+1 On Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:07:53 -0500 "B. Estrade via Houston" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 28, 2014 at 11:12 AM, G. Wade Johnson > <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:22:41 -0500 > > "B. Estrade via Houston" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 7:28 AM, G. Wade Johnson via Houston > >> <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 13:39:39 -0400 > >> > Todd Rinaldo via Houston <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > > >> >> I have a partially formed idea I've been tossing around. There > >> >> is a ton of content online from past and present YAPCs now. Not > >> >> to mention other conferences. Often this content is coming from > >> >> the author of the feature / method being discussed. I was > >> >> wondering if we could somehow integrate that into a meeting > >> >> with discussion. > >> >> > >> >> The format might be: > >> >> 1. We vote up and watch a list of videos people like (possibly > >> >> clipped to the good parts) > >> >> 2. Discussion / Q&A of content. > >> >> > >> >> I get that I and others could do this on our own. So I'm > >> >> hesitant to say there's value. I thought I'd throw it out to > >> >> the list and see if anyone's had any thoughts based on the idea. > >> > > >> > [Drat, I didn't reply all on this one.] > >> > > >> > I can see this as a start to a discussion in the group. On the > >> > other hand, would everyone really want to sit as a group to > >> > watch a video of someone presenting somewhere else? > >> > > >> > Any real opinions? > >> > >> I think there is something to Todd's idea that could work and not > >> just be a bunch of geeks watching Youtube videos while sitting > >> idle. > >> > >> Perhaps we could dedicate some time (5-10 min, max) to providing > >> some "recommended videos" list. I know that inevitably there are > >> talks that are and are not worth your time. Some of us could help > >> compile this offline. > >> > >> Likewise, coming off the heels of YAPC, would it be worth > >> brainstorming with the group to get a list of interesting topics > >> that attendees might wish to hear or talk about? I have this > >> half-brained idea that if we cultivate a list of "interesting > >> topics," it might dawn on someone that their specialty/interest is > >> also an interest of others. Once we get an initial list, I am > >> happy to feed and water that list. I am interested in such a list, > >> not just for Houston.pm, but as a general list that anyone looking > >> for Perl talks could turn to to see what might be some interesting > >> topics. > > > > The mailing list has a kind of informal, impermanent version of this > > list. I trawl through it once in a while looking for things. An > > official list is a good idea. > > > >> Looking ahead .. Another approach that we might want to consider is > >> that instead of collecting ideas or topics to present, is to > >> proactively seek out a stable of individuals who want to present > >> and who like to present. It seems like it'd be a lot easier to > >> grow a core > > > > We've done that before. The result was a small number of us who > > presented until we burned out on the whole notion of presenting for > > a while. > > > > One downside of the "stable of presenters" is that they get better > > and better at presenting, which adds a barrier of entry for any new > > presenters. When we had the same people always presenting, I had > > people propose cool ideas, but say they couldn't present because > > they would never be as good as the "official" presenters. > > > > Excellent point, so we don't do that, but we can't ignore the fact > that there are certain individuals who actually like giving talks. > > However those willing to present regularly should take it upon > themselves to identify and bring in a new speaker (perhaps at their > workplace or from another user group). > > We can also directly ask those who have demonstrated the willingness > to speak in the past to come back again. The key is not to ask > "everyone," but to ask someone specifically. We can all think of at > least one person. And thanks to your hard work, we have over 10 years > of talks to look back on (!! :) > > > > >> group of presenters rather than each time trying to convince > >> someone new to step up. The reason I say this is because we have > >> a group of people who would certainly talk about (whatever) if > >> asked. I would, I know a few others who would (and do) regularly. > >> > >> We should absolutely seek out new speakers and highly encourage it, > >> but in my opinion it's a whole lot easier to generate talks if we > >> have a maintained list of topics and a group of people who we know > >> are > > > > I think the list of talks is a good idea. And, to some extent, we > > will always have a group of people who are willing to present on > > almost any topic. > > > > As a group, we have a lot more to say than _any_ small group of > > presenters. Personally, I would love to learn from the people who > > feel like they don't have much to say. They are often the ones who > > do presentations on topics no one else would have thought of. > > > > I'm not sure how to force these interesting people and topics to turn > up. I can only think of creating an environment that invites it. Or we > have to identify them outside of PM and directly ask them if they > could please come talk about something, anything. > > And like I said above, we have a lot of 1 time speakers who may be > willing to come back - their choice of topic. If they ask what they > can talk about, well we have a list we're keeping now. > > >> willing to talk (about anything.) This would also work well for > >> "lightning talk" meetings if we make sure the people who we know > >> will talk (about something) will show up. I think that focusing > >> on having a regular rotation of @speakers willing to talk about > >> @things (as determined by work we do to survey the group) is a > >> good recipe for building up regular attendance. > >> > >> (beware, blue sky tangent) > >> > >> At some point if we have some "go to" people and have built up > >> attendance (bc we're serving real needs), I think it'd be super > >> cool to take that leap and organize a bona fide 1 or 2 day Houston > >> Perl Workshop - especially considering that 2/4 of the YAPC::NA > >> sponsors that had tables are also sponsors of Houston.pm, I > >> imagine that we have that part covered pretty well. I say all of > >> this fully recognizing the fact that I am also volunteering to > >> play a large part in any effort to organize this. > > > > This sounds like a great idea. It is a lot of work, but it would be > > worth it to get more of the Perl people in Houston engaged with the > > group. > > > >> Thank you, > >> Brett > > > > Good thoughts, > > G. Wade > > I am going to try my theory about asking specific people if they'd be > willing to give a talk at a Houston.pm meeting. It may not pay off for > this coming meeting, but I think it might for future talks. > > Thanks, Wade. > > Brett > > > > >> > G. Wade > >> > > >> >> On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 5:46 PM, G. Wade Johnson via Houston > >> >> <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> > Hi everyone, > >> >> > > >> >> > It's about 3 weeks to the next Houston.pm meeting on July 10 > >> >> > at cPanel. > >> >> > > >> >> > Does anyone have a topic they would like to present? > >> >> > > >> >> > Is there any kind of topic you guys would like to hear about? > >> >> > > >> >> > * Perl beginner > >> >> > - we've had a couple of these lately > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > * Perl advanced > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > * General programming > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > * Open Source projects we should know about > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > * Tools/environment > >> >> > - we haven't had editor presentations in a while > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > * Security > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > * Hardware > >> >> > - doing anything cool with hardware and Perl? > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > * Something unrelated to Perl, but still of interest to the > >> >> > group > >> >> > - Mind hacks > >> >> > - Making > >> >> > - ? > >> >> > > >> >> > Remember the quality of meetings is under your control. > >> >> > G. Wade > >> >> > -- > >> >> > It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't > >> >> > matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with > >> >> > experiment, it's wrong. -- Richard Feynman > >> >> > _______________________________________________ > >> >> > Houston mailing list > >> >> > [email protected] > >> >> > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston > >> >> > Website: http://houston.pm.org/ > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> > > >> > > >> > -- > >> > Be a good ancestor. -- Jonas > >> > Salk _______________________________________________ > >> > Houston mailing list > >> > [email protected] > >> > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston > >> > Website: http://houston.pm.org/ > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Houston mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston > >> Website: http://houston.pm.org/ > > > > > > -- > > Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more > > violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move > > in the opposite direction. -- Albert > > Einstein > _______________________________________________ > Houston mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston > Website: http://houston.pm.org/ -- I have this feeling, that my luck is none too good. -- "Black Blade", Blue Oyster Cult _______________________________________________ Houston mailing list [email protected] http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/houston Website: http://houston.pm.org/
