[yapc] Hallway++ - a new way to mingle, meet and network

[Matt S Trout]

I've noticed that there've been a few attempts at getting people to get
to know each other, but of course directly organised social events aren't
always the best way, and chance meetings in the halls are often the best
part of YAPC for a lot of people.

It occurred to me that there were times during my first couple of YAPCs
where I wanted to meet somebody, but didn't have anything specific in mind
to talk to them about; but would have felt like I was imposing if I joined
a conversation they were already having and then didn't contribute.

More recently, I've noticed that I love it when people do that, and the
real problem is the sense that one might be imposing.

My attempt at a solution is:

http://shadow.cat/blog/matt-s-trout/announcing-hallway-plusplus/

wherein we all announce our intent to talk to and be talked to, along
with specific locations where people will meet to eat and drink.

There's a basic wiki page at

http://act.yapcna.org/2012/wiki?node=HallwayPlusPlus

and JT was kind enough to grant us the use of the HWPP* namespace for
any sub-pages we need, which will be hopefully be filled out over the
next couple of weeks, and especially as those arriving early (such as
myself) sample the local fare. So don't worry James, we'll find those
bars :)

People who've already specifically said they plan to be part of this
have registered themselves either here -

http://act.yapcna.org/2012/wiki?node=HWPPPeople

or (and in some cases and) here -

http://act.yapcna.org/2012/search?pm_group=hallwayplusplus.pm

I'd invite anybody else who plans to be part of this to do the same,
and also to suggest that people think of ways we can get the word out
about this.

Not everybody reads the wiki, not everybody is on the list this year,
not everybody is on IRC - so please try and spread the word to new
attendees however you think might work, because this will be nothing
if they don't know about it.

Let's help people discover the community, make new friends, have random
conversations. As perlfoundation.org says:

"The Perl Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of the Perl
programming language through open discussion, collaboration, design,
and code. It coordinates the efforts of numerous grass-roots
Perl-based groups, including: International Yet Another Perl Conferences"

So let's make that happen, and make this the best hallway track ever.

-- 
Matt S Trout - Shadowcat Systems - Perl consulting with a commit bit and a clue

http://shadowcat.co.uk/blog/matt-s-trout/   http://twitter.com/shadowcat_mst/

Email me now on mst (at) shadowcat.co.uk and let's chat about how our Catalyst
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