[pm-h] July Houston.pm: Call for presentation
G. Wade Johnson
gwadej at anomaly.org
Sat Jun 28 18:49:26 PDT 2014
+1
On Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:07:53 -0500
"B. Estrade via Houston" <houston at pm.org> wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 28, 2014 at 11:12 AM, G. Wade Johnson
> <gwadej at anomaly.org> wrote:
> > On Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:22:41 -0500
> > "B. Estrade via Houston" <houston at pm.org> wrote:
> >
> >> On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 7:28 AM, G. Wade Johnson via Houston
> >> <houston at pm.org> wrote:
> >> > On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 13:39:39 -0400
> >> > Todd Rinaldo via Houston <houston at pm.org> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> I have a partially formed idea I've been tossing around. There
> >> >> is a ton of content online from past and present YAPCs now. Not
> >> >> to mention other conferences. Often this content is coming from
> >> >> the author of the feature / method being discussed. I was
> >> >> wondering if we could somehow integrate that into a meeting
> >> >> with discussion.
> >> >>
> >> >> The format might be:
> >> >> 1. We vote up and watch a list of videos people like (possibly
> >> >> clipped to the good parts)
> >> >> 2. Discussion / Q&A of content.
> >> >>
> >> >> I get that I and others could do this on our own. So I'm
> >> >> hesitant to say there's value. I thought I'd throw it out to
> >> >> the list and see if anyone's had any thoughts based on the idea.
> >> >
> >> > [Drat, I didn't reply all on this one.]
> >> >
> >> > I can see this as a start to a discussion in the group. On the
> >> > other hand, would everyone really want to sit as a group to
> >> > watch a video of someone presenting somewhere else?
> >> >
> >> > Any real opinions?
> >>
> >> I think there is something to Todd's idea that could work and not
> >> just be a bunch of geeks watching Youtube videos while sitting
> >> idle.
> >>
> >> Perhaps we could dedicate some time (5-10 min, max) to providing
> >> some "recommended videos" list. I know that inevitably there are
> >> talks that are and are not worth your time. Some of us could help
> >> compile this offline.
> >>
> >> Likewise, coming off the heels of YAPC, would it be worth
> >> brainstorming with the group to get a list of interesting topics
> >> that attendees might wish to hear or talk about? I have this
> >> half-brained idea that if we cultivate a list of "interesting
> >> topics," it might dawn on someone that their specialty/interest is
> >> also an interest of others. Once we get an initial list, I am
> >> happy to feed and water that list. I am interested in such a list,
> >> not just for Houston.pm, but as a general list that anyone looking
> >> for Perl talks could turn to to see what might be some interesting
> >> topics.
> >
> > The mailing list has a kind of informal, impermanent version of this
> > list. I trawl through it once in a while looking for things. An
> > official list is a good idea.
> >
> >> Looking ahead .. Another approach that we might want to consider is
> >> that instead of collecting ideas or topics to present, is to
> >> proactively seek out a stable of individuals who want to present
> >> and who like to present. It seems like it'd be a lot easier to
> >> grow a core
> >
> > We've done that before. The result was a small number of us who
> > presented until we burned out on the whole notion of presenting for
> > a while.
> >
> > One downside of the "stable of presenters" is that they get better
> > and better at presenting, which adds a barrier of entry for any new
> > presenters. When we had the same people always presenting, I had
> > people propose cool ideas, but say they couldn't present because
> > they would never be as good as the "official" presenters.
> >
>
> Excellent point, so we don't do that, but we can't ignore the fact
> that there are certain individuals who actually like giving talks.
>
> However those willing to present regularly should take it upon
> themselves to identify and bring in a new speaker (perhaps at their
> workplace or from another user group).
>
> We can also directly ask those who have demonstrated the willingness
> to speak in the past to come back again. The key is not to ask
> "everyone," but to ask someone specifically. We can all think of at
> least one person. And thanks to your hard work, we have over 10 years
> of talks to look back on (!! :)
>
> >
> >> group of presenters rather than each time trying to convince
> >> someone new to step up. The reason I say this is because we have
> >> a group of people who would certainly talk about (whatever) if
> >> asked. I would, I know a few others who would (and do) regularly.
> >>
> >> We should absolutely seek out new speakers and highly encourage it,
> >> but in my opinion it's a whole lot easier to generate talks if we
> >> have a maintained list of topics and a group of people who we know
> >> are
> >
> > I think the list of talks is a good idea. And, to some extent, we
> > will always have a group of people who are willing to present on
> > almost any topic.
> >
> > As a group, we have a lot more to say than _any_ small group of
> > presenters. Personally, I would love to learn from the people who
> > feel like they don't have much to say. They are often the ones who
> > do presentations on topics no one else would have thought of.
> >
>
> I'm not sure how to force these interesting people and topics to turn
> up. I can only think of creating an environment that invites it. Or we
> have to identify them outside of PM and directly ask them if they
> could please come talk about something, anything.
>
> And like I said above, we have a lot of 1 time speakers who may be
> willing to come back - their choice of topic. If they ask what they
> can talk about, well we have a list we're keeping now.
>
> >> willing to talk (about anything.) This would also work well for
> >> "lightning talk" meetings if we make sure the people who we know
> >> will talk (about something) will show up. I think that focusing
> >> on having a regular rotation of @speakers willing to talk about
> >> @things (as determined by work we do to survey the group) is a
> >> good recipe for building up regular attendance.
> >>
> >> (beware, blue sky tangent)
> >>
> >> At some point if we have some "go to" people and have built up
> >> attendance (bc we're serving real needs), I think it'd be super
> >> cool to take that leap and organize a bona fide 1 or 2 day Houston
> >> Perl Workshop - especially considering that 2/4 of the YAPC::NA
> >> sponsors that had tables are also sponsors of Houston.pm, I
> >> imagine that we have that part covered pretty well. I say all of
> >> this fully recognizing the fact that I am also volunteering to
> >> play a large part in any effort to organize this.
> >
> > This sounds like a great idea. It is a lot of work, but it would be
> > worth it to get more of the Perl people in Houston engaged with the
> > group.
> >
> >> Thank you,
> >> Brett
> >
> > Good thoughts,
> > G. Wade
>
> I am going to try my theory about asking specific people if they'd be
> willing to give a talk at a Houston.pm meeting. It may not pay off for
> this coming meeting, but I think it might for future talks.
>
> Thanks, Wade.
>
> Brett
>
> >
> >> > G. Wade
> >> >
> >> >> On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 5:46 PM, G. Wade Johnson via Houston
> >> >> <houston at pm.org> wrote:
> >> >> > Hi everyone,
> >> >> >
> >> >> > It's about 3 weeks to the next Houston.pm meeting on July 10
> >> >> > at cPanel.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Does anyone have a topic they would like to present?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Is there any kind of topic you guys would like to hear about?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > * Perl beginner
> >> >> > - we've had a couple of these lately
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> > * Perl advanced
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> > * General programming
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> > * Open Source projects we should know about
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> > * Tools/environment
> >> >> > - we haven't had editor presentations in a while
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> > * Security
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> > * Hardware
> >> >> > - doing anything cool with hardware and Perl?
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> > * Something unrelated to Perl, but still of interest to the
> >> >> > group
> >> >> > - Mind hacks
> >> >> > - Making
> >> >> > - ?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Remember the quality of meetings is under your control.
> >> >> > G. Wade
> >> >> > --
> >> >> > It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't
> >> >> > matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with
> >> >> > experiment, it's wrong. -- Richard Feynman
> >> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> >> > Houston mailing list
> >> >> > Houston at pm.org
> >> >> > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston
> >> >> > Website: http://houston.pm.org/
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > Be a good ancestor. -- Jonas
> >> > Salk _______________________________________________
> >> > Houston mailing list
> >> > Houston at pm.org
> >> > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston
> >> > Website: http://houston.pm.org/
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Houston mailing list
> >> Houston at pm.org
> >> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston
> >> Website: http://houston.pm.org/
> >
> >
> > --
> > Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more
> > violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move
> > in the opposite direction. -- Albert
> > Einstein
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