[GRLUG] The Geek Group Has a New Lab

[Bob Kline]

I've only been to one Saturday social
at the current location.  But I'm not
keen on driving in to town if I don't
have to, so moving there would be
a consideration in my case.  Big deal
I guess.

I think any place you choose to meet
will produce winners and losers.  That's
as much as been said during this
discussion already, as at least one person
claimed the Grandville location doesn't
have bus service - it does - and presumably
has not been coming for that reason.

The center of GR might seem like the
most geographically centered location, but it
could also turn out that it is an equal opportunity
nuisance for many.  I don't know about the
place being talked about, but parking has
historically been a pain in GR, and winter
doesn't make that any better.

Another thing you could consider is
holding the socials in a different quadrant
of the city each week, and seeing what
happens.  I wouldn't envy you your task in
that case, but there might be no other
way to know.

Another possibility is for each area to
have it's own socials, but it's pretty clear
that none would have a very good turnout.
To date, most of the gatherings have been
along, or near,  28th Street, starting with
the ITT facility that Eric Hartwell made
available, to a Beaners and other coffee
haunts, and now Grandville.  It just seems
to work out that way.

Anyway, the bottom line is likely that
each choice of location will in fact attract
some, and lose others.  It's even more
likely that most will never show no matter
where you go.  It's just the way it is.  What
I've seen over the last 5 years is that a
group of 10 is a good turnout on average
for the Saturday meets.  Winter is a little
worse.

    -- Bob


On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 12:39 PM, Ben Rousch <brousch at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The Biggby/Subway in Grandville is obviously more convenient for some
> > people than others, however there is absolutely nothing preventing a
> > gathering at an alternate location or alternate time. As it is, GRLUG
> > meetings/gatherings only happen if someone takes the initiative to do
> > a minimal amount organizational work. The group itself is basically
> > open source, so grab the SaturdaySocialMeeting repo and create a
> > friendly fork.
> >
> > Contact the Geek Group for availability information, pick a date and
> > time (or use Doodle [1] to find a good date/time), announce it on the
> > list, and make it happen. A few suggestions are: Saturday or Sunday
> > morning, or Sunday afternoon; until the Geek Group Cafe is open, bring
> > some donuts/chips and ask for donations from attendees to cover them;
> > have people bring a little project to work on or make sure there's a
> > MM-like random conversation generator in attendance.
>
> I'm a random-conversation generator(1)! Sweet! Does that mean I pass
> the Turing test, or am I a simple chatbot?
>
> I've been mulling over moving the Saturday Social gathering as it is;
> I don't think there's currently anyone attending at least once a month
> who is significantly less likely to show up to the Leonard location,
> so that's not a major issue.
>
> What I do see as potential issues:
> * Parking (even when ULX was at that location, I didn't know where to park)
> * Food (I wasn't aware they were going to open a cafe. That's good.)
> * Other environmental things. Are they open already? From outside last
> week, it looked like they were still doing construction.
>
> I wonder...is their network finished being set-up? It'd be pretty
> slick if we could have a hand in getting it put together flexibly and
> competently(2). If anyone wants, I can show them how to install a
> wired network. :)
>
> (1) Actually, that's one of my two primary functions at the Saturday
> Social; keep the silence filled, engage people who come by. The other
> primary function is simply to be there.
> (2) Well, I'm primarily experienced as a physical-layer guy. I'd bet
> ATW has the mad skillz for layers 2-3, but I can competently get by on
> layer 2 if there's no VLANs or 802.1x involved.
>
> --
> :wq
>
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