[SWLUG] Cardiff Meeting this Wednesday

[Telsa Gwynne]

Ar ddydd Iau, Chw 03 2011, 14:50:32 +0000, ysgrifennodd Lisi:
> I may not be the only person for whom an evening meeting in a pub is not a 
> draw.

I bet you're not, no. I remember when the pub meeting system was set
up, and it was essentially because other venues cost money. The first
couple of meetings were held in places like university rooms, but
more than once someone ended up stuck with the bill.

Those were meetings which had a different cross-section of people:
I remember small business types, and someone who was an advisor for
small businesses who had come along because he kept hearing "what
about if I get this? Surely I can save hugely on the Microsoft
licences there" and thought he'd better find out what this Linux
thing was. There were lecturers and people who were more inclined
to turn up in, well, if not in suits, at least in a tie. There 
were pub socials after those meetings, to which some people went,
but, as you say, pubs are not everyone's cups of tea, and the
smoking ban hadn't come in yet either. 

Trying to organise a definite regular date that suited everyone
was a nightmare, and for a while we tried to hold it on different
nights of the week so that everyone got to go to at least some.
But that turned out not to be a good idea: no-one remembered when
they were. 

Other LUGs (at the time, dunno about now) charged membership
fees and used those to pay for venues and speakers. But no-one
really wanted to do the organising. So.. pubs. 

No reason other than that, and it's entirely possible that if
someone suggests.. I dunno, Starbucks, or a university room, or
(um.. um..) something, a whole host of people will turn up.

Telsa