Hi everyone,
Mike and I have been talking and we want to get the meetups going again. We had a great turn out for the first couple but things died out in the summer (as things tend to do).
I've created a poll because we would like to know what night of the week is most convenient for you to make a regularily scheduled meetup. We're hoping to set up something regular, so if a night like Tuesday is the best night for the majority of the group then we would set our meetups to be the first Tuesday of every month. That way it's easiest for everyone to schedule it into their calendars and we don't end each meetup with a two week discussion of when to schedule the next.
As for format I'm thinking the next couple of meetups that are put on should be largely social, at a place like the James Street Pub again. After that I'm hoping we'll be able to move the meetup into a space where we can all geek out a bit more with presentations and discussion.
So, for now please fill out the poll and soon we'll be posting more info about setting up regular meetups again.
slan,
Pat
Comments
Montreal Follow-up
Would be so great to get some feedback from the folks who attended the Montreal Drupal Camp. Sounds like it was a good opportunity to learn from other Drupal shops and learn more about Drupal 7.
Mike
OpenConcept | Volunteer Canada | prax.ca
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OpenConcept | Twitter @mgifford | Drupal Security Guide
Funny, I was just thinking
Funny, I was just thinking that we're overdue for another meetup. Would there be any interest in having something at a non-pub location? I'd be interested in slightly more formal presentations and Q & A, then afterward there could still be a beverage-driven component. I was at the Montreal Camp on Saturday and got a lot of value from Peter Lindstrom's talk about his work for the New York Times and Universal Music. I'd like to hear more about how people are using Drupal in Ottawa.
Re venues, I've been at a couple of events at the Code Factory on Queen Street which is quite a nice space for this kind of thing. I'm not sure what their capacity is though - it seems like they only had about 20/25 chairs and I'm not sure if that would be enough.
The Code Factory was a place
The Code Factory was a place I was thinking we'd want to move our meetups to for sure, it's a great space and we can even bring a couple of cases of beer so we can skip the pub all together.
If there is enough interest to have our meetup at The Code Factory for our next meetup (hopefully in early November) then I'll go ahead and book that. I was thinking we might just want to do at least one, if not two more social meetups first, just to get everyone back into the swing of things (plus it requires a bit less organization), but I'm willing to do something more formal if the demand is there.
Pat Cooney
Web Application Developer
RealDecoy
Pat Cooney
Presentations vs Talking
Glad that Peter's talk in Montreal was good (sorry I missed it). The reason I had focused on beverage based meetings was primarily because they were easier to organize. That being said, I know that Peter has a few other presentations up his sleave and so could be called on with sort notice. Know there is a lot of other interesting work going on too.
There have been a few folks who have talked about helping with the organization of future events. Pat's stepped up to the plate which is great. I'm mostly concerned about developing a regular Drupal meetup routine that is sustainable. If it's pub based, that works alright for many. If there is some presentation components that's better (of course). If it starts at the Code Factory and then moves over to a pub afterwards that would be pretty perfect.
It's less than a month away though so we need to fix a time/place first to make sure as many of us can make it as possible.
Mike
OpenConcept | Volunteer Canada | prax.ca
--
OpenConcept | Twitter @mgifford | Drupal Security Guide
I think for this meetup in
I think for this meetup in November I'm just going to make an executive decision to make a social one at the pub again, just because I'm not going to have the time to put together a nice one at a place like The Code Factory. I'm going to be in Toronto for most of next week and we are halfway through October already.
I would like to see these meetups move out of the pub and into a place like The Code Factory though so lets try and get that set up for December's meet up.
Also, for anyone reading this thread, I'm going to keep the poll going until Friday and then figure out the most popular day and make something official at that point.
Pat Cooney
Web Application Developer
RealDecoy
Pat Cooney
The pub we met at before has
The pub we met at before has a private room that can be set up for a more "meeting" environment also. We just have to call a week or so in advance to reserve it.
I like the idea of having a private room
I like the idea of having a private room. It would be nice to be able to hear everyone at the table.
Once I figure out a date
Once I figure out a date I'll look into the private room at James Street. I believe with places like The Clocktower, where they have a private room in the basement, you need to ensure a minimum number of people before they'll open it up. I'll get more details though when we are closer to actually booking something. Certainly something to look into for sure.
Pat Cooney
Web Application Developer
RealDecoy
Pat Cooney
About 10 people
I think the minimum for the private room was just 10 people for the James St. Place.
Might be a nice step up. In anycase, main thing is figuring out the date and getting folks to RSVP after the event has been set up. With that we'll be able to know if we can book a room or not.
Mike
OpenConcept | Volunteer Canada | prax.ca
--
OpenConcept | Twitter @mgifford | Drupal Security Guide
A couple cents worth...
... one decent strategy is to rotate the meetups throught the various offices of the members of the group, thus allowing each to showcase their company/setup.
Good luck!
Omar