[LRUG] RailsConf pre-drinks

[Murray Steele]

Hi all,

As there'll be loads of rubyists (rubyeans? rubes? rubots? what *is* the
right word here?) around for RailsConf Europe I thought that it might be an
idea to organise some kind of LRUG-"branded" meetup/event for the evening
before the conference.  Given that the following 2 days are going to be
fairly presentation heavy (at least for those of us attending) it seems like
a simple meetup in a pub might be the best idea, lest we get
PowerPoint/Keynote/Homegrown-written-in-XUL-slide-application fatigue too
early.

For anyone attending this will be a chance get to get to know everyone
before the conference starts.  Perhaps even talk to some of the speakers
before the event to help you decide which talks to attend (with 4-talks per
session, I know I'm having dilemmas).  On a more mischievous note I'm sure
if we get at least one of the speakers drunk enough, we could make them
accept a bet to do their presentation through the medium of interpretive
dance or gangsta rap (or both!).

For anyone not attending this would be a great opportunity to network with
the Rails-igentsia before the conference begins so you won't have to deal
with in-jokes and discussions about talks you haven't heard (unless you've
been hyper-keen on the RSS and consumed the 0-day blogz about the event) at
anything that might happen on the conference nights "proper".

Also, it might just be fun.  There'll be Booze! Crisps! Maybe even Nuts and
for those lucky few Scampi Fries!!

Anyway, now that I've sold both attendees and non-attendees on the idea,
some "specifics" of my plan:

If we can get the word out to the rest of the attendee community and given
the size of last months LRUG meetup it looks like there is potential for
quite a few folk attending, so a pub with a room / area we could book
(hopefully one that doesn't require a ridiculous bar-spend promise or
deposit) would be the best plan, rather than just blindly turning up and
hoping for space (even on a Wednesday night it could be  stretching it).
Ideally close to the conference venue as I assume most out-of-towners will
be staying close-ish to the conference venue.  Of course any recommendations
for further afield (within reason) are welcome as I'm not sure there are any
"nice" boozers that close to the venue.

So:

a) anyone up for this? - no point even thinking about organising it if we
don't think anyone would want to turn up from LRUG.  If we can't muster
enough folk from our own home turf then what's the likelihood of any
incoming railers turning up?.  It'll be fun, what else could you possibly be
doing on a Wednesday evening in September?

b) anyone got any suggestions for a suitable pub / bar in the area - I work
close by so I can sample them on the way home (anyone who wants to join the
newly formed LRUG Pub Selection Committee is of course welcome)

Cheers,

Muz
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