[pm-h] Gauging Interesting In A Potential 'Activity' Social Meeting

[rlharris at oplink.net]

On Fri, June 5, 2015 10:26 am, Robert Stone via Houston wrote:
> How much interest would there be in doing an "activity" social meeting ...


Nowadays almost everyone is over-obligated to the extent that attendance
of even a "regular" PM meeting entails neglect of responsibilities or
other sacrifice.  And some may be unable to justify the luxury of a purely
social PM meeting which provides no opportunity for learning Perl
resources and technique.

But, with a bit of advertising, some PM meetings might be used as a
platform for both useful service and recruiting.

In the early days of Linux, the task of installing Linux and configuring a
complement of applications and utilities to work together as a system
could be difficult and frustrating for the novice.  To address the
problem, the Linux User Groups at Rice and U. of H. hosted at the
beginning of each semester an Installfest to which were invited both
students and the general public.  This was back before everyone had a
high-speed Internet connection and an LCD monitor.  A novice to Linux
could bring his system (complete with CRT monitor and printer) to the
Installfest and walk away with a properly-configured Linux system, with
whatever applications he desired loaded, configured, and functioning as a
system.  While providing opportunity for association between members of
the LUG, the Installfest served to encourage fellow students and members
of the community to join the LUG.

Perhaps PM could advertise an occasional "bring your problem to PM and let
the Perl experts get you pointed in the right direction" night.

RH