[LRUG] The August Meeting

[Taryn East]

Hi Murray,
didn't you say we were trying to find something to fill up the time? ;)

seriously, though. I'm of the opinion that this would only really work at
the begining of the night - everyone's fresh and fired-up and wants to chat
about what they've seen recently.
It's also a good way to fire people up if they're a bit zonked after a day
of hard slog.

Yes, it does mean you need to be strict about the time - cut people off* if
they're taking too long and cut everyone off when the 15min are done - thus
it becomes a bit like a stand-up meeting... everyone knows time is limited
and goes fast (or learns fast...) ;)

As to people missing out... yes of course (and I'm probably one of the ones
that will miss the beginning frequently due to distance). But in one way
that is actually a benefit... this is something that's not a scheduled talk
that can go at the front that people won't be as upset about missing out on.
It's also a good way to fill in the empty space at the beginning while
speakers are setting up.

My vote is for it at the beginning. ;)

Cheers,
Taryn


* with the message that this discussion can be moved "off-line" to the bar
afterwards, of course... or even suggested as a talk for a future meeting.



2009/7/16 Murray Steele <murray.steele at gmail.com>

> Good idea Taryn, let's try it out.
>
> However, I think it makes sense to do it at the end of the meeting instead
> of the start.  Mostly so that it doesn't eat into the time for the talks,
> which it easily could if the discussion gets interesting.  The room rental
> is fairly strict and we have to be out by 8pm, and I'd rather cut the "free
> for all" short as it can spill out into the pub or mailing list, but there's
> nowhere for the talks can't.  Also there's usually a handful of folk that
> don't make it right at the start and they shouldn't miss out on this.
> Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they were probably staying late at
> work because they were so excited about some new gem!
>
> How does that sound?
>
> Muz
>
> 2009/7/16 James Adam <james at lazyatom.com>
>
> 2009/7/16 Martin <mtsbtt at googlemail.com>:
>> > To expand on my +1..
>> > I think this is good idea as
>> > it means you get to find out about more stuff that is going on and
>> useful
>> > tools/libs that might be worth using.
>> > There is usually only so much time in the pub afterwards and it's not
>> always
>> > possible to get to chat to everyone so having it upfront like this
>> should
>> > lead to a greater sharing of knowledge.
>>
>> One concern with this kind of discussion is that it's very easy for it
>> to become sidelined into a particular topic, or dominated by a select
>> few people. This is normally because people are passionate, and
>> there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it can result in a
>> less interesting conversation for other people.
>>
>> So, if we were to try this out, I'd ask everyone to be respectful with
>> regards to involving other people in the conversation and encouraging
>> topics of discussion beyond their particular gripe-du-jour.
>>
>> Reading back, that sounds a bit cynical, but please don't take it that
>> way. I would love to try this out.
>>
>> Errrrrrmmmm....I mean,  +1.
>>
>> :P
>>
>> James
>> _______________________________________________
>> Chat mailing list
>> Chat at lists.lrug.org
>> http://lists.lrug.org/listinfo.cgi/chat-lrug.org
>>
>
>
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