Posted by rho_ on January 16, 2009 at 2:51am
So. I'm just throwing this out there. Looking at the members on the Austin Drupal Users Group, both here and on LinkedIN, it is very apparent that we have quite the Drupal community. Just a simple glance shows that we have a wide range of experiences and skill levels. I think this could prove valuable to all of us, both technically, and as a means of networking. It's been a while since we have had a meet up, and I simply want to query the amount of interest there is in having another one. Perhaps then we can facilitate a more active A-DUG.
So speak up, and if the interest is there, lets throw something together.
Comments
hear hear
I think we would benefit from a more regular meeting place & time, to help build more momentum. With that in mind, I've been keeping an eye out for possible venues. Ideally, it would be great to find a place that's relatively centrally located, has plenty of parking, free wifi, and has a decent sized meeting room with an LCD projector. With that in mind, I've been looking where other like minded groups meet in town.
The Austin PHP Meetup group has been meeting at the Region XIII Educational Service Center on the east side of town. I don't know what it would take to arrange to use the space, but it is a nice building that meets most, if not all, the criteria above.
Refresh Austin meets downtown at Buffalo Billiards. There's apparently a large upstairs meeting room there with a projector, but based on what I found online, there's a charge for using the meeting room and wifi.
The Austin Linux Enthusiasts meet at a LAN gaming center called Tek Republik, which is on Burnet Road, near Koenig. Presumably they have plenty of parking and good Internet connectivity, but I don't know any other details.
The Austin Linux Group meets at the City of Austin Waller Creek Complex at 625 East 10th Street. I don't know anything about that facility though.
The Austin Linux Meetup Group meets that the Triumph Cafe on Spicewood Springs Rd, just west of Mopac. They have free wifi but that's all I know about the place.
Several of the Austin Public Library branches have meeting rooms or auditoriums but no overhead projectors.
Thoughts? Preferences? Other suggestions?
Logistics
Buffalo Billiards does indeed have a large space upstairs, including a second bar and stage. However, the noise from downstairs can carry, so it may not be the best place for a quieter, sit-down kind of thing.
We can supply a projector and screen if necessary.
Todd Ross Nienkerk
Co-founder, Four Kitchens
Todd Ross Nienkerk
Digital Strategist and Partner
Four Kitchens: Big ideas for the web
IRC: toddross
APL?
Well if we have use of the Four Kitchens projector, then maybe the library would be a good place to start. We can reserve a room for no price, free wifi, and it's quiet.
APL availability
I called around to see about availability. Since most of the branches close on either Thursday or Friday, I was only able to check a couple of branches today. The Howson Branch is completely booked for week nights through February.
The Terrazas Branch had availability on Wednesday, January 28, so I had them pencil us in from 6:30 to 8:45PM. It's centrally located (just a couple blocks east of downtown on Cesar Chavez St), has plenty of free parking, and the meeting room seats around 30 people.
Any major objections?
Cool...
Works for me. Thanks for looking into that.
-Ryan Oles
Confirmed
I'll be there. Four Kitchens will supply the projector and screen (and good times).
Todd Ross Nienkerk
Co-founder, Four Kitchens
Todd Ross Nienkerk
Digital Strategist and Partner
Four Kitchens: Big ideas for the web
IRC: toddross
sounds good
I'll make an event post.
Sweet!
Thanks for posting the event Matt. I went ahead and refrenced the event on linkedin in our group discussions.
-Ryan Oles
thanks
Ryan, thanks for getting the word out. I also posted the event to door64.com, the Austin PHP Meetup group, and the Austin MySQL Meetup group.
If anyone else would like to help by spreading the word, please do.
Theater conflict
Aargh. I have a theater date that night. I guess it is too late to try for Wed Feb 4? If not, I'll just come next time.
Selwyn
Encouragement
I like the idea of us getting together periodically to share our best thinking and possibly even projects and leads. Maybe an idea would be for people to present Drupal projects that they implemented and talk about the decision process they went through to select modules and how they accomplished parts of their sites. Perhaps show some sites and do Q&A.
what d'ya think?
Selwyn
Me too!
I plan on being there as well.
Shannon Lucas
Four Kitchens
Other local Texas groups.
Rho,
You may want to cross post the meetup in these groups as well:
Central Texas
San Antonio Texas