UniForum '96 attracted a world of attention--just ask Kaye Batchelor, president of UniForum New Zealand. She underwent the rigors of a 12-hour flight across the Pacific to attend the conference and trade show in San Francisco last February. Talking recently to UniNews, Batchelor offered a unique perspective on the U.S. conference. She also commented on current activities--both technical and social--for the small but tightly knit open systems community in New Zealand.
Batchelor was most impressed with the CEO addresses at the U.S. conference. "We generally don't have speakers at that level in New Zealand," she said. Batchelor also mentioned that she found the tutorials valuable, although she added that in New Zealand, speakers deliver written papers that are passed out to the audience. "You get quite a lot of technical information that way," she says. "At San Francisco, you generally had to rely more on your ability to write notes as best you could."
UniForum New Zealand was established in 1984, and like the early U.S. user groups, it originally focused on technical Unix issues. In the past few years, this focus has grown to wider concerns involving open systems and the Internet.
Commenting on differences between the U.S and New Zealand, Batchelor says that her country has traditionally been innovative in its use of computing, although trade restrictions have encouraged a strong emphasis on practical, real-world solutions. "We've probably been slower to adapt client/server environments," she admits, pointing out that her employer, Electronic Data Systems, New Zealand, is still based on mainframes.
However, the biggest difference between the two countries is a simple matter of size. "What you have to remember," says Batchelor, "is that New Zealand is a small country; we only have about three and a half million people. We have populations of only thousands of users, and that changes the way we look at things." While UniForum conferences attract crowds in the thousands, the UniForum New Zealand conference generally draws about 200, which, adds Batchelor, "is quite good for New Zealand."
New Zealand's small size means that UniForum members have many opportunities to network closely and form strong professional and personal bonds. With a total membership of 400, it's possible to be on a first-name basis with a large percentage of open systems professionals in the country.
With such a small group, it's not surprising that social activities are an important part of UniForum conferences. Aside from morning and afternoon teas scheduled into the conference sessions, a typical conference offers dances, dinners, late-night chat sessions, cocktail parties and even golf tournaments. Special theme dances are always a highlight. This year, the theme is "Magic," and members are encouraged to arrive as witches, warlocks and wizards.
UniForum conferences are also scheduled to coincide with school vacations so children can accompany their parents. Baby-sitting and play facilities are provided. "We try to bring people away from the office," says Batchelor, "instead of offering them a few sessions on their way to work." Apparently members like it that way. Almost 90 percent in surveys say they want the conference format to remain the same.
Summing up the differences she saw between UniForum in the U.S. and New Zealand, Batchelor says, "We can't equal the U.S. in size, but people here know each other. It's quite intimate, and that's valuable."
Many members will sorely miss and want to bid farewell to Martin Lennon, who died suddenly at his home on March 28.
Martin was a leading figure in UniForum New Zealand and a prominent member of the IT community for many years. He joined the Board in 1988 and was elected as president in 1990-91. UniForum NZ grew and flourished under his energetic and thoughtful leadership. So successful was he in this role that he was re-elected for a second term (1991-92) and has served on the Board ever since.
Tireless in his efforts to promote the Unix industry in general and UniForum NZ in particular, Martin was personally responsible for attracting a large number of new members and in addition built a strong and happy team on the Board which resulted in many improvements in services to members. Always generous in sharing the knowledge his wide reading engendered, he wrote many thought-provoking articles on Unix, open systems and Internet issues, gave excellent papers at local and overseas conferences and organised many meetings and discussion sessions on a wide range of topics. His contribution to raising general awareness in these areas cannot be over-estimated.
Originally from England, Martin came to New Zealand in 1988 and workedfor Bull, GCS and Clearfield. He lectured in Unix andData Communications at the Auckland Institute of Technology and consulted on Internet and World Wide Web matters for a range of organisations.
The last tasks he worked on for us were organising regional meetings, writing articles for UniForum NZ News, creating our UniForum NZ Web pages and refining the conference programme on-line.
Our condolences go out to Robyn, his wife, and friends and family. Martin will be remembered by UniForum New Zealand for his good nature, his expertise and his enormous contribution to our society.