Re: [UG-ADMINS] Alcohol and meetups [was: Re: Nomad PHP]

At Queen City PHP we've been known to host at Taco Mac quite a bit in a 
private upstairs room. It's a combination of hanging out, grabbing a 
beer, and eating dinner for the first hour followed by the presentation. 
From there, it's fair game as to what everyone else is doing.

Considering meetups tend to take place after work hours in the evening, 
it works out well. If we made the effort to line up a sponsor, we go 
elsewhere and provide pizza and soda; beer is really at the sponsor's 
discretion.

Corey Ballou
http://coreyballou.co
@cballou

On 4/10/13 1:01 PM, Joe Ferguson wrote:
> At MemphisPHP we meet at the Memphis Hacker/Maker space. Alcohol is allowed
> there and the general rule is bring your own. I don't think we've ever had
> attendees to the PHP meetup drink, but it wouldn't be a big deal if they
> wanted to provided they were of age / responsible.
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 11:57 AM, Patrick Schwisow <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> At LKPUG, we've gone through a couple venues.  Most of the meetings for the
>> first year were held in a restaurant / bar.  Nothing was provided, but many
>> attendees bought food and drink (alcohol or not) during and after the
>> meetings.  Starting in January, my employer has been hosting meetings here
>> at the office, and they provide pizza and drinks (including beer).
>>
>> It's interesting that you mention separate social meetups.  I think that
>> the meetings in the restaurant felt much more relaxed and social.  We
>> generally had a "soft start time", and people would chat until we decided
>> to start the talk.  After the meeting, people tended to linger and talk for
>> a while.  Meeting at the office has much more a feel of "show up, eat pizza
>> during talk, and leave".  I'm thinking we might want to attempt something
>> similar to what you're doing to bring back the social aspect of the group.
>>
>> -Patrick
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 10:43 AM, Sandy Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, we generally provide beer. In fact, when we follow WordPress DC, we
>>> benefit from any leftovers from their meetup and don't have to buy any.
>> As
>>> long as we're low-key about it, the host doesn't care. They have wedding
>>> receptions and other functions in that space with alcohol, and their only
>>> rule is no kegs, because it implies a certain class of alcohol consumer
>> who
>>> is more likely to do stupid and destructive stuff and get them in trouble
>>> with local officials and the neighborhood.
>>>
>>> In deference to the beer aficionados in our group, we generally have
>>> microbrews in bottles. However, I usually only have 12-18 of them (i.e.,
>>> slightly less than one per person), and then some of us may go to the bar
>>> next door.
>>>
>>> If I'm presenting, I'm usually drinking a beer, though I don't consume
>>> much of it until the Q&A.
>>>
>>> But as I've said, some people react negatively to beer, as if it's a sign
>>> that it's a social and not a serious meeting. We also have two additional
>>> meetups each month that are specifically social, and held in bars (though
>>> that serve good food, so there's no requirement to drink alcohol). I'm
>>> debating about removing those from Meetup and simply mentioning them
>>> through the list, as people seem to think that we're mostly about those
>> and
>>> don't realize the main meeting has presentations. Then again, I see some
>>> people at those meetings (which are more geographically distributed) who
>>> rarely/never show at the main meeting.
>>>
>>> On Apr 9, 2013, at 7:30 PM, John Congdon <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Interesting... do you provide beer?  Or are people allowed to bring?
>>   So
>>> far, the places I have hosted have been worried about having it on
>> premise.
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> John Congdon
>>>> e: [email protected]
>>>> t: @sdphp
>>>> f: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SanDiegoPUG/
>>>> i: irc://irc.freenode.net/sdphp
>>>>
>>>> For meetup information: http://www.meetup.com/SanDiegoPHP
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The information contained in this email communication may be
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>>> read the information contained herein. If you have received this email in
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 9, 2013, at 1:44 PM, Sandy Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> It's tough to break past the 30-per-meetup number. We have close to
>> 900
>>> on Meetup, but our actual meetings are anywhere from 4-60 people,
>> averaging
>>> in the teens and twenties. DC also has the large-area problem, plus we
>>> often tie for the nation's worst traffic, and there are a LOT of other
>>> technology meetups.
>>>>> While we always have beer, that's proven to be less of a draw,
>>> especially for new members. I'm going to be trying for a food sponsor so
>> we
>>> can have pizza, which I hope will draw more people reliably.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Apr 9, 2013, at 10:55 AM, Tim Lytle <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Our local group is pretty small (we have ~60 meembers, with a handful
>>> at
>>>>>> each meetup). If I weren't organizing and trying to grow it,
>>>>>> I'd definitely be joining in Nomad PHP (I still probably will).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Like Adam, I'm wondering if there's any way for this to help smaller
>>> groups
>>>>>> (but hey, I'd be thrilled with an average of 30 members) - as after a
>>> while
>>>>>> hearing from the same local people is a bit much for both the
>> speakers
>>> and
>>>>>> the listeners.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Tim
>>>>> --
>>>>> Sandy Smith - http://musketeers.me/
>>>>> php[architect] magazine: http://phparch.com/
>>>>> Sign up for php[tek] '13: http://tek.phparch.com/
>>>>> @SandyS1
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>> --
>>> Sandy Smith - http://musketeers.me/
>>> php[architect] magazine: http://phparch.com/
>>> Sign up for php[tek] '13: http://tek.phparch.com/
>>> @SandyS1
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>