1) Book a time and place. 2) Promote the event. 3) Attend. 4) Have fun. That's really it. Everything else is just a matter of balancing your compromises.
Pick a location and time that suits you and suits the audience you wish to attract. If you want the high-school crowd, don't pick a venue they can't attend like a bar. Promote, at a minimum, on the OSM wiki calendar, talk-us@, the usergroups map[1] and whatever social networks you like. Depending on mapper-density, that might not be enough. Also consider, local linux user groups, local cycling clubs, local Audubon, business improvement districts, etc. You don't have to tell them every time you meet, but let them know once in a while. Also on promotion, you don't have to use meetup.com. At least one group is using groupspaces.com But use "something" to keep track of previous attendees, to keep a public calendar, to get in touch with the other attendees, etc. Ideally, you want a place people can find you and your next event, even by accident. Attend. If you set a date, make sure you show up. ;-) Have fun. And help newbies have fun. Get the new attendees to talk. Make sure they can ask questions. Answer if you can, "I don't know" is a valid answer. Or help them through the wiki / mailing lists if you can't, "I don't know, let's find out" is a valid answer as well. If you have wifi available and an editing question arises, get them online, and coach them while they edit. Let them drive the computer. Don't grab the keyboard / mouse. ;-) There are many refinements you can make, but none of this can happen until you decide to do it and pick a time and place. But mostly, you just have to decide to do it. [1] http://usergroups.openstreetmap.de/ Get listed by adding your group to the osm wiki and use the groups template. Follow Seattle for an example. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Seattle,_Washington#Local_OSM_Group _______________________________________________ Talk-us mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
