where he serves as Membership Secretary and Chairs the Volunteer Committee. He Chairs the Steering Committee of the Build or Buy a PC SIG and emcees that weekly SIG meeting. He may be contacted at jamesl@hal-pc.org.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.