Re: Can SCALE 6x resurrect LAPUG
| От | Selena Deckelmann |
|---|---|
| Тема | Re: Can SCALE 6x resurrect LAPUG |
| Дата | |
| Msg-id | 2b5e566d0712131330k60b9f3fj2b7bf95dd4ad088d@mail.gmail.com обсуждение исходный текст |
| Ответ на | Re: Can SCALE 6x resurrect LAPUG (Richard Broersma Jr <rabroersma@yahoo.com>) |
| Ответы |
Re: Can SCALE 6x resurrect LAPUG
Re: Can SCALE 6x resurrect LAPUG |
| Список | pgsql-advocacy |
On Dec 13, 2007 12:32 PM, Richard Broersma Jr <rabroersma@yahoo.com> wrote:
I think that for starters, a place that is easy to find and that you won't have a problem getting access to is the first requirement. Looking around, there are a few events and locations they were held at listed here: http://barcamp.org/BarCampLosAngeles
Do you know anyone who has a meeting room that would fit 20-30 people? That's all you'd need.
One thing I've seen groups do is meet at a restaurant or pub that has a more quiet space, so that everyone can just order their own food. Don't be afraid to try out a couple different things.
In Portland, we have a pretty established user group culture. We meet sometime between 6:30-7pm, and have a 2 hour meeting, and then walk over to a nearby pub for drinks and snacks. Nearly every user group follows this model, and it works really well in Portland.
My impression of SFPUG is that they move their meetings around to different locations, have good food (and sometimes drinks!). They are better at getting their meetings sponsored than I am :)
I met a person who attended a database reading group at Portland State, and he recruited attendees for me in person!
Fliers can be helpful - and I think you'll get the most out of handing that, or a business card with information on it out at SCALE. I can send you the template we used for the PDXPUG business cards. I just had them printed on card stock and cut at a local Kinkos. They only cost about $25.
There are a bunch of universities in the LA area, but looking at UCLA - we have a nice list here of student groups here: http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/academics/organization.html
I'm sure that LALUGS would be a good resource for announcing a meeting: http://lalugs.org/
The key is being consistent - having the meetings on the same day and time every month.
As far as providing meaning - the group has to do that for itself. You are a catalyst - ask yourself what topics you'd be interested in hearing about and seek out people who know something about that topic. Right now, I think everyone is interested in 8.3 features. Perennial favorites are talks about PL/PgSQL or any of the other procedural languages, EXPLAIN, and we had a TON of people show up for a relational algebra talk. We had no idea that relational algebra was going to be so exciting for everyone.
In our Perl meetings we sometimes do Lightning Talks - where each person gets 5 minutes to talk (with a timer to stop them from going over time!). This might be a great way to get people over stage fright, or to just find out a little bit about the people who come to the meeting.
And keep in mind that speakers don't need to be experienced. User Groups are great places to build speaking skills and get direct feedback from people.
Cool! We'll keep in touch, and we can start putting something together after you have a meeting or two :)
-selena
--
Selena Deckelmann
PDXPUG - Portland PostgreSQL Users Group
http://pugs.postgresql.org/pdx
http://www.chesnok.com/daily
--- On Thu, 12/13/07, Selena Deckelmann <selenamarie@gmail.com> wrote:I believe so, I can check with the guys that I meet at the last SCALE. How would I go about arranging for a place to meet at?
> It's not premature to pick a date and place! Do you
> have contact information for any of the other interested people?
I think that for starters, a place that is easy to find and that you won't have a problem getting access to is the first requirement. Looking around, there are a few events and locations they were held at listed here: http://barcamp.org/BarCampLosAngeles
Do you know anyone who has a meeting room that would fit 20-30 people? That's all you'd need.
One thing I've seen groups do is meet at a restaurant or pub that has a more quiet space, so that everyone can just order their own food. Don't be afraid to try out a couple different things.
In Portland, we have a pretty established user group culture. We meet sometime between 6:30-7pm, and have a 2 hour meeting, and then walk over to a nearby pub for drinks and snacks. Nearly every user group follows this model, and it works really well in Portland.
My impression of SFPUG is that they move their meetings around to different locations, have good food (and sometimes drinks!). They are better at getting their meetings sponsored than I am :)
> The key for us was contacting the University, communicating> through other open source and database user groups, andDid you contact the university to arrange facilities to meet in, or did you post fliers to generate student interest in the user group?
> being consistent!
I met a person who attended a database reading group at Portland State, and he recruited attendees for me in person!
Fliers can be helpful - and I think you'll get the most out of handing that, or a business card with information on it out at SCALE. I can send you the template we used for the PDXPUG business cards. I just had them printed on card stock and cut at a local Kinkos. They only cost about $25.
There are a bunch of universities in the LA area, but looking at UCLA - we have a nice list here of student groups here: http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/academics/organization.html
I'm sure that LALUGS would be a good resource for announcing a meeting: http://lalugs.org/
I feel that a user group to be successful, the meetings would need to be meaningful for the attendees. How one goes about adding meaning to a user group, I am not too sure. But I would imagine that showing up for free pizza and a laptop with PostgreSQL installed probably wouldn't be enough hold long term interest.
The key is being consistent - having the meetings on the same day and time every month.
As far as providing meaning - the group has to do that for itself. You are a catalyst - ask yourself what topics you'd be interested in hearing about and seek out people who know something about that topic. Right now, I think everyone is interested in 8.3 features. Perennial favorites are talks about PL/PgSQL or any of the other procedural languages, EXPLAIN, and we had a TON of people show up for a relational algebra talk. We had no idea that relational algebra was going to be so exciting for everyone.
In our Perl meetings we sometimes do Lightning Talks - where each person gets 5 minutes to talk (with a timer to stop them from going over time!). This might be a great way to get people over stage fright, or to just find out a little bit about the people who come to the meeting.
And keep in mind that speakers don't need to be experienced. User Groups are great places to build speaking skills and get direct feedback from people.
> And if you're interested in creating a "user groupsProducing a operating manual would be something that I could do that would be a contribution to the community. At the very least I would learn what is involved for a operating Postgresql users group.
> operating manual", I'd love to collaborate with you as
> LAPUG gets off the ground :)
Cool! We'll keep in touch, and we can start putting something together after you have a meeting or two :)
-selena
--
Selena Deckelmann
PDXPUG - Portland PostgreSQL Users Group
http://pugs.postgresql.org/pdx
http://www.chesnok.com/daily
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