Fwd: Doodle: Link for poll "Best Time for San Francisco Less Wrong Meetings"

[Jason Green-Lowe]

Hi Less Wrongers --

I'm trying to figure out how to set up San Francisco meetings so that we get critical mass, which I'll arbitrarily say means getting at least 6 people at each meetup. My experience in other cities is that everyone has way more fun when there's at least 6 people.

So, in descending order of importance, please write back as soon as you can and...

(1) Fill out this Doodle poll to show when you would and might be available: http://doodle.com/ux6nbckahsdcgf4g

(2) Choose the two activities from this list that interest you the most for LW meetups: (bowling, ice skating, socializing, partying, board games, themed discussions, skills workshops, powerwalking, other)

(3) Say how often (e.g. once a month, once a week) you *actually* predict that you would attend LW meetings in San Francisco if they were held at a convenient time and place.

(4) Choose the neighborhood from this list that works best for you for LW meetups: (Embarcadero, Mission & 5th, Mission & 20th, Union Square, Civic Center, Richmond, Sunset, Castro, Marina)

Thanks!! Hopefully soon we'll figure out how we can make this group work.

~Jason GL

[Mike Plotz]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for taking the time to organize this.

1. The poll is a little on the long side. Maybe you'd get a better response if you just cover one week, but without specific dates mentioned? That way you'll avoid the kind of false negative where, to take my example, I have plans for this coming Sunday, but generally Sunday afternoons are good for me (and same for the following Tuesday evening).

2. Activities: socializing and board games, but themed discussions can be good too, at least as a starting off point. Another possible activity: ping pong. Also, pot lucks.

3. It depends on how fun they are. Definitely once a month, but if there's a consistent turnout I'd come once every two weeks, or possibly more.

4. Mission & 20th. In fact, I highly recommend Borderlands Cafe, which is next door to the SF bookshop Borderlands Books. They are very nerd friendly and I have on more than one occasion dropped into a game of Dominion there. The only downside is they close at 9pm.

I think another thing that might bring more participants would be to entice some of the higher-profile LWers to come to some of the meetups. I'm not sure exactly how you'd arrange that, but it wouldn't hurt to ask in an email or PM. Hope this helps, and let me know if there's something I can do to help this group come together.

Mike