Hello Folks! (an intro and friendly call to action)

[Mike Greenberg]

Wandered in here via n00bz.net (after the kind gentleperson RTed the HackDay Miami promo I sent out). I'm a local hacker/entrep and have been involved in the community for the past 2 years. Very interested in getting our community on par with the likes of the Valley, NY, Boston, Boulder, Seattle, etc.

Anyway, I wanted to bring up Miami Tech Week, which is a week of exciting tech related events durin ghte month of February. We're talking meetups, workshops, demonstrations, talks, parties, a conference or two, and whatever you can dream up. If any of you guys are looking to get involved and grow a beautiful tech haven for ourselves here, please get in touch. I'm currently planning a workshop for newbs to get into hardware hacking and programming  (featuring the Arudino platform and local community). I'd like to suggest you start thinking about participating (and maybe organizing something) during that week. I hope I'm not being too forward here, but I'm hoping there are a few motived people with some spare time to share with other techies. 

If you're unsure of what you could do or not sure where to look, I'm happy to help you find what you're looking for if you feel like reaching out.

Pleasure to virtually meet (and possibly hear from) you!

Mike Greenberg

[Mike Greenberg]

PS: Likewise, I'm happy to lend/share any resources I have available to help your group/fraternity grow as well. :D

[Jason Malley]

We would love to participate.

[Mike Greenberg]

Jason, how do you think you'd like to get involved? Ideas? Skills/interests?

[Jason Malley]

Our group can help with planning, promotion, as well as several speakers/presenters on a wide array of topics. We have coders, defense, offense, hardware, Arduino.

[Michael Greenberg]

Are you interested in helping with the workshop I'm putting together
for Arduino, or with a separate event? I'm currently putting together
the materials and format for the Arduino workshop and would happily
accept help with this project right now. If you're interested in
working on the workshop, get in touch directly with me via (my
initials) (at) nobulb.com. (I want individual commitments. Commitments
on behalf of a group or others rarely pans out.)

If you're interested in helping elsewhere or with another project, let
me know what you're PERSONALLY interested in helping with and I'll get
you connected.

Cheers!

[Terrence]

Let's do it. I will work on a temporary space and we will do two things.  One is cycle training the other is arduino. How many people are interested in both.

[Jason Malley]

DARPA is giving grant money for technology. Anyone know about this?  

[Rod Soto]

Yes it was Mudge presentation at BH this year. You have to have a hackerspace and obviously project must be relevant.

[Michael Greenberg]

Terrance,

I'm confused. Temporary space (for the workshop) has already been
arranged. I'm not quite sure what you mean by cycle training. I've
already begun putting the materials together for the Arduino workshop.
Unless you're talking about putting a different event together, then
I'm lost. :?

- Mike

[Michael Greenberg]

Jason, Think DARPA would invest in local educational workshops?

[Jason Malley]

I think they would... Or I am hoping.

[Terrence]

It was morning I meant ctf training. I shouldn't be allowed access to a keyboard before 9 am.

[Michael Greenberg]

Oh, CTF training would be awesome! If you're looking for spaces, I
have several you could choose from. You guys should put this together!

[Terrence]

Are you charging for this?

[Michael Greenberg]

No, some of the spaces are free of charge. The ones that charge are
done so because they are lame (and make money for themselves that
way). I'm not affiliated with any of them in any way (aside from
indirect support like this). I'm just interested in helping. :)

[Jason Malley]

I would love to do a CTF training/practical hacking course.

Web, network, reverse engineering, Metasploit mastery.

It is kinda like magic... Once you learn the tricks, you realize how easy it is.... Unless you my boss, than it is magic :)

[Tim Krabec]

I'd say for classes there should be some sort of nominal charge.  & tokens or sommat for paying members.  the main goal of the charge is to prevent noshows.  It would also allow us to provide some sort of food, drink/supplies for the class

--
Tim Krabec
Kracomp
772-597-2349
www.kracomp.com
www.smbminute.com (podcast)
tkrabec.com

[Piero Picasso]

I would like to see them.

P33_P33_

[Piero Picasso]

Guys just because we change a minimal fee may be the reason  why people may not come.

[Michael Greenberg]

FYI, I know many workshops and meetups who are quite successful while
still charging $5-10 for specifically preventing no-shows (while
generating a nominal offset for expenses incurred). Usually, the
content of these workshops are credible (as in, communicated through
well established channels or the meetup has established strong
precedence within the community) and attendees are more willing to pay
in these cases.

[Jason Malley]

We get a sponsor/ local company to help with costs. For the price of some bagels, they get to pass out some swag or something. 

The goal is to partner with the community as well. Their main benefit is seeing quality people getting solid training. The people get to up skills and the companies get a higher degree of talent to hire from. The also helps the people find quality jobs (and get more $$$ since they have skills). The circle goes round and round!

[Jason Malley]

Another idea is charge 10 bucks via a paypal and you get it back if you show.

[Tim Krabec]

We should always charge a fee, even if we offer a discount to $0 for a limited time.  Also I'm not proposing that we charge paying members persay, except we deduct a token of some sort, if they show then they can go to another class for free but if they don't then they can only miss X more classes with out a penlty

[Joe Partlow]

If we didn't want to charge, another idea could be that whoever came had to contribute something, like a tip, demonstration or new way of doing something. It might cut down on the noshows since you would have people that were serious about the classes

 

Joe 

[Jose Hernandez]

Tip almost edges on the concept of donations. I would start off with requesting donations. If the community feels the topics are worth their time I'm positive they would be willing to donate.

Jose H

[Terrence]

The only fees are if people wanna buy shit.

[Chris Fs]

You're a fee....lol

--
Chris Frighelis

[Chris Fs]

Jose has a good point on people donating if they are able to and would like to. That seems logical.

--
Chris Frighelis

[Tim Krabec]

no he's a tool :)

On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 11:00 AM, Chris Fs <chrisfr...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Terrence]

So I'm thinking a Tues or weds

[Simon Matalon]

I am going tk chime in here. I think for the first one we dont charge just too see what kind of interest people have in coming to this kind of event. If everyone brought something like cups napkins chips drinks for the first one would be the way to go in my mind.

I would love to partake in a ctf both from a setup point of view to learn how they are done and from a learning how to play the ctf.

I will help out in any way i can. If we need vms setup or what habe you.

Simon(slops/slops17)

Sent from my iPhone

[Piero Picasso]

I think wed would be best

[Michael Greenberg]

Remember that each additional requirement you add for participation
will make it harder/less-likely people will participate. Money is a
relatively low bar (depending on your audience)... having a hacking
tip or the like (a much higher bar) will force people to do work when
all they (potentially) want to do is learn.

[Simon Matalon]

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

[Terrence]

Yea will be a collective of people till we get everything together. Forget business. Let's get to the hacking and make business happen later. I will front money if its needed to make this first meeting happen. If I lose and we have fun then I care more about the fun. Me iz lozer hacker.

[Michael Greenberg]

You iz quintessential hacker. **thumbs up**

[Mike Greenberg]

So what's the plan for this? If you guys can organize a workshop for the February timeline, we can include your event in some upcoming promotion opportunities that's sure to get your event filled with participants. Would need details within the next week or two (at least commitment to see this workshop through).

You guys still in?