Lost our space, again

[Tamara Temple]

Hi, all,

I just recently emailed the group, and posted this on our website:

No space - No food - Meetups Cancelled 

14 Nov 2016

My friends, we are in dire straights as a group.

Our space sponsor, SportsEngine, after having been acquired by NBC Sports, has been given restrictions on security, which means our meetup space and time is no longer available to us.

Along with the lack of food sponsorship, and the uncertaintly surrounding this, I’ve cancelled future monthly meetups for the time being.

I’m also reaching out for someone to step up for organizing this meetup. I no longer have time to spend finding sponsors, getting things organized, and keeping things running. I need help for this meetup group to keep going.

Contact me through meetup.com “Message the Organizers” link (it will go to all the people marked as organizers, not just me) if you can provide help.

Tamara Temple

p.s. - I still want to be involved, I love teaching, I love your questions, and want to help people learn Rails.

I'm pretty tired of this happening to us, and I'm sure you are as well. I don't have the resources or even the desire to deal with this.

I'm about ready to just walk away.

If anyone want this to continue, please step up, do something, help us all.

[Joe LaChance]

I've suggested to Tamara about Surly Brewing for a new location since they have event rooms. I can call and see what they say, does anyone else have any suggestions? 

I did speak with Randstad, and I don't know if they're willing to sponsor food or not yet.

[Tamara Temple]

Just a repeat, I don't have the time or resources to pursue this.

That means y'all have to do it.

I appreciate the emails and the meetup discussion responses; it shows you care, and I do appreciate that VERY VERY MUCH.

Please continue talking here, and solve this for us.

[Joe LaChance]

Spoke with Surly-- they unfortunately don't seem willing to waive food and bev. minimums, which are pretty steep (10x) what a sponsor would pay for food. Any other suggestions?? 

[Tamara Temple]

People have suggested checking at UoMn and Prime, which might mean TIY might have something, or another school (MCTC?)

Olsen hosts JS.MN, dunno if they'd host Rails too

On Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 4:44 PM Joe LaChance <jlach...@gmail.com> wrote:

Spoke with Surly-- they unfortunately don't seem willing to waive food and bev. minimums, which are pretty steep (10x) what a sponsor would pay for food. Any other suggestions?? 

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[Joe LaChance]

Contacted Prime and TIY for space, as well as Flatiron for a sponsorship. I'll post if/when I get any responses.

[Jason Hsu]

What do we need in a new venue?  It seems that our criteria are:
* Handicap accessible (with an elevator available as an alternative to stairs)
* Enough desk and table space for a few dozen people
* Projector and screen available for presentations
* Location in or within a few miles of downtown Minneapolis
* Anything else?

What's the latest?  What options seem possible, and what venues are a no-go?  If we post a list of venues that are a no-go and the reasons, then we won't have to waste time thinking about them or (even worse) alienate the people in charge of these venues with repeated requests.

It seems the venues that are not an option are:
* Software For Good (due to stairs)
* Surly (steep food and beverage minimums)
* Clockwork (not enough desk/table space for everyone)
* DevJam (ditto)

[Tamara Temple]

It's been asked, so I'm making sure it's listed here. Our needs as a group include:

* space for 30 people to watch presentations and work on their laptops, while eating and drinking

* available power outlets and/or power strips

* accessible, meaning *no* stairs to climb inside or outside, especially, ergonomic seating

* free to us. We have no funds

* available the same time and day (2nd Monday) every month

These are the parameters we've been working with. If you want to change them, that will be up to you.

[Jason Hsu]

How important is it to have a food sponsor?  Given the difficulty in lining up a food sponsor, can we simply note in each meeting announcement that there will be no food and advise people to eat/bring dinner before showing up?  (We could start the meeting at 6:30 to give people time to stop for dinner.)  There are some groups where the amount of food available per person isn't that great, so I just make sure to eat something before showing up.  (This is especially true in winter, when my appetite is much larger.)

We cannot have a meeting without a venue for it, but we can have a meeting without a food sponsor.

[Jason Hsu]

The link to the Google Drive folder is at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6n9UlfqV3juNXpXMmE5b01oeDg .  You should be able to edit.

I'm removing my post with the old URL to avoid confusion.

[Joe LaChance]

Hi everyone,

I spoke with Flatiron and they want to sponsor food/drinks for us. However, it's a bit of a conflict of interest to hold meetings at Prime/TIY if we accept their sponsorship. How much was Day Block? 

On Mon, Dec 12, 2016 at 10:45 AM, Jason Hsu <jhsu8...@gmail.com> wrote:

The link to the Google Drive folder is at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6n9UlfqV3juNXpXMmE5b01oeDg .  You should be able to edit.

I'm removing my post with the old URL to avoid confusion.

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[Jason Hsu]

What's the latest?  Do we have a new venue and food sponsor yet?

[Joe LaChance]

My apologies, I haven't updated.

Flatiron currently is willing to sponsor food, however, I felt that we shouldn't hold meetings at another bootcamp, I'm sure neither school would feel comfortable with that. 

I've been busy and haven't had an opportunity to call any other locations. The next steps would be to ask Prime if they would be willing to sponsor food in addition to offering a venue, and/or to call U of M and some other locations for a venue and accept Flatiron's food sponsorship. 

I can talk to Prime as I'm already in touch with them, I'll follow up with everyone on monday. Looking forward to our next meetup! 

On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 4:04 PM, Jason Hsu <jhsu8...@gmail.com> wrote:

What's the latest?  Do we have a new venue and food sponsor yet?

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[Joe LaChance]

Meeting with mark from Prime on Friday. I'll keep you all in the loop--

[Joe LaChance]

I met with Mark-- they have a great space, and he seemed very open to giving this a shot. He's curious what our schedule looks like (when we'd like to hold our next meeting). I mentioned that we need a sponsorship, but we didn't discuss further. Tamara and/or Jason, I can include you on an email and introduce you to Mark, maybe it would be best if you take it from here?

Also, they are moving downtown Minneapolis in the spring, and sounds like they'd have an excellent space for us then as well. 

[yahyajo...@gmail.com]

sorry about being late to the party. I will recently start school to finish my degree and start a new one but if nothing is solidified then I will begin looking for an independent place for meetups and also look for sponsorship. Would it be best to maybe buy the food ourselves instead of looking for sponsorship. I know the restaurant depot is open to the public in brooklyn park and someone can cook it or have it cooked. 

On Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 8:02:28 PM UTC-6, Tamara Temple wrote:

[yahyajo...@gmail.com]

i am going to look at a few places this week that are free I will keep everyone posted

On Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 8:02:28 PM UTC-6, Tamara Temple wrote:

[Tamara Temple]

On Friday, January 6, 2017 at 12:26:07 PM UTC-6, Joe LaChance wrote:

I met with Mark-- they have a great space, and he seemed very open to giving this a shot. He's curious what our schedule looks like (when we'd like to hold our next meeting).

What did you tell him?

 

I mentioned that we need a sponsorship, but we didn't discuss further. Tamara and/or Jason, I can include you on an email and introduce you to Mark, maybe it would be best if you take it from here?

Someone else has to do this; I do not have the energy.

 

Also, they are moving downtown Minneapolis in the spring, and sounds like they'd have an excellent space for us then as well. 

On Wed, Jan 4, 2017 at 4:39 PM, Joe LaChance <jlach...@gmail.com> wrote:

Meeting with mark from Prime on Friday. I'll keep you all in the loop--

On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 5:39 PM, Joe LaChance <jlach...@gmail.com> wrote:

My apologies, I haven't updated.

Flatiron currently is willing to sponsor food, however, I felt that we shouldn't hold meetings at another bootcamp, I'm sure neither school would feel comfortable with that. 

I've been busy and haven't had an opportunity to call any other locations. The next steps would be to ask Prime if they would be willing to sponsor food in addition to offering a venue, and/or to call U of M and some other locations for a venue and accept Flatiron's food sponsorship. 

I can talk to Prime as I'm already in touch with them, I'll follow up with everyone on monday. Looking forward to our next meetup! 

On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 4:04 PM, Jason Hsu <jhsu8...@gmail.com> wrote:

What's the latest?  Do we have a new venue and food sponsor yet?

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Joe LaChance // joelachance.com

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Joe LaChance // joelachance.com

[Joe LaChance]

I think at this point he was looking for specific dates for when we'd like to use their space. I wasn't sure if there was any rhyme or reason to the dates we meet, but I'm happy to get some dates scheduled with him. Have we been meeting on the first Monday of the month? 

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[Tamara Temple]

On Sunday, January 8, 2017 at 1:28:14 PM UTC-6, Joe LaChance wrote:

I think at this point he was looking for specific dates for when we'd like to use their space. I wasn't sure if there was any rhyme or reason to the dates we meet, but I'm happy to get some dates scheduled with him. Have we been meeting on the first Monday of the month? 

*Second* Monday each month.

 

[Joe LaChance]

I'll email Mark, and let you all know!

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[Joe LaChance]

Ok, I have a date scheduled with mark for our next meetup: Feb 13th! 

I added it (I think) to the meetup calendar, if someone can double check that. 

He did want to have maybe 2 meetups, regroup, and make sure all parties are happy. I'll be Mark's contact to simplify things for everyone, so if there are any questions or concerns with our location, let me know. Lastly, Prime is moving downtown Minneapolis this spring, so it's likely our location with be in their new space.

Look forward to seeing you all then!  

[Tamara Temple]

On Monday, January 9, 2017 at 11:26:22 AM UTC-6, Joe LaChance wrote:

Ok, I have a date scheduled with mark for our next meetup: Feb 13th! 

Hooray!! Thank you Joe for coming through on this.

I edited the one you suggested with the usual verbiage and announced it.

It would be helpful if we all sent out stuff to our various social networks and stuff so we can rekindle interest.

Tamara

 

[Tamara Temple]

I was talking to LeadPages today about a job there, and we drifted on to the Rails meetup and I mentioned our space problems.

She said if we ever need space, LeadPages would be happy to host us, including providing food, so this is a great possibility.

Also, Jason, regarding the Hennepin county library, they have rooms in many places, some really good sized ones. Food is allowed in some of them, they have the rules on their website.  Keep checking at the UofMinn, too, having several possibilities is better than none.

Thanks, I was happy to have this month's at Prime. 

[Tamara Temple]

Sorry, forgot to mention: the person I was talking to is TIffany Lewandowski.

[Joe LaChance]

I did speak to Mark at Prime briefly after the meetup. He asked for our next meetup date and he would see if they could accommodate us. I'm under the impression we can continue to meet there if we'd like, but haven't gotten the feeling this is necessarily permanent. 

Tamara & Jason, if you'd like to meet at LeadPages, Hennepin Co. Library, or UofM, just let me know so I can update Mark. A more permanent home would be nice, especially places with food! 

Good to see everyone,

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