Next and Last Meetings

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Ellis Morgan

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Mar 4, 2009, 10:23:52 AM3/4/09
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I originally sent this by email earlier in the week, forgetting that
when I send an email here it does not arrive, unlike the other groups
I follow.

At the last meeting I agreed to do this:
Put Jake's report up on the APL Wiki;
Put my previous report on the Wiki;
Poll the group for a decision between at least three possible themes
for the next meeting;
Do some more publicity.

As the room was filling up with strangers at the end I am not sure how
publicly these agreements were known. One of the aspects of the venue
is that we need to ensure group agreements are made before 4:30pm.

Another feature of the venue is that Ziggi attached his computer to
the large screen and used it to good effect during his theme. It
occurred to us that we could use skype (say) to involve people outside
London in our discussions.

These themes for the next meeting have been suggested:
NARS 2000, led by Dick(if we ask him by Monday this week!);
Marketing APL, led by Chris;
Free association plus, led by Ellis.

By free association plus I am mean start at 3pm with (say) half an
hour on how to run the meetings to include choosing theme and
appointing tasks for the next meeting, followed (say) by a couple of
short (15 minute) presentations by anyone who volunteers using the big
screen, breaking up into smaller groups well before 4:30. This would
be a "low workload" option if Chris and Dick feel they need more time
to get their themes organised.

**** PLEASE post your vote/opinions/other theme HERE ****.

The beginnings of a page about the group is here
http://aplteam2.com/aplwiki/BAALondon
it is still under construction and should improve over the next few
days


At the last two meetings one of us (Dick, then me) has agreed to do
some publicity. Please don't feel that precludes you from doing the
same if you have a good idea. Several people came to their first
meeting last Friday including two "dyadic transfers" (APL speakers who
did not know anyone when they came to the pub), at least one had come
because "I had an email from the BAA telling me about it". Dyalog were
also well represented. To avoid duplication of publicity efforts I
will put up a list of the places where I know the group is mentioned
(I have now started this at the BAALondon WIKI page, see above.)

Dick Bowman

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Mar 4, 2009, 10:43:09 AM3/4/09
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Due to foreseeable circumstances I have to withdraw my offer to lead a
NARS2000 topic for the March meeting (if there is such a thing).

At risk of being considered a spoilsport - I think it's important to
have a person clearly volunteer for each essential meeting-based task
rather than hope that things will get done "if we feel like it". Which
is why I said I'd do publicity for February (and documented what I did
so that the March publicist would be able to do a better job). And I
think it's important to rotate these jobs around. Sorry about that, but
I ran the BAA monthly meetings for a while (and some conferences) - I
learnt these things from failure.

Something else I'll toss into the pot - meeting writeups would sensible
appear as followups to the places where publicity goes.

End of rant, now I'll go back to trying to understand the Dyalog
Language manual...

Phil Last

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Mar 5, 2009, 5:39:40 AM3/5/09
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Yes Dick, there will be a meeting, Friday 27 March, but it's likely
either to be the last to be held on a Friday or the last at the Edgar.
Whether it's due to the Depression, al-Qa'ida, the International
Zionist Conspiracy, the 12 foot lizards, the price of beer or the
weather, the Edgar is getting more crowded on a Friday afternoon and
we ten don't have priority over a possible two dozen in the room. The
landlord says almost any other day would be better though he doesn't
elaborate on the "almost". Also he asks that if we do have to use the
screen we be finished with it by around 4 o'clock.

With regard to the format of the meetings my own opinion is that I
want to spend as little time as possible, preferably none, on
peripheral activities such as talking about the format of the meeting
or the content of the next meeting or deciding who's going to do
something that somebody thinks needs to be done. That's what this on-
line discussion group is for.

Thanks to Stephen for starting the ball rolling here and to Ellis for
his efforts on the wiki. Both are collaborative media. Use them. Don't
waste the short time we have at the meetings.

And with regard specifically to Friday 27 March, if no-one has any
objection I'd like to spend a few minutes demonstrating the apl source
code management system I've developed over the past year.

Ellis Morgan

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Mar 10, 2009, 2:04:34 PM3/10/09
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Phil,

How long do you want to talk for?

Unless Chris feels strongly he wants to do the "Marketing APL" theme
in March I suggest we go to a more free-form meeting making full use
of the large screen between 3 and 4pm. Does anyone reading this want
to use some of the time that might be left when Phil has finished
talking?

Here are some of the things we might want to decide here if we want to
avoid having to talk about them at the next meeting:
(1) Phil has booked the March meeting at the Edgar Wallace for Friday
27 March at 2 for 3pm. True?
(2) Someone to publicise the March meeting (I am happy to do this).
(3) An organiser/chairman at the March meeting (duties: arrange who
talks when; ensure needed decisions are taken before the meeting
breaks up) I am happy to do this, and I would also happy to hear that
the role is not needed.
(4) A recorder for the March meeting, anyone fancy the task? (Jake and
I have done the last two meetings, I am happy to do it two or three
times a year).
(5) By the time we arrive at the March meeting should we know who is
going to ... book a venue & date ... organise the theme/running
order ... publicise ... record ... for and at the April meeting?

Phil Last

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Mar 10, 2009, 3:58:59 PM3/10/09
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10 minutes on my apl code repository?

(1) True Fri 27 March @ the Edgar

(5) As we don't know most of those things about the March meeting yet
I think we can survive without knowing them about April 'til after
then.
I'm happy to look for another venue for April or we can settle on a
non-Friday at the Edgar. I suppose some degree of democracy could be
tried such as people posting preferences here?

Dick Bowman

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Mar 11, 2009, 3:27:19 AM3/11/09
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Phil Last wrote:
> [... deleted ...]

> I'm happy to look for another venue for April or we can settle on a
> non-Friday at the Edgar. I suppose some degree of democracy could be
> tried such as people posting preferences here? [... deleted ...]
For me, the trouble with Friday afternoons is (as we've found) that it
is the world's favoured knock-off-early-and-have-a-beer time.

For that reason I'd be happy to move to another day.

But maybe that's a reason why it should stay Friday.

Are there any other viable/desirable types of venue? Back in the olden
days Robert Bittlestone (remember?) wanted to get BAA meetings into the
Institute of Directors. I may not necessarily agree that IoD would be a
desirable venue, but it does pose a question of what image we want to
project to the outside world (casual boozers or upstanding members of
society?).

And on the subject of the outside world, can I urge whoever takes notes
of the meetings to post at least something to all of the places where we
send pre-publicity (comp.lang.apl, MocroAPL forum and Dyalogusers
besides ourselves).

crishog

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Mar 11, 2009, 5:12:38 AM3/11/09
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The day of the week doesn't bother me - Phil, Jake & I did Wednesday
for a while, there are people like the Extreme Tuesday mob - who meet
in the evening ,so a BAA at somee venue i the afternoon & "agile
developers" on the same evening for the more hardy amongst us?

> days Robert Bittlestone (remember?) wanted to get BAA meetings into the Institute of Directors.

Whatever happened to Robert? I'm a life member of the IoD: in London
we could use the City "drop in" (very crowded), the Pall mall business
centre (ditto) or the main building in Pall Mall

I don't know how many I can sign into the free rooms at a time. The
lounge, bar & restaurants aren't really suitable & the front room with
it's wifi & power supply is normally for lots of smaller groups.
Otherwise we'd have to hire a room. Also the business centres are
fairly casual, but the main building has a dress code...

The Royal Society of Arts (of which I'm a fellow & I believe Stephen
is too) has lots of rooms (for hire), but only a small bar and the
restaurant for casual, free, meetings.

Can anyone think of other potential venues?

The pub line is probably a good one to pursue, there must be loads of
establishments with a spare room they'd lend us in return for an
increase in sales on a slow afternoon - but that brings us round to
Fridays again, as that doesn't seem to be a slow day, even in a
recession.

Ellis Morgan

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Mar 11, 2009, 5:30:21 AM3/11/09
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Dick,

today is when I plan to publicise the next meeting (when I get back
from shopping), the Microapl forum is not on my list, do you know how
to reach it?

Ellis Morgan

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Mar 11, 2009, 5:37:09 AM3/11/09
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Any weekday but Wednesday would suit me.

I had a short browse here http://www.fancyapint.com
The best way to navigate seemed to be "look near a tube station". The
Edgar Wallace is "near Blackfriars", has a bookable room (we know
about that). and gets four stars. Some advertised WifFi, but I expect
more have it than say so. (there was a Wetherspoons near Holborn that
also boasted a room and WiFi). There was one five start pub near
Hatton Gardens, I looked near Temple, Covent Garden, Blackfriars as
well and could have spent more time looking.

Stephen Taylor <sjt@5jt.com>

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Mar 11, 2009, 6:09:08 AM3/11/09
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Sorry not to have made the last meeting and to have been lying so low
this year. What organising energies I possess have been ploughed into
the Convention on Modern Liberty, held at the end of last month.
(Thanks to all of you who supported it.)

I gather there are limits on our time at the Edgar Wallace on 27 Mar.
When exactly are we meeting, please?

SJT


On Mar 11, 9:37 am, Ellis Morgan <el...@ellismorgan.co.uk> wrote:
> Any weekday but Wednesday would suit me.
>
> I had a short browse herehttp://www.fancyapint.com

Dick Bowman

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Mar 11, 2009, 9:46:22 AM3/11/09
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http://microapl.freeforums.org/

Ellis Morgan wrote:
> Dick,
>
> today is when I plan to publicise the next meeting (when I get back
> from shopping), the Microapl forum is not on my list, do you know how
> to reach it?
>

> [... deleted ...]
>
>
>

Phil Last

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Mar 11, 2009, 9:50:25 AM3/11/09
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Friday 27 March 2pm downstairs 3 pm up but don't expect us to have the
room to ourselves after 4pm.

On Mar 11, 10:09 am, "Stephen Taylor <s...@5jt.com>"

crishog

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Mar 11, 2009, 10:53:33 AM3/11/09
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> I had a short browse herehttp://www.fancyapint.com

Interesting site

> The best way to navigate seemed to be "look near a tube station". The Edgar Wallace is "near Blackfriars", has a bookable room (we know
> about that).  and gets four stars. Some advertised WifFi, but I expect more have it than say so. (there was a Wetherspoons near Holborn

Which one? I couldn't find it with a quick look. Some of the
Wetherspoons in the area are very good (we like the Knights Templar),
but some resemble a cross between a barn & a roadside cafe.

> also boasted a room and WiFi). There was one five start pub near
> Hatton Gardens,

The Mitre? Nice pub for a pint, but their rooms interconnect if I
remember rightly, in a way that means we wouldn't have a private area.
I've always liked the Mitre.

> and could have spent more time  looking.

Very true. A lot of pubs do Wifi now, though some charge (for example
Fullers pubs often have a "The Cloud" connection), it's as much
getting the space as the Wifi that's the problem.

Still it could involve some visits to work out the best place...

Phil Last

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Mar 11, 2009, 12:44:03 PM3/11/09
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Is that an invitation?

Phil Last

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Mar 11, 2009, 1:13:20 PM3/11/09
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As Ziggy & Michael have said on another thread, a different day at the
Edgar seems the most sensible course. They point out that so far it's
not only been Friday but the last Friday of the month (as is 27th!) so
perhaps worse than it might otherwise be but all the same it might be
best to choose another day.

So far five people have made known their preference. We have one
against Monday, one against Wednesday, one for Tuesday or Thursday,
two for any day. So giving everyone 12 votes spread evenly between
either their favoured or their not unfavoured days excluding Fridays
we have:

Monday 4 3 3 10
Tuesday 4 4 6 3 3 20
Wednesday 4 3 3 10
Thursday 4 4 6 3 3 20

other voting systems are available.

crishog

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Mar 12, 2009, 5:02:37 AM3/12/09
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On Mar 11, 4:44 pm, Phil Last <phil.l...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> Is that an invitation?
Well, it's still a couple of weeks 'til the 27th, some investigation
might be in order...
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