[Ottawa_users] FYI: August Meetup Notes

[sean powers]

Hi folks,

Just a few notes from last weeks meeting.

First big thanks to all those who came out. Really great to have some 
new folks coming out to see what we're about.

Notes:

1) I will be scheduling our meeting dates for a few months in advance as 
it makes it easier to reserve on our calendars.

2) Some positive feedback on themed meetup months for presentations etc 
I don't suspect people want these to be to rigid & they won't be. Will 
trial the fall schedule and solicit feedback on whether we should continue.

3) Some discussion about my call (thanks to Regie & Fabian for great 
ideas and discussion!) for a small working group to increase/improve 
turnout, more presentations & bigger events (code sprints/workshops)
     - we should improve our digital presence for people to know about 
the group. it is not about massive marketing to increase numbers, but 
rather to engage people who would come out perhaps if they knew about 
us. to that end i will be setting up a meetup.com profile so folks in 
ottawa can find us easily.
     - targeting students was mentioned, especial those in gis programs
     - 1 presentation a month with a loose agenda seems to be the way to go
     - presenters should make avaible there slides for upload on a 
community site, perhaps slideshare
     - i discussed mailing list engagement as something i would like to 
improve, in terms of feedback for participation in attending meetups. 
please suggest ideas:)
     - osgeo image of being to technical was mentioned & perhaps deters 
some folks.

     - in terms of workshops, there is great interest in holding a half 
day qgis intro sometime in the new year. fabian & regie are really up 
for this, as am i. we've decided that for the next few meetups (sept - 
nov) that the last 30--45min if someone wants to ask questions/be 
introduced to qgis we will have laptops setup with some test data & qgis 
in vm to show/walk them through. this seems to be a way to solicit 
feedback on what we should do for new year workshop. (we're looking for 
your ideas/participation)

4) andrew kindly offered access to his board room (thanks) for 
meetings/workshops.

5) andrew mentioned the open conference call of the eclipse location 
working group (http://wiki.eclipse.org/Location/August30_2012)


if i've missed anything, please add to this.

have a great night & see you at sept's meetup!

cheers,

richard