SPUG: April SPUG meeting

[Michael R. Wolf]

SPUG is alive. Long live SPUG.

SPUG is reborn!!!

 -- There is a promised venue starting next month. (Details later)

 -- There are beginnings of a program schedule. (Details later)

All that's in the future. 

As for the present, let's have an April meeting.

Here's my suggestion for this month's meeting -- a chance to get
acquainted, talk shop, talk business, shoot the breeze, find out where
we are as a community, what we're up to, where we want to go, and who
wants to pitch in. (Pheeww, that's a lot. Dig in where you're
comfortable.)

When:   April 20 (the third Tuesday)
Where:  Blue Star Cafe & Pub (Wallingford/Green Lake)
        4512 Stone Way (NE corner of Stone Way and 45th St)
        http://www.3dhospitality.com/bluestar/
When:   6:30 - 8:30 (or beyond)
Agenda:
  - come when you can, leave when you have to
  - meet/greet
  - talk tech
  - food, beer on your own $$
  - tip well

As a lurker on other Perl Monger groups, I notice that many use this
kind of format as their sole monthly formal meeting. It has many
advantages:
 - less pressure on *one* speaker
 - don't have to listen to just one speaker
 - peer-to-peer networking (the old fashioned people-oriented kind)
 - full-duplex (geek-speak for a two-way conversation)
 - interactive (everyone participates)

Much of our time together as the SPUG community has been spent like
strangers at in a movie theater, due in large part to the layout of
our previous venue*. As a way to shake it up a bit, let's sit across a
table from each another, within ear shot, over a dinner, a beer, or a
coffee and take stock of where we are individually and as a community.

I think it would be great if the following kinds of info just
naturally fell out of the conversations:

 - topics for future meetings
 - adjunct activities beyond monthly meetings
 - leads for future speakers
 - leads to undiscovered pockets of future SPUGsters

If they do, please take notes for future reference, but I'm not really
attached to it. The meeting is really about an informal get-together
to talk shop (for some definitions of "shop", especially if they
relate to Perl and Open Source). We'll see what pops up, then take
that step.

Please RSVP (http://spugwiki.perlocity.org/index.cgi?April2004Meeting)
so that we can get the right size table.

Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting,
Michael Wolf


* Observation only, not a dig -- It was a great venue while it lasted.
  Thanks, Dora.

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