Re: anyone insterested in social events

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Hullo all,

Long time, no post, but I'm still alive in UTC+0 :)

On Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 3:00 AM Kathinka <[email protected]>
wrote:

> IMO the most valuable thing about meetings is meeting people. That's how
> to find out who knows the solution to one's problem, is using a program
> that's much better than the one you're finding slow & clunky and has
> discovered all the tweaks that make it perfect for purpose.
> A *short* talk or demonstration is fine, with the reservation that we do
> such varied things with our Dr Who screwdrivers that what's fascinating to
> 2 people is irrelevant to 20 others.  Meetings advertised as "talk by X on
> YZ" is likely to make some busy people decide, "No, that's not for me."
>
> Just as a thought, partially to feed back our Belfast LUG [1] system
originated in DunLUG...

I'm not too sure if this has remained the case anyway, but one takeaway
from DunLUG that we've brought over and used in Belfast for 4 years now is
(roughly) rotating through types of meetup. I think when I was still in
Dunedin, there was a period of 1 talk / 1 social in rotation - it seemed to
mean the regulars kept being regular, as it didn't lose the regular
socials, but there was something for folks who would only give up their
evenings for a more structured event, and it was fairly predictable so
people could plan around it.

Here, we tweaked it a bit to 1 technical, 1 social, 1 general interest -
maybe a few more socials when I'm too busy :D The general interest are
things that don't require any technical knowledge to get the most out of it
- for instance, we did a mascot-hunt trip to the zoo (with kids'
workbooks), install-fest, FLOSS community-coordination roundtable, "our
favourite desktop progs" show and tell. Even the technical ones aren't talk
nights too frequently - under that heading, we have done "Language" and
"Should be in the CS syllabus" balloon debates, an ancient hardware night,
a competitive bug splat - in so doing, we've probably kept a broader range
of attendees than any one class of event would on its own. Our next one is
due to be (when I extract the digit), lightning talks themed on FOSDEM
talks from Brussels.

In short (as someone not affected, I acknowledge!), I'd agree with Kathinka
that it'd be easy to lose people with too much technical focus, but there
was a time when DunLUG would throw in the odd technical session (not
_completely_ abstruse to general users), without losing its casual focus.

Regards to all!
PTW

1 - http://meetup.com/belfast-lug/
2 - https://www.meetup.com/belfast-lug/events/past/

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Hullo all,</div><di=
v><br></div><div>Long time, no post, but I&#39;m still alive in UTC+0 :)<br=
></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr"=
>On Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 3:00 AM Kathinka &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:kathinka.du=
[email protected]">[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div=
><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border=
-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div st=
yle=3D"font-family:georgia,serif"><font style=3D"vertical-align:inherit"><f=
ont style=3D"vertical-align:inherit">IMO the most valuable thing about meet=
ings is meeting people. That&#39;s how to find out who knows the solution t=
o one&#39;s problem, is using a program that&#39;s much better than the one=
 you&#39;re finding slow &amp; clunky and has discovered all the tweaks tha=
t make it perfect for purpose.=C2=A0</font></font></div><div style=3D"font-=
family:georgia,serif"><font style=3D"vertical-align:inherit"><font style=3D=
"vertical-align:inherit">A </font></font><i><font style=3D"vertical-align:i=
nherit"><font style=3D"vertical-align:inherit">short</font></font></i><font=
 style=3D"vertical-align:inherit"><font style=3D"vertical-align:inherit"> t=
alk or demonstration is fine, with the reservation that we do such varied t=
hings with our Dr Who screwdrivers that what&#39;s fascinating to 2 people =
is irrelevant to 20 others.=C2=A0 Meetings advertised as &quot;talk by X on=
 YZ&quot; is likely to make some busy people decide, &quot;No, that&#39;s n=
ot for me.&quot;</font></font></div><div style=3D"font-family:georgia,serif=
"><font style=3D"vertical-align:inherit"><font style=3D"vertical-align:inhe=
rit"><br></font></font></div></div></blockquote>Just as a thought, partiall=
y to feed back our Belfast LUG [1] system originated in DunLUG...</div><div=
 class=3D"gmail_quote"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_quote">I&#39;m not too=
 sure if this has remained the case anyway, but one takeaway from DunLUG th=
at we&#39;ve brought over and used in Belfast for 4 years now is (roughly) =
rotating through types of meetup. I think when I was still in Dunedin, ther=
e was a period of 1 talk / 1 social in rotation - it seemed to mean the reg=
ulars kept being regular, as it didn&#39;t lose the regular socials, but th=
ere was something for folks who would only give up their evenings for a mor=
e structured event, and it was fairly predictable so people could plan arou=
nd it.</div><div class=3D"gmail_quote"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_quote"=
>Here, we tweaked it a bit to 1 technical, 1 social, 1 general interest - m=
aybe a few more socials when I&#39;m too busy :D The general interest are t=
hings that don&#39;t require any technical knowledge to get the most out of=
 it - for instance, we did a mascot-hunt trip to the zoo (with kids&#39; wo=
rkbooks), install-fest, FLOSS community-coordination roundtable, &quot;our =
favourite desktop progs&quot; show and tell. Even the technical ones aren&#=
39;t talk nights too frequently - under that heading, we have done &quot;La=
nguage&quot; and &quot;Should be in the CS syllabus&quot; balloon debates, =
an ancient hardware night, a competitive bug splat - in so doing, we&#39;ve=
 probably kept a broader range of attendees than any one class of event wou=
ld on its own. Our next one is due to be (when I extract the digit), lightn=
ing talks themed on FOSDEM talks from Brussels.</div><div class=3D"gmail_qu=
ote"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_quote">In short (as someone not affected=
, I acknowledge!), I&#39;d agree with Kathinka that it&#39;d be easy to los=
e people with too much technical focus, but there was a time when DunLUG wo=
uld throw in the odd technical session (not _completely_ abstruse to genera=
l users), without losing its casual focus.</div><div class=3D"gmail_quote">=
<br></div><div class=3D"gmail_quote">Regards to all!</div><div class=3D"gma=
il_quote">PTW<br></div><div class=3D"gmail_quote"><br></div><div class=3D"g=
mail_quote">1 - <a href=3D"http://meetup.com/belfast-lug/">http://meetup.co=
m/belfast-lug/</a></div><div class=3D"gmail_quote">2 - <a href=3D"https://w=
ww.meetup.com/belfast-lug/events/past/">https://www.meetup.com/belfast-lug/=
events/past/</a><br></div></div></div></div>

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