[oak perl] State of the pm

George Woolley george at metaart.org
Fri Nov 22 02:04:28 CST 2002


State of the pm
============

This covers a lot, but by no means everything.

Meetings
-----------
First Meeting: 
Belden has posted about the trials and tribulations of our first meeting.
>>> Thanks, Belden, for writing up and posting that.

Well, we did meet. That's good.
And there were three people (Belden, Ken and me=George) there. That's good.
>>> Thanks Belden and Ken for coming and putting up with the problems.
>>> Ken, if you see this, we'd love to know your last name.
>>> And have you on the list. 
We learned a lot about each other.
We learned some about other groups from Ken
who has been to them all.
And we did settle on a time for the next meeting,
and a tenative time for future meetings in general.
>>> Shall we say that 2nd Tuesday is settled?
So there was progress at the meeting.
Hey, and Belden even gave a lightning talk!
But obviously we have to find a place to meet.

Next Meeting:
I've decided to have the next meeting at my place.
I expect in time we'll find a better place,
but I do have enough chairs and a room where I've held meetings before.
See the website for the topics, directions, etc.
>>> More topics?

Future Meetings:
I've got a list of places to consider, 
but I haven't started checking them out.

Listings and Announcements
-----------------------------------
Berkeley.pm List:
I have requested that we be added to 
Berkeley's List of Related Groups.
I have subscribed to their mailing list.
I'd like to post something about us there,
when I figure out what's appropriate.

Monterey.pm
Earlier, I communicated back and forth
with the group leader of the Monterey.pm
Monterey.pm is not yet formed.
Nor do they have a list of related groups.
They do not have a mailing list.
I will communicate from time to time with the group leader
about the basics of what goes on with us.
 
San Francisco.pm List and Announcement:
I requested we be added to 
San Francisco's List of Related Groups,
and we are on it!
I have not yet announced on the San Francisco List.
I wanted to have the place settled for at least our next meeting
before doing so. 
(Oh, and now we have a place for our next meeting.)
I have subscribed to their mailing list.

Silicon Valley.pm List
Their list includes regular meeting time.
I'll request we be added when the time is settled.
I have subscribed to their mailing list.

Sonoma.pm Announcement:
The group leader said he would announce the formation of our group
to his group via email.
He's been very helpful.
I tried to subscribe to their mailing list,
but my request is being held for some reason.
They don't have a list of related groups.

-----

Ecovillage List:
I plan to request them to list our meetings
when we have a regular time and place.

Linux Mafia List:
I'll request a listing there when we have a regular place and time.
I believe we'll then also show up on their Calendar
which a lot of people use.

Perl Mongers North American List:
I've requested we be added to this list and followed up,
but as yet we aren't on it.
Perl Mongers does list our mailing list.
(And they gave us web space and a mailing list too!)

O'Reilly User Group Program:
I learned about this from the Sonoma group leader.
And I received an invitation for us to join 
from the contact for it at O'Reilly.
But I think it would good to wait until we're a bit more established.
There are some nice benefits,
and I assume we get listed somewhere.

Search Engine Listings:
Try +Oakland +"Perl Mongers".
I just tried on the 5 top search engines per my last evaluation.
Here's how we came out:
     1st on Google
     6th on Excite (What's their problem?)
     1st on AOL Search
     Teoma was not functioning. (Yuk!)
     1st on Alta Vista
Very good, though not surprising given the search.
Still, not long ago we didn't show up at all.

People
--------
Well, we have
   * Belden: at first meeting, very active on mailing list
   * me
   * Ken: at first meeting. said he will join the mailing list.
     (I did give him a call, which he hasn't returned.
     And he hasn't joined the mailing list as yet.
     I hope he does!)
   * Dan P: had a conflict for first meeting.
     on mailing list, says he'll be at the next meeting.
     has major perl experience.
     >>> Dan, we'd love to hear from you on the list.
   * Arden: might come if we had day meetings. on mailing list.
     doesn't know Perl. is interested in learning.
     has textual problems, Perl would be most useful for.
In addition:
   * I have a list of individuals to contact
     and leads to follow up.
   * The Listings above will help.
>>> Anyone reading this, you are invited to get involved!     

Mailing List
--------------
Well, it's up and functioning.
I'm not aware of anyone posting but Belden and me.
>>> Thanks, Belden.
>>> If anyone else reads this, we'd love to hear from you.

The communication through the mailing list works well
as far as I'm concerned.
Having looked at the archive some,
I've changed my posts a little
where I think it will make them easier to read in the archive
without sacrificing the immediate communication.

Doubtless we will learn some lessons here.
>>> If anyone has any suggestions they think important, let me know.
Belden made one earler, which was implemented.

Website
----------
Well, it's also up.
I keep improving it. Well, I think their improvements.
>>> Comments, suggestions, anyone?

Three of the most recent changes are:
  * added some detail for Local Related Groups
  * updated to show the next meeting
  * added directions to the next meeting. (Arg!)
>>> Someone who owns a car, please check the directions. Please! 

At Last
--------
Well, I think that covers the main things.
>>> Let me know what's missing, etc.
Sorry, if there are typos. It's late and I'm tired.

    -- George








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