[tpm] Meetings

[James E Keenan]

On 08/16/2017 07:36 PM, Alex Beamish wrote:
> Guys, thanks for your updates.
> 
> Olaf, Going to quarterly meetings is a sensible suggestion -- I think 
> it's a great idea. I'm already looking forward to the September 
> lightning talks.
> 
> Dave, thanks for your tireless efforts to organize our monthly meetings. 
> It's been greatly appreciated by all of us.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Alex
> 
> On Wed, Aug 16, 2017 at 2:12 PM, Olaf Alders <olaf.alders at gmail.com 
> <mailto:olaf.alders at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> 
>     > On Aug 16, 2017, at 11:20 AM, Dave Doyle <dave.s.doyle at gmail.com <mailto:dave.s.doyle at gmail.com>> wrote:
>     >
>     > Hi All,
>     >
>     > So I've been in my new job for 3 months now and my calendar has gotten crazy.  I can no longer guarantee my ability to host or organize due to job constraints.
>     >
>     > For example, I will be flying Wednesday Aug 29th so I can't host a meeting this month.
>     >
>     > This somewhat accelerates my need for another organizer to step up.
>     >
>     > So... what say ye all?  Is there someone who can step up?  Is there anyone who has access to another venue?  I can likely OCCASIONALLY provide the venue at this point, but no more than that and it's subject to cancellation due to the project I'm on. Or should we fold it up because I've gone from not much time to zero time?
> 
>     First off, let me thank Dave for carrying TPM on his capable
>     shoulders for so long.  Aside from the question of a venue, I'd like
>     to propose shifting to quarterly rather than monthly meetings. 
>     Lightning talks in Sept, a social in December and technical talks in
>     March and June.  This *might* raise attendance and bring more of a
>     social aspect back to the meetings.  I've noticed that the meetings
>     I've been to lately don't regularly have a social aspect afterwards,
>     which really is a nice part of the group.  If I know this is only
>     happening 4 times/year, I'm more likely to block it off in my
>     calendar.  We could always switch back to monthly if somebody had
>     the energy to take that on, but fewer meetings seems like the path
>     of least resistance.
> 
>     We could still organize ad-hoc meetings if somebody really needs to
>     give a talk or if someone is going to be in town (like Damian or Jim
>     Keenan), but I think it takes a lot of effort to get quality talks
>     in month after month and this would allow the PM group to continue
>     with less stress.
> 
>     Olaf
>  

I would actually recommend trying to meet, on average, bi-monthly (less 
frequently in summer, more frequently in other seasons).  The reason 
why:  To preserve momentum.

But, of course, I'm 500 miles away, and talk is cheap.

FWIW, you're not alone in your problems -- and these problems are not 
peculiar to Perlmongers groups.  What with the increasing frequency of 
people "working remote," fewer people "going in to the office" means 
fewer companies which people can ask to host user group meetings.  And, 
in my experience, the struggle to get meeting venues is much more 
exhausting than the struggle to get presenters.  The fact that for more 
than a decade, both Toronto.pm and Perl Seminar NY had fixed venues was 
an absolute godsend for organizers, because it meant that we could focus 
our attention on working with presenters.

So, thanks to Dave and everyone else in Toronto who has been part of the 
organizing effort over the past 18 years.  If nothing else, I recommend 
having an Emergency Social Meeting(TM) at which the main focus of 
discussion can be The Venue Problem.  If you can reduce the magnitude of 
that problem, I have no doubt you'll be able to line up presenters.

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan