[Pdx-pm] PDX PM meeting ideas..

[Michael R. Wolf]

"Barbara Hale" <b.hale at attbi.com> writes:

> I know Joshua was looking for meeting topics for the next meeting.  Maybe
> something like what SPUG is doing (Beginner's night) ... or would SPUG would
> be willing to do a "road show" and just do the same presentations down here?

I'll ask!

Symetrically, I'll propose another Lightning Talk, and we can continue
the inter-Monger-al deligation visiting road trip!!!

> Though from what I can tell, the group here, with a few exceptions,
> may be too advanced for that type of topics.

A talk doesn't need to be _trivial_ to be a beginner topic.  Take for
instance the POD talk.  I've been programming in Perl for 7 years, and
will certainly get something out of it since I don't currently use
POD.  I understand *what* it is, but haven't found any compellingly
creative templates for *how* to use it.  The point of beginner night
(and this is just my opinion -- I'll be at my first one tomorrow)
isn't to bore the heavy users, it's to attract the beginners.  They
need not be mutually exclusive.

Actually, both talks are peripheral to Perl, so they may pick up loose
ends that mainstreamers have missed.  I'm of the "none of us is as
smart as all of us" mindset, and therefore am usually surprised at
just what it is that I pick up from a talk.

As a Perl instructor, I'm often amazed at the "smile sheets" I get
back after a class.  Sometimes a student will get the entire value of
the class from some tangent off a tangent that I happened to throw in
from my experience.  Symetrically, I've often gotten the value of a
talk from something I wasn't expecting.

[Oops...  Didn't mean to clamber up on a soap box.  Please take
preceeding with a grain of salt.]

I'll report back how it goes.

[...]

> Just kicking up a few ideas (as well as a little dust),

Ideas are good.  Here's a bit back at you -- keep 'em swirling!!  :-)
That's where the good ideas come from.


-- 
Michael R. Wolf
    All mammals learn by playing!
        MichaelRunningWolf at att.net