LUG meetings and topics

[Benjamin Scott]

2010/5/8 Greg Rundlett (freephile) <greg at freephile.com>:
> You can't have a beer at Morse Hall. ...
> It can be hard to have a conversation in a pub or restaurant.

  True enough.  There are options beyond "classroom" and "restaurant",
though.  I believe it was Arc Riley who told me that in his previous
stomping ground, one LUG member would periodically host pot-luck
dinners at their place.

  Anyone have other ideas for things we don't usually do that might work?

> 2) Limited spare time always makes socials more "optional" than a meeting
> where you are saying to yourself, "I'd really like to get the chance to
> learn about X"  I've gone to many meetings where I already know the subject
> just to get another perspective on it.

  I suspect one problem is that "limited spare time" means nobody has
time to arrange speakers.  If everybody is too busy to go to a meeting
unless there is a speaker, then it's a likely consequence that
everybody is too busy to arrange a speaker.

  More bluntly: Nobody has time to do anything, so nothing happens.

  One potential advantage I see in the less structured approach is
that anyone could do anything on an ad-hoc basis.  Everyone shows up
to hang out, someone asks a question about X, it turns into a learning
session on X.  (Where X does not have to be equal to "X".  ;-)  )

-- Ben