Re: [UG-ADMINS] Meeting Space

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On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Adam Culp <[email protected]> wrote:

>  In South Florida (http://soflophp.org) we host our meetings at a
> coworking facility for our northern meetups and at a companies conference
> room for our southern meetups. (We do 2 each month with 20+ attendees at
> each.)  We also have a very professional recruiting firm who sponsors the
> food and drinks, or other things when needed.  It has worked out well for
> the recruiting firm, and also works well for the UG.
>
> However, I have set ground rules:
>
>    - They are given a couple of minutes to speak at the events they
>    sponsor. (Though they usually opt to just let me "plug" them during the
>    intro/outro.)
>     - They do not spam, chase, or perform other questionable practices.
>    - They are permitted to post to our meetup board...ONLY.
>    - They do not actively reach out to individuals, and instead wait to
>    be approached.
>    - If a developer stops contact with them, the contact is considered to
>    be a dead lead until the developer reaches out again.
>
> The contacts at the recruiting firm have been very appreciative of my
> "mentoring" them on how to interact with the UG, and it has led to them
> being more profitable as a result.
>
> Regards,
> Adam Culp561-870-6361
> Twitter: @adamculp
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/adamculp
>
> On 07/11/2013 10:33 AM, Stefan Koopmanschap - PFZ.nl wrote:
>
> Hey Cal,
>
> you guys are lucky with your recruiters there. Giving them a couple of
> minutes to explain who they are is logical, I would suspect most UGs do
> that for their meeting hosts :)
>
> One of the reasons I've always been wary of recruiters being involved in
> usergroups is because employers may be scared to encourage their developers
> to go to usergroup meetings. They might get afraid of the recruiters taking
> their developers for another job. Having said that, two years ago we had
> Dutch recruitersfirm StarApple being the main sponsor of our PFCongres
> conference, and their involvement was a huge success. They did *not* do
> anything bad, did not force themselves on people, plus had even developed a
> special game for their booth that people could play to win prices (such as
> phones, tablets etc). So it is definitely possible to get recruiters
> involved, it's just very scary for me as a UG-leader to get their
> involvement because of how employers could react to that :)
>
> It is interesting to see how that works for you. Perhaps we should
> (re-)consider our stance on recruiters :)
>
> Stefan
>
>    Cal Evans <[email protected]>
>  July 11, 2013 4:20 PM
>   Skoop!
>
> We've got a great recruiting company here in Nashville, TN-US called
> Vaco.com and they have a meeting space that will hold about 100. They
> are always gracious hosts, never do a hard sell. They do ask for ~2 minutes
> to explain who they are but that's about it. The only downside is it's in
> the suburbs of Nashville and during rush hour may be difficult to get to.
> (Oh, and they hav free parking!) :)
>
>  =C=
>
>
>
>
>
>  --
> *Read this book* before you hire a
> developer to build your website.
> *Avoiding a Goat Rodeo* <http://avoidingagoatrodeo.com>
>     Stefan Koopmanschap - PFZ.nl <[email protected]>
>  July 11, 2013 4:17 PM
>   Hi Cal,
>
> Interesting! I just learned that contacting recruiters and co-working
> spaces are possible candidates for hosting meetings like this :)
>
> Most of the usergroupmeetings I've organized (or been to for that matter)
> were at small, medium or even large-sized development shops and sometimes
> hosting companies. To be honest, I'd usually not contact recruiters
> because, well, they're recruiters. I've never considered co-working spaces
> though, that's an interesting option to add to my list, especially now that
> we're starting a new local usergroup near where I live. Thanks!
>
> Stefan
>
>    Cal Evans <[email protected]>
>  July 11, 2013 4:13 PM
>   Hi all!
>
> Our NashvillePHP.org meeting was Tuesday and I learned something that I
> thought I'd share. Normally, when I start looking for event space, the
> first place I look to is recruiters, second is usually co-working space,
> etc. I'm sure you have your list as well. This month, we were hosted by a
> moderate sized company here in Nashville, TN-US and I was surprised at the
> facility. It was a training room big enough to hold 50-60 in classroom
> style. (Tables) There was power on each of the tables, the wifi was
> easily accessible, they had 3 screens w/projectors AND they recorded the
> meeting for us.
>
> Now I knew this company existed as they are one of the better PHP shops in
> town. But I had no idea that they had a facility like this.
>
> The thing I learned is to widen my net when casting about for meeting
> space. Find the good shops and ask them. Most aren't going to have
> something this nice...but some will, and those are the ones you want to get
> to know better. :)
>
> So, that's my lesson, what lessons have you learned when casting about for
> meeting space?
>
> Cheers!
> =C=
>
>
>