[nycbug-talk] last night's meeting

[George Neville-Neil]

On Aug 8, 2013, at 15:33 , George Rosamond <george at ceetonetechnology.com> wrote:

> I'm going to dump things into this email that should be separate.. I
> know, I know.  So please don't do any heavy snipping and comment inline.
> 
> First, for those who were there last night, I really should have talked
> more about the cross-pollination role we can and have played.  I think
> it's vital and we've managed to create a physical and mailing list space
> for that to happen.  Not to mention the eadler and bcallah show on IRC :)
> 
> Second, we have an offer from Scale Engine to stream our meetings.
> Can't see why this wouldn't be a good thing.  Any feedback welcome on it
> though.  Nikolai should post numbers on the audio downloads, and it
> would be interesting to see what the streaming could become.  Our main
> man Patrick will be the point person on this.
> 
> Finally, the con.  We get regular pings about this.  Admin@,
> individually, etc.  Attendees, past and potential sponsors.  But cons
> take a lot of effort, way more than most people can imagine.  It becomes
> a second fulltime job for a few people, and it is physically exhaustive,
> not to mention a complete disruption on a lot of people's lives.
> 
> Nonetheless, our cons are tremendously successful, often make money for
> the BSD projects, and becomes a unique event in terms of various
> projects interacting.  And it is well-acclaimed and complimented way
> beyond NYC.
> 
> On that note, I mentioned us doing a day con some time into the new
> year.  It's not a regular con time, as long as we don't bump into
> AsiaBSDCon, and daycons are a lot less demanding.  We would not fly in
> people, and deal with hotels, which is usually the largest expense.
> 
> We would hit topics that are current and are part of the larger debates
> beyond just the BSDs.  And for us to hold one or two a year should not
> be exhausting.
> 
> As per last night's discussion, we will have an organizing meeting in
> the near future to map things out.  Feedback and input is encouraged.
> 
> So *if* you want to be central to organizing the next con, you can be.

BTW The one idea that popped into my head, but which I didn't have time to
talk about last night is this.  "Make the Switch.  Moving to BSD from Linux"
Most people don't know that a lot of the tools they think they have to use
on Linux actually work, and work well, on the BSDs.  I think that would
be a good theme that appeals to our core audience.

Best,
George