arrivals dinner question

[James E Keenan]

On 06/12/2018 11:15 PM, Brian Mielke via yapc wrote:
> I just signed up for this mailing list, so I may be repeating something asked/stated earlier so I apologize in advance.
> 
> A few of us at my company were discussing the arrivals dinner yesterday.  I was informed that there was a request for someone to help organize a venue. Has anyone stepped up for this yet?  If not, I can help by calling restaurants in the area near Little America.  I'd just like a little assistance in attendance estimates.  It sounds like we had about 30 people at the arrivals dinner last year and had quite a few more people at the arrivals dinner in SLC in 2015.
> 
> Here was a link a coworker dug up for the 2015 arrivals dinner details:
> 
> http://www.yapcna.org/yn2015/wiki?node=PreConferenceActivities
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Brian Mielke

Brian,

No, as yet no one has stepped up to the plate.

https://github.com/perlconference/tpc-2018-slc/wiki/Arrival-Dinner has a 
link to how we organized this event in 2015.

I'm attaching the "Call for Arrival Dinner Organizers" post I made to 
this list on May 26 (probably before you signed up for the list).  It 
has information about how this event was organized in the past.

Since we're so close to arrivals day, we might perhaps dispense with my 
recommendation to negotiate a prix fixe buffet with a restaurant, and 
instead simply make a reservation for 10 and have people order a la 
carte.  If by, say, Saturday, we have more than 10 people signed up, we 
can simply ask for more tables.

If, for example, you were willing to make a couple of phone calls to 
restaurants to get the ball rolling, then post on the wiki page above, 
that would get the ball rolling.

(You or anyone else interested can contact me off list for further hints.)

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan
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For many years attendees at TPC (f.k.a. YAPC::NA) have organized an Arrivals Dinner on the evening preceding the first official day of the conference.  I've helped organized the dinner a couple of times, including last year in Alexandria, Virginia.  I'm unable to play that role this year, so ...

This is a call for volunteers to organize an Arrivals Dinner in Salt Lake City on Sunday, June 17, 2018.

This is not really difficult, particularly if two or three people share the work.  Here's what has to be done.

1. Secure venue.

2. Secure attendance.

Okay, you need details.

1. Venue

We need a restaurant with bar capable of seating an influx of 10 to 40 people at, say, 6:30 pm on Sunday June 17.  For the record, this day is Father's Day; some venues may decline because of that.

The best way for a restaurant to accommodate us is to prepare a limited-selection, fixed-price buffet and have a cash bar.  Two or three meat-based dishes and one vegetarian-friendly dish should be sufficient, as the vegans amongst us typically organize their own Alt-Arrivals Dinner.  Attendees should pay for their dinner as they go through the buffet line; that takes into account that people may straggle in between 6:30 and 8:00 and relieves attendees from the burden of collecting cash for a table.  Restaurant should provide, say, soda or ice tea, but all booze should be individual purchase at the bar.

IIRC, we had a final count of about 26 people at last year's arrivals dinner.

Since YAPC::NA::2015 was held at the same venue in Salt Lake City, the easiest way to organize would be to see if we can go to the same restaurant we used that year.  I don't recall its name, but the SLC organizers probably can provide that.  It was about a mile east of the Little America hotel, so some people walked and some people car-caravaned.

2. Attendance

The point of the Arrivals Dinner is to welcome people to the conference in a way that enables them to relax after travel and to feel welcomed by the Perl community.  Promoting the dinner on this mailing list, on the wiki, on the IRC channel (irc.perl.org #yapc) are all important.  The organizers should create a wiki page and encourage people to sign up on the wiki.  Providing the venue with updates on the number of attendees is crucial, as it reassures the venue that it will be worth their while to, say, prepare a buffet menu and allocate a certain number of tables to the conference.

In past years, the Conference has held pre-registration at the venue on the Sunday afternoon preceding the conference.  In addition, there are likely to be classes going on at the venue that afternoon.  So there will be a lot of Perl people hanging out at the Little America by late Sunday afternoon, thinking more and more about food and beer.  That's your/our audience!  You want to mobilize people to depart for the venue at 6:00 pm (assuming a 6:30 pm arrival time at restaurant).

I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about organizing the Arrivals Dinner.

TPC volunteers, please step forward!

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan