[SWLUG] Talks, past and future

[Chris King]

On Sun, May 25, 2008 21:36, Telsa Gwynne wrote:
> [On lightning talks]
>
> Ar Fri, Apr 04, 2008 at 10:38:55AM +0100, ysgrifennodd Steve Hill:
>> On Thu, 3 Apr 2008, Matthew Moore wrote:
>>
>> > Secondly, when do people think we should do something like this again?
>> > Opinions?
>>
>> Yes, it was an interesting evening.  I think you suggested holding
>> quarterly talks, which seems quite a good idea to me.

I wasn't able to attend (I left work rather late that evening) but I went
along to the Central Bar at 7pm, to pick up any stragglers who expected
the Cardiff meeting to run as normal that night !

> So if you were still thinking in terms of quarterly talks, it is
> probably time to start thinking of the next ones. If the first was
> at the start of April, then the next would be start of July and
> then start of October.

Running them on a quarterly basis sounds good, that gives everybody plenty
of time to prepare talks, book a room, sort out publicity material etc.

> So the next will be after the end of summer term in university
> (so, depending on whether you expect a net loss or, um, profit in
> students, perhaps aim it at business-y topics?) and then the next
> just after everyone has arrived at university and Freshers' Week
> has finished. Just in time to catch some more.

October might work out, depending on where the meeting dates fall in
relation to Fresher's Week/Fortnight (yes, Cardiff students get a
fortnight) - the Students Union is usually littered with abandoned welcome
packs, and you'd be competing with other events.

A business-oriented set of lightning talks could work, quite a few
businesses want to learn more about Linux and Open Source, others might be
willing to talk about how they use it.

Reports on conferences could also provide a source of material - I
attended InfoSecurity Europe last month, and someone (Gedge ?) said they
were going to attend the UKUUG Spring Conference ?

> There are _lots_ of people who are not on the mailing list and
> who don't look at the website or use IRC who may be interested. I
> kept meeting them and finding out they would have been interested
> after the last ones. So posters before the end of term would be a
> good idea in the university (universities, plural?) and wherever
> else might be useful. It is currently exam season, and I think
> lots of people swan off after that, so posters before the end of
> exam season would be even better.

Quite a few students swan off and study at home, coming back specifically
for exams - at Cardiff, summer exams started last week, I'm not sure when
Swansea et al start/started.

Chris

-- 
Chris King
http://www.csking.co.uk/