[Wellington-pm] Wellington Perl Mongers 2017

[Olly Betts]

On Tue, Feb 07, 2017 at 09:43:37PM +1300, Grant McLean wrote:
> Throughout 2016, attendance levels were low and I really found it a
> struggle from month to month to find people willing to do a talk - so
> huge thanks to everyone who did speak last year!  I'm leaning towards
> the conclusion that it's not worth bothering any more - convince me I'm
> wrong :-)

I suspect there's something of a feedback loop between lack of speakers and
lack of attendees.  Not only is there a smaller pool of potential speakers,
but giving a talk to just 2 or 3 people feels less rewarding as a speaker.

I probably turned up less often last year than the couple of years before -
in my case it's partly just being busier, partly unfortunate timing of
meetings vs me being away, but also I don't work in town and I'm more
likely to trek in specially if there's a talk that's about stuff I'm
particularly interested in, more so if there are multiple talks.

> The format we have been following is by no means set in stone.  If you
> have ideas for how to make it better and how to boost attendance then
> please reply on the list and we can talk about them.

Some thoughts on suggestions elsewhere in the thread:

* Widening the scope to beyond Perl was suggested, but the current scope
  isn't really just Perl - few of my talks have been very connected to
  Perl, and we've had a number of other non-Perl talks.  But perhaps that
  needs more explicitly publicising.

* Shorter talks - again, there's not a required minimum length is there?
  But maybe that should be made clearer to encourage potential speakers.

* Lunchtime meetings probably wouldn't work for me personally - I've gone
  to a few of the lunchtime "summer of tech" talks, and it means a big hole
  in my day while I travel in and out again.

> Are any of you keen to come along but have other commitments that clash?
> The schedule can be changed.  Would you be more or less likely to attend
> if meetings were every two months?

Probably slightly more likely, though a reminder email that it's this month
would be more important if it's not (almost) every month.

> Will you be volunteering to talk this year?  If so, what about?  If not,
> why not?

I'd imagine so, though not sure about topic.  Main issue is finding time
to prepare.

> Is there something that I'm doing (or not doing) that puts you off
> attending?  If there is, I need to know so I can fix that - please tell
> me.

I think you're doing an awesome job.

> Traditionally, the first meeting of the year is a lightning talk meeting
> on the second Tuesday of February - that would be next Tuesday (also, by
> coincidence this year that's also Valentines day, does that matter?).
> 
> Can we actually pull together a lightning talk meeting in one week?  If
> you think we can and want to take part, then email me to book a 5 minute
> talk slot.  If you think delaying until March would help then say so.

I'm just back from holiday, so might struggle to come up with a coherent
5 minutes by tomorrow evening, but happy to try.  Not sure I can make
the March meeting.

Cheers,
    Olly