Vote & Discussion about CPT Meetup Dates

dammit

Hi Everyone

I'm going to start out by clarifying that I am not a committee member - though I believe the committee is down to just two people - which means I'm not in charge of anything. But, I think our community generally runs on a situation of group decisions and discussions and so I'm opening this one up because I'm curious if anyone cares. And, if anyone cares enough, and there's enough support, I don't see why we as a community cannot make this decision ourselves rather than waiting for the committee to make any decision (if necessary).

Long preamble aside, here's the thing: Currently our CPT meetups happen on the last wednesday of every month. So too do the Modern Alchemist meetups (all the info here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ModernAlchemistsZA/?fref=ts). I've talked to them about moving their dates, but considering the FB invites have been set up until the middle of next year, I don't see that happening.

Now, what I really want to know/gauge is how much our community cares about this overlap. I've seen a couple of their events for next year that seem really cool and I imagine some people may be interested in attending them. I wouldn't want people to feel like they have to choose between two awesome events and possibly miss out on either MGSA or MA if they wanted to do both.

The question is whether enough people want to attend the MA events to actually consider changing our days (before we event talk about what day we might change it to).

So here's a handy form to fill out: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1T_2m3EokymvxIItFISoC6y9ZnlAnXPjmNs3MkAFDMDM/viewform

Everyone should be able to see the results.

Also, if you want to discuss further...feel free :)

pieter

The Modern Alchemists look really cool, and I might consider going to one for some inspiration and just talking to other creatives. But would be like once or twice a year. I don't have a problem if we move the MGSA meetups, as I'd come regardless of the date or time chosen.

If there is an overlap however, MGSA > MA :)

And thank you @dammit for all the effort you put in to make these meetups happen. It's very much appreciated.

dislekcia

I don't see why this is MGSA's problem. The MGSA date has been set since before Modern Alchemists existed, in fact I remember telling them that their initial plan to host meetups once a week was going to end up being a problem for them - they've known about MGSA's meetups forever, if they picked the same day it's because they're not overly interested/worried about the overlap.

I wouldn't seriously consider changing the very simple "last wed of the month" rule for our meetups (the other easy rule is "first X of the month" which JHB uses - and we kinda want to spread out MGSA meetups to allow for the chance of people attending both if they're traveling) to something else after it's been established for so long. Many people come to the meetups that don't converse here - we're still recovering from those location changes, after all. More change isn't going to be a good idea... I'd only think about changing dates IF the meetups got drastically empty, and even then that just means that the meetups aren't providing value - which is what I'd prefer to fix than keeping them the same and moving their times around.

P.S. If you want to go to any of the MA meetups @dammit, there are plenty of other people that can handle the MGSA one that month, or whatever.

Nandrew

MGSA members keen on checking MA could consider sacrificing just one month to attend a meetup early next year.

I imagine there's several members who'd like to have a good look at one of the meets but haven't quite gotten to skipping MGSA ones, like me. :P

If we ask this same question in six months, maybe I'd have a better answer. I've been to some stuff but I don't know what the average meetups are like, so proposing that MGSA move for this promise feels like too much of a gamble for me.

dammit

dislekcia said:

I don't see why this is MGSA's problem. The MGSA date has been set since before Modern Alchemists existed, in fact I remember telling them that their initial plan to host meetups once a week was going to end up being a problem for them - they've known about MGSA's meetups forever, if they picked the same day it's because they're not overly interested/worried about the overlap.

I wouldn't seriously consider changing the very simple "last wed of the month" rule for our meetups (the other easy rule is "first X of the month" which JHB uses - and we kinda want to spread out MGSA meetups to allow for the chance of people attending both if they're traveling) to something else after it's been established for so long. Many people come to the meetups that don't converse here - we're still recovering from those location changes, after all. More change isn't going to be a good idea... I'd only think about changing dates IF the meetups got drastically empty, and even then that just means that the meetups aren't providing value - which is what I'd prefer to fix than keeping them the same and moving their times around.

P.S. If you want to go to any of the MA meetups @dammit, there are plenty of other people that can handle the MGSA one that month, or whatever.

Our simple rule of last wednesday of the month could change to the last tuesday of the month. I don't think people would find this incredibly difficult to follow.

Also, as I said, I'm gauging interest. It's up to the community as a whole. And yes, MA decided to have their dates on the same as ours for whatever reason - but that doesn't mean they made it "our problem". I'm asking here if anyone really cares enough about the MA meetups to want to miss MGSA meetups.

dislekcia

dammit said:

Our simple rule of last wednesday of the month could change to the last tuesday of the month. I don't think people would find this incredibly difficult to follow.

It's not that simple. Moving weeks is a lot less space for collision than moving days: If people have other regular weekly things they do (gym, kids, pets, life) then moving days causes issues with all of those. Moving weeks is easier because presumably regular MGSA attendees are already used to managing "losing" that same day once a month.

Also, you never want to move a thing "forwards". Imagine all the people that don't find out about the change arriving only to hear "You missed that event, it happened yesterday!".

Still, that said, I honestly think this is an exercise is trying to find a problem with something that's working just fine already.

dammit

Your points have been noted, thanks Danny.

dammit

With a total of 14 votes, looks like the majority vote No, or are completely indifferent.