[Bradford] Our meetups, request for comments

[John Robert Hudson]

Dear Nick

Thank you. I hope others will respond to your thoughts.

There has been a general dropoff in attendance at all sorts of events since 
Covid-19. 

One observation was that young people are more likely to be sharing on social 
media and that was the motivation for looking in that direction.

For me, when we restarted face-to-face meetings, the online option was for the 
benefit of those not ready to restart face-to-face meetings; I did not see it 
as a long-term option. It has become long-term by default rather than by 
design.

I agree that hybrid meetings require decent equipment but I have only 
experienced that at Lancaster University and when on government meetings. All 
the other experiences I have had have had limitations. So I do not think it is 
practical for us to mount a reasonable hybrid setup.

So I would be in favour of abandoning hybrid meetings and going for a mixture 
of face-to-face and online meetings.

I like the idea of formal face-to-face meetings every quarter with a pre-
announced topic partly because I think it might not be practical to get enough 
topics to justify alternating face-to-face and online meetings. 

There is nothing to stop us having informal meetings in addition to formal 
meetings.

I would rather not use Discord for exactly the same reason as we moved from 
Jitsi to Calyx - the requirement to sign on which I think is a turn off for 
many people. But if there is an alternative FOSS program I would be happy to 
try that.

John

On Wednesday, 25 October 2023 20:28:07 BST Nick Rhodes via Bradford wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Are in-person meetings declining across local computer/tech/geek groups ?
> Do people generally prefer online only ?
> Are people turned-off by mailing lists, what type of discussion channels
> do the expect/enjoy ?
> 
> Maybe a bit of research is needed to help us consider future direction,
> especially if we want to doing some promotion to try and increase
> membership.
> 
> In my experience, meeting rooms need dedicated/quality equipment for
> sufficient quality to pick up everyone in the room with decent clarity
> for those connecting in remotely. When there are talks and presentation
> with a speaker, its helpful to have a moderated Q&A afterwards (putting
> questions in the chat works).
> 
> If we can't get a meeting room with decent connectivity and
> microphone/speakers, I would prefer not to have mixed in-person/online
> meetings
> 
> I like the idea alternating in-person and online in some fashion. We
> could evaluate in 6/12 months and adjust to demand.
> 
> Recently my travel options have improved, so attending in person in
> Bradford would be easier for myself than it has in the past.
> 
> I quite like the idea of having something like quarterly in person
> meetings which are fully planed with things like presentations, talks,
> guest speakers.
> 
> I have pondered over the idea of making monthly meetings as
> informal/socials, not sure if in person or online are best and worry
> they might detract from the mailing list.
> 
> If we agree to continuing some form of online meetings,  think we should
> try hard to find a privacy respect video conferencing service, ideally
> one built on FOSS technology, but I am pragmatic and if something like
> Discord is the only viable option, I would use it. I would be happy to
> donate towards a paid for option.
> 
> Cheers, Nick
> 
> On 23/10/2023 16:10, John Robert Hudson via Bradford wrote:
> > Hi all
> > 
> > So far, only a few people have commented on whether we should go online
> > for
> > the future or try in some way to combine physical and online meetings -
> > perhaps by alternating, perhaps by having less frequent, more focused,
> > physical meetings.
> > 
> > More comments would be helpful as there are a lot of people on the mailing
> > list who may not attend any form of meeting but might like to be involved
> > in different ways while those who attend occasionally might have a
> > preference about their occasional attendance.
> > 
> > John
> > 
> > On Friday, 13 October 2023 17:21:48 BST Bernard Czenkusz via Bradford 
wrote:
> >> Hi guys, an observation I'd like to put up for comment--
> >> 
> >> I find on-line meetings don't mix well with physical meetups - limited
> >> bandwidth, and sat around the room with headphones with half the meet
> >> spent working out ways to maintain connections and stop audio feedback.
> >> Also room costs not shared with those attending on-line.
> >> 
> >> If we are doing on-line I'd prefer to do it from home, with a decent
> >> connection and desktop computer.
> >> 
> >> Physical meets allow free flowing general chat easier - with more than
> >> one conversation, so if someone needs help with an application they can
> >> be helped as others are doing something else. It also allows coffee,
> >> biscuits and follow on pub visit.
> >> 
> >> 1. Should we continue to mix physical with on-line as we do now.
> >> 
> >> or
> >> 
> >> 2. Have physical meets only, without attempting to maintain on-line
> >> connections.
> >> 
> >> or
> >> 
> >> 3. Have on-line meets only.
> >> 
> >> or
> >> 
> >> 4. Mainly on-line with special physical meetup events?
> >> 
> >> or
> >> 
> >> 5. Alternate physical with on-line, either every alternate month, twice
> >> monthly or other period?
> >> 
> >> or
> >> 
> >> 6. Other options?
> >> 
> >> 
> >> For what its worth, my own preference would be to alternate since there
> >> seems to be a demand for both. Does anyone have any opinions???
> >> 
> >> Cheers
> >> 
> >> Bernie
> >> 
> >> 
> >> --
> >> Bradford mailing list
> >> Bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bradford
> 
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