[Baypiggies] More meetings!

[Dennis Reinhardt]

At 12:37 PM 7/24/2006, Mike Cheponis wrote:
>I _definitely_ vote for a regular monthly Google meeting _and_ a regular 
>monthly Ironport meeting.
>
>There is no "rule" that states that we have to have only 12 meetings per year.

There is an issue here: our ability to put on quality programs at 
IronPort.  Our meeting about 3 weeks from now at IronPort is about 1/2 
booked and there is an inquiry open to fill the rest of the program.

In contrast to our IronPort program, our Google program is booked through 
the end of 2006 and we have an IDE proposal at the halfway point contending 
for Jan. 2007.  I see speakers expressing a preference for Google and 
refusing to speak at IronPort.

If we move to 12 meetings at IronPort and 12 at Google, I suspect 
considerable divergence in the character of the meetings.  I am confident 
we can support a full speaker calendar at Google.  IronPort meetings would 
then be more "event" oriented and "spontaneous" (this is the kind version).

Speaking personally, I have rather low interest in planning or attending 
the kinds of "spontaneous" events we have had in the past.  I regard them 
as "filler" (the less kind but still polite version).  This is not a 
location issue.  It is a program preference issue.  I would feel the same 
way if the locations were reversed and indeed dropped out of attending most 
close-at-home Stanford meetings unless there was an interesting speaker booked.

I am interested and willing to coordinate and plan monthly programs that 
are primarily speaker-driven.  In a 12-12 expansion, we would need a 
volunteer to step forward to coordinate (what I am guessing are largely 
non-speaker meetings at) IronPort.

Doubling the number of meetings might increase the load on our webmaster 
and we should hear from her about mitigating this impact.

If we go to a 12-12 split, one of the venues needs to change meeting 
night.  Perhaps the best plan is one site move to 4th Thursday.  That way, 
there is a BayPiggies meeting every two weeks somewhere.  Room availability 
at both hosts would loom large in implementing this choice.

Regards, Dennis



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