Talk:Meetings
From ScotLUG
Please remember to sign your additions using the -~~~~ wikicode, or click the "Your signature with timestamp" button above the edit window.
Contents |
Change the meeting time/date/location
We've always met on the 'last thursday of the month' and have never varied from this, but this date can be problematic.
- It's near the end of the month, so some people are skint
- It's payday, so the Counting House is mobbed and it's hard to get served at the bar
Over the years there have been a couple of attempts to change the location from the Counting House which we moved to in May 1998, the benefits of the CH are...
- It's big and central
- Beer is cheap
- No music
- It's got a family area, so under-18s are welcome --Kylegordon 16:23, 3 November 2005 (GMT)
- Family area isn't valid at the time we go to the pub -- Pickle 23:42, 28 June 2006 (BST)
The downsides of the Counting House are:
- It's often very busy
- It can be when we arrive but folk start heading home about 21:00 so it's a bit quieter for the rest of the evening
Ideas for changes to the meetings :
- 1st thursday of the month (after most people's payday)
- EdLUG seems to be dead as far as regular meetings go...
- Not dead! The few times I've been there were circa 20 people by around 9pm -- glennji 11:12, 6 October 2006 (GMT)
- 2nd monday of the month (after pay-day, and cheap beer - but no curry night in the CH).
- Talks every 2nd month to reduce pressure on finding speakers
Possible change of venue?
- Polo Lounge
- Quiet (if it's a weeknight, Mon - Wed) and very nice interior, huge antique table on the upper deck with lots of comfy chairs, ideal for a LUG meeting IMHO.
- I in no way wish to appear a prude, but would a specifically-nomenclatured gay bar/club be appropriate for a LUG meeting? Some may feel uncomfortable about going there for whatever rational / irrational reasons, and it might lead to an attendance drop. Just a hopefully impartial-sounding and not irrational observation :) --Neuro 09:59, 8 November 2005 (GMT)
- If people have a problem with it, then they have other things to worry about. If they're insecure (for want of a better word) enough to be worried about going to the Polo Lounge, then they can head off to a bar on their own. Kylegordon 12:25, 8 November 2005 (GMT)
- Big tables and comfy chairs are bad! If you want to encourage the group to mix and talk then small tables are good as people move around. Comfy chairs mean people sit back slouched away from each other and don't talk. It's much better to be able to grab any old chair/stool and join a table in a Weatherspoon's type place. -- Pickle 23:39, 28 June 2006 (BST)
Weekend
Bristol and Bath LUG meets on Sunday, the Greater London LUG meets on Saturday. Is the weekend out because people are often doing other things?
- I think the weekend would be tricky - just from discussion on IRC etc in terms of what people do (drink, watch football, go to church, eat curry & watch Dr.Who, make pr0n videos - whatever).
- I would find either Sat/Sun evening a much more doable event - getting to Glasgow from Gourock is a long drive and v difficult in rush hour traffic. Ali Ross
Payday
If people have a problem and are running out of money before scotlug then moving the meeting to earlier in the month will make the problem worse, because they will spend money that they would otherwise have run out of. The same result can be achived without needing to move the meeting by putting the money aside at the start of the month.
- Assumes that people can budget properly rather than just spend lots of money at the start of the month and then fit the remaining cash to last as best as they can through the rest of the month.
- Get a shoebox, write ScotLUG on it, put £40 in it at the start of each month, keep it under the bed until the time comes.
- Half-way through the month that becomes a very tempting source of curry/sci-fi/gin funds though :-)
- Drink soft drinks, no need for that expensive stuff known as 'alcohol' :-) Kylegordon 15:55, 3 November 2005 (GMT)
- In the CH (special case , I know) a pint can be had for under £1.50. I'd be interested to find somewhere that will give me a pint of non-alcoholic liquid for less than that--Willie 21:09, 3 November 2005 (GMT)
Instead of trying to change the fiscal behaviour of LUG members, why not just deal with trying to accomodate those who genuinely find it difficult to attend at the end of the month, for financial or other reasons? :) --Neuro 09:46, 8 November 2005 (GMT)
Christmas Meeting
Are we having it before (22nd), or after (29th) Christmas this year?
- Are people liable to be away doing friends/family stuff between xmas & new year? Or maybe wanting an excuse to avoid friends/family..... ;-) Billy
- 29th seem out and is the 22nd even too close? Sealne
I think the 22nd it is then! Scottmac
Meeting Suggestions
- cacert/gpg key signing Sealne 15:57, 26 November 2005 (GMT)
- billybofh : Talk on cfengine for managing heterogeneous networks.
- billybofh : Potential talk on using FLOSS for "special interest" websites and related areas...
- billybofh : Talk on using OpenVZ for lightweight server virtualisation.
- symcbean : if only to stop billybofh hogging the podium (just kidding BB) I could talk about
IDS for a bit. I might even manage some slides.
- pickle: The BitTorrent Protocol. I've already presented this at work so I have slides all ready to go.
- middleman: It has been suggested to me by Dan Shearer that Alistair Marshall who recently spoke at EdLug about Synthetic Biology would possibly be interested in doing his talk again in Glasgow, anyone think this would be of interest?
Bookshop meeting
Willie writes: An idea for a meeting thats a wee bit different ..... Take a trip to sunny Shawlands and visit the caverns deep underneath The Book Pedlar. There the proprietor has promised me that if I bring him 15-20 geeks, there will be beer and ~2500 computer books of varying vintages, some of which we might be interested in and we can expect a further 10% discount on the night. We drink his beer and peruse for an hour or so and then adjourn to the Sir John Maxwell (Weatherspoons, cheap, within 100 yds) or to the 1901 (famous, not cheap but very very good and about 10 mins walk away). Shawlands is 15 mins by bus from the city centre - First Bus 21,23,29,38,45,48,57 and many more
The Book Pedlar is an independent Bargain Books-type remainder shop in the Shawlands Shopping Arcade. They always have a section of older O'Reillys and much Microsoft Press as well as other publishers. Don't expect to find the latest greatest stuff here and don't be surprised to pick up "VisiCalc Unleashed" or "The ENIAC Bible". However in my experience there has always been a hard-core of good stuff in amongst a lot of rightly remaindered mince. "Teach Yourself Python", "CCNA for Dummies", "Perl Developers Dictionary" and O'Reilly's "SSH The secure Shell" the snail book are amongst stuff I bought in the last year - none cost me more than £8. In general prices range from £5-20.
- If we go for this idea, it might be an idea to have it on a different date earlier in the month, when people aren't so skint and may be able to afford to buy a couple of books. --Willie 21:07, 28 June 2006 (BST)
UPDATE: Further discussions with the bookshop owner -- Thursday isn't the best night for him- he usually takes a half-day Thursdays. Any other night is fine, perhaps even a Saturday afternoon. He'll call it a "college night" where he gives an extra 10% discount to students. So we become honourary students for the night. The 10% discount (everything except HMSO stuff is already fairly heavily discounted) will apply to all his stock - not just his 2500 computing titles. And there will definately be beer.
- Because we are arranging this for a few months in the future, I feel the fact its not a Thursday is no big deal - we have plenty time to let folk know it wont be the usual date that particular month. Or we could have our "last Thursday " meeting as normal and just call this a special treat. It also means we could move this to the beginning of the month which may suit folks budget better.--Willie 20:06, 11 July 2006 (BST)
OK I think we need a critical mass of 12+ to make this happen
The proposed date is Tuesday 7th November at 7:30. Please add your name to the list if you intend coming to this night. As soon as I see a reasonable no of folks who intend to be there I'll firm up the date with the owner. Remember there is more than just computer books here so you could fit in some cheap Xmas shoppng too :-)
Interested Persons
- Willie Fleming
- Adam Batkin (My wife Jessica wants to come too...not a computer geek, but a [biology] geek nonetheless) --- yep - he says he has a few biology texts too --Willie 17:03, 6 October 2006 (BST)
- Colin McKinnon
- Andrew Calverley - MrLithic
- Claudio Calvelli (the loony who cycles from Edinburgh some months)
- Ben Thorp - mrBen
- Georgia Thomson
- drake
- Elwell
- Neil
- ali ross (ajross)
- Suzanne Scott
- Kylegordon & Charlotte
- Julian
- herr_cheesecat (alex, emo, whatever you want to call him)
For non-Southsiders it may be convenient to meet at the Counting House from 18:30 onwards. There will be someone (probably Willie) who will herd you to the correct bus around 18:50. Expect to pay ~£2.55 for a return trip. Please have the correct change Yes, it is a pain but not too much we can do about it.
I'll put up a full directions page with southside pubs as well --Willie 15:31, 10 October 2006 (BST)
- AndrewB has had to pull out, as I need to give a presentation at a Scout AGM in Helensburgh. To get out of it I would need to at least have both my legs broken or such. Sorry guys
Bookshop meeting is now confirmed for 07/11/06 from 7-9
- Map of Shawlands showing the arcade
- city centre bus-stops to follow
- Please keep adding names to the list above - need to give the owner an idea of numbers so he knows how many flagons of ale, butts of sack and suckling pigs to arrange
- Details of nearby pubs
- Sir John Maxwell -- within 50 yds -- cavernous Weatherspoons - cheap beer
- 1901 -- 10 mins walk -- excellent beer friendly atmosphere
--Willie 20:06, 31 January 2007 (GMT)
Another Bookshop meeting confirmed for 13th Feb 2007 from 7-9
The last trip went fairly well. However some folk felt that the prices were not keen enough. The owner wants to clear all his existing stock and will now price all books at either £5 or £10. Apart from that everything is as before. So if you weren't at the last one, please read all of the topic above and it will hopefully answer most questions.Please add your name below so sufficient refreshments can be laid on. Its a deep basement with high shelves and deep alcoves. A torch may be handy for the darker recesses. No grues were encountered on the last trip.
- Map of Shawlands showing the arcade The Book Pedlar is 30 yds into the arcade on the left.
--Willie 00:32, 2 February 2007 (GMT)
Interested Persons
- Willie Fleming
- Callum Noble
- jackster
- Claudio Calvelli
- Julian
- Andrew Elwell
