Hi, all --
January's already half in the bag and we didn't get a meeting together after I referenced it in the Party post. I apologize for that. I would however like to start discussions about a February meeting, potentially for...
Tuesday, 15 Feb @ 7pm. How does that sound??
While on the subject, we haven't talked about ideal days & times in a while. In April & May 2010 we had a lot of polling, direct email, and group discussion on the subject of when was best, back before we met each other face to face for the first time. The result was "a weeknight, probably after dinner hours, and not Friday". Tuesday came up sort of organically, so the "THIRD TUESDAY at 7PM" convention was born. That's a gross reduction of the community's discussion, but represents the net outcome.
Since we're in a new year, I'd like to initiate a little survey -- please use the comments to add your response when you get a sec.
- How's the 3rd tuesday @ 7 thing working out? would a different day/time be better?
- Is the online meeting format worthwhile? [We did one meeting as "online only" that had seven participants, and our in-person meetings have as many as twenty.]
- We've been striving in each meeting for one coding/technical preso and one business/design/general preso, both of which are under an hour to allow time for lightning talks / discussion. How's that format? Too little/much?
- What kinds of things would you like to see presentations on?
- What are you going to present on this year?
These last two are just as important as the rest. I have my own thoughts & opinions on all of the above, but I'm more curious to hear yours... so I'm withholding. :)
Hope your new year's off to a great start!
Comments
1. How's the 3rd tuesday @ 7
That's about optimal for me.
I've never used it before. I don't foresee doing so; I'll attend in person or not attend.
I'm okay with it, but it seems like we've had some difficulty filling up the schedule in the past.
In the short term, Drupal 7 pitfalls. Those should peter out in the coming weeks, though.
At some point, I will do something about rectifying sites with exacting visual design/layouts and client content management.
Poll position. . . .
The third Tuesday conflicts with another group I attend; switching every other month would work for me and maybe others.
You're doing great with the GTM/online meetings. Boosting the visuals somehow (with video?) would make 'em even better.
I like the multiple topics; 20-min. each would work for me.
Staging site / database sync best practices; Easy theming strategies (bring in Emma to tease us!); SEO; Top module rundown; Getting entrepreneurial with D7
Maybe multisite, maybe Drupal peeves . . . I'll have more ideas later in the year.
Input
If Feb. and March proceed like Jan. (which I expect), I can't do Tuesday night meetings until April.
I have not attended a virtual meeting yet, but would at least like the option. That is, if it's not too much trouble.
I too like the two topics, and less than an hour is good.
Get back to ya.
My first Drupal site! And my experiences as a complete Droob.
Awesome.
I created a wiki page to collect these and some ideas submitted by email. I don't reply to group threads by email -- there are only so many hours in a day -- so I aggregated all of them into the wiki page, which also appears as the Presentations tab in our g.d.o group.
Please edit it! Throw your name on something and, better yet, add yourself to the schedule!!!
Upgrade of online meeting platform
While I'm at it, I also took some feedback about GoToMeeting, the platform we've been using for the online component of WNYDUG meetings. The new platform is WebEx, which offers the following improvements:
The UI is more complex and screen sharing is a bit slower / laggy, but I've seen it used to great effect and it provides us the above, so I went with it for my firm.