[LRUG] The August Meeting

[james croft]

I've been going to the NYC.rb meetups whilst I've been here and they do
something similar.  It's not a pass a microphone round discussion but it's a
10-20min section for lightning talks, announcements, something cool you've
seen or been working on.  Occasionally people will hook up to the projector
in order to demo something but its generally just letting folk know about
things.  Its usually the most useful part of the night, there's a load of
gems, scripts, plugins etc that don't warrant full blown talks but people
want to shout about. It's at the start of the night here but I can't see
it making much difference either way.

2009/7/16 Taryn East <teast at globalpersonals.co.uk>

> 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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