Arrival Dinners in the Cloud

[James E Keenan]

Second of three posts:

An essential part of the meta-discussion on this list in past years has 
been the meta-high-point of any YAPC:  the Arrivals Dinner.

Originally and often organized by Uri -- and occasionally by me -- this 
was an event where we would march en masse from the conference hotel or 
location to a local restaurant for burgers and beer.

Of course, this being Perl, TIMTOWTDI prevailed; some would march en 
masse with autarch for a vegan fest at the Alt-Arrivals Dinner.  And 
some years things really got out of hand with an Alt-Alt-Arrivals Dinner.

Not possible this year.  But perhaps there are some amongst us foolhardy 
enough to organize Virtual Arrivals Dinners!

Now, I'm not proposing one Zoom thingee with 20, 30 or more participants 
like a Real Arrivals Dinner.  I'm proposing a set of Zoom (or other 
technology) meetings of smaller numbers -- dinner party-size, perhaps -- 
that could go on somewhat simultaneously and that would enable people to 
drop-in and chat.  The various elements of this set could be organized 
along thematic lines:  cuisine; choice of beer; native language.  Or 
they could be completely free and use global variables.

Such meetings would take place on the evening of Tuesday, June 23 -- 
where the value of "evening" is that of the person who actually does the 
work of getting the online meeting going.  If you're hosting such a 
dinner, you can choose how many people may be in attendance at any one 
time.  Perhaps you can host more than one seating.

Remember:  the meta-conference side of YAPC/TPC/CiC is entirely 
volunteer-run.  So if this sounds like a good idea and you want to make 
it happen, please step forward!

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan