[Phoenix-pm] Meeting room possibilities...

[Scott Walters]

Hi John,

There are a lot of good ideas in here. Many of them have already
been pointed out at one time or another, or are actively being
considered, or have recently been done. 

I think Brock might just be holding out, trying to get proper
meeting space at ASU, or something else we've been talking about
doing for a while. And Phoenix.PM tends to organize meetings at
a leisurely pace.

We certainly have meeting spaces we can use (see the Website at
phoenix.pm.org for a list of past locations), but we're trying to
circulate to more parts of the Valley to give more first-timers
an excuse to make a meeting, and we're looking for professional
digs to contrast the pizza joints, libraries, and coffee shops 
we've been winding up at. 

Also, it's easier to consider specific options -- like the 
George and Dragon pub in downtown Phoenix, or the Nello's in
downtown Scottsdale ;)

Still, this is a good starting point for summerizing options.

8. I'm pretty sure I can get some space (and a sponser) at Scottsdale
Community College, but I keep forgetting to ask.

9. http://www.azontherocks.com -- how does Phoenix.PM feel about
having a rock-climbing social meeting? $20 gets you a gear rental
and a day pass, and they show you the ropes (har har har) too. 
If we get about 8 people or so who want to do this, we can book
it as a party and save even more money. 

> 1. Most public libraries have meeting rooms, but they apparently
> charge for use, so depending on how flush we're feeling, this is
> a possibility.

They did downtown Scottsdale's library recently, I think. I missed that one.

> 3. ASU's library has study rooms, but I don't know how large they are. The library has never asked me for ID, but that may just be my professorial (ie. unkempt) appearance.

They're pretty small for our requirements. A coffee shop near campus, or 
the student union, might be options.

> 4. When I lived in an apartment, the apartment complex had a common room available at no charge, large enough for a good-size gathering, with some restrictions. But after 7 PM, the gate was closed and you had to buzz for admittance, a minor annoyance.

Too unprofessional, IMO. I'd sooner have everyone to the house ;)

> 5. When I lived in Silicon Valley, one of the Carls Jrs had a meeting room that they regularly made available to groups for meetings. Perhaps one or more fast food/restaurants would help out on their slow nights, if approached properly.

We recently did Nello's Pizza in North Scottsdale. The turn-out was great,
but Nellos had a few other large parties the same night at the same time, 
so we wound up waiting to be seated for a long time. That was just rotten
timing. And they don't take reservations, either.

There's a downtown Scottsdale Nello's now too, by the way.

One of the reasons I suggested Nello's before was their good beer selection,
with local micros on tap and about 20 beers in the cooler, but there are
apparently surprisingly few beer drinkers in Phoenix.PM.

> 6. I have no idea about how or how well the technology works, but would NetMeeting or something like it allow us to hold a virtual meeting ? If not, is there an entrepreneurial^H^H...^H^H, money-making possibility here, or an open source solution waiting for completion/contributions ?

We're dabbling with doing audio recordings (should set up proper podcast
feeds eventually) and I'm talking about doing video as well. There are a
lot of Linux users in the group (looks pretty fifty-fifty between Linux
and Windows), so if you say NetMeeting, you should probably say NetMeeting/
GnomeMeeting ;)

We did have an IRC "virtual" meeting once, and turn-out was poor. 

> 7. If we were in some way allied with some other group, perhaps we could piggyback on their already-reserved space. Broadening the charter to combine with the PHP group that meets at Walt's TV (already a sizable group) might cross-pollinate both groups, altho that may have already happened. There was a Python group, but they seem to have disbanded/died. Perhaps they could be included. And maybe start a Ruby group, just for the extra weight on the letterhead.

I don't want to redefine the group as being a splinter of another group (PLUG had also
been suggested in the past), but I've been advocating coinciding meetings with other
groups for just this effect -- cross-pollination. 
> 
> So, that's my thoughts. I've got emails out to Phx Public Library and Scottsdale Public Library for rates/availability/etc. I'll post more when/if I know more.

-scott

> 
> HTH,
> 
> jrz
> 
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