Group Status and Changes

[Chris Tankersley]

Hello Everyone!

First off, let me apologize if you end up with two copies of this message. I'm sending it both to the mailing list on Google Groups as well as through Meetup. Not everyone is on a single list, so for those of you that are on both lists, I apologize.

This e-mail is somewhat of a status update and a notification of some changes. Feel free to respond via whichever medium you get this in, or directly to me at ch...@ctankersley.com and I'll do what I can! The Meetup account will end this weekend, so if it's after the 6th you'll have to e-mail me.

What's the current status of the group? For the most part, we're just sort of 'here.' I've never disbanded the group, so for all intents and purposes we're all still part of the user group. I'll be hitting up different companies like O'Reilly and Zend to see what their current deals are for user group members so that we can take advantage of their offers. Other than that... well, there's not much more than that. We don't have a dedicated meeting space nor meetings (due to the lack of a meeting space), so there isn't much going on. 

This has been almost exclusively to lack of time on my part, and I apologize. When I started the NWO-PUG we had better access to facilities through my employer at the time, and since then we've somewhat drifted. Finally, after a few meetings at NSCC where we were unable to secure a room it just lost steam. A few times I've sent out e-mails for suggestions from people to get us back up and going and have met with limited success. 

As of today, I'm going to be moving the group officially back to 'mailing list' mode. I'm going to be shutting down the Meetup group since it never really did much for us, and will setting up a small website with some basic information. My plan is to have the new site online this weekend at http://www.nwo-pug.org, which currently just redirects to Meetup. 

If you are only on Meetup.com and not on the mailing list, head over to https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nwo-pug or send an e-mail to nwo...@googlegroups.com. The group does require approval before joining so once you've joined or sent in a message, I'll finish the approval on my end. We've had issues with recruiters posting all sorts of non-PHP jobs and I'll keep that lockdown going. I'm going to remove all the posts before this one in an attempt to clean things up and start us off fresh and get rid of a bunch of spam in there. 

I'm also going to post a Welcome message there, which you can reply to if you would like. Just give some basic information about yourself so that we existing members can all know each other. I'll be trying to come up with a weekly newsletter highlighting some interesting posts and stuff that I come across, and feel free to post questions or your own stuff to the list. As long as it's not outright spam, post away!

I will also be linking to the posts from NomandPHP, which is a virtual PHP user group run by Cal Evans. Even if we get back up and running fully, NomandPHP is still a great way to watch presentations from some big names in the PHP community.

What about meetings for ourselves? One of the biggest hurdles has been a location. NWO-PUG covers a wide region, and one of the few locations that has come up has been Seed Coworking in Toledo. That is quite a distance for many of our members. At one point BG was also brought up, but still has some of the same issues. I'd like to find something in within 20-30 minutes of Defiance, which while for partially personal reasons, that are should make it a short enough drive for most members. Toledo or BG is an hour plus and I feel too far away, especially if we want to have earlier meetings as requested in previous surveys.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the resources to find a location. If someone in the group would like to step up and figure something out, then please do. One of the big reasons for a user group is to get to actually talk to people and interact outside of an online medium, so I'd like to get meetings up and going again. I'm just not in a position to do that. 

If we think it's worth it, we might even do stuff via Google Hangout if someone wants to do a presentation. I've done a few and it seems to work out well. 

If you're on IRC, I've set up a channel on freenode called #nwopug. Feel free to come and hang out. I'll be in there as dragonmantank. I have an IRC bouncer so I should always be there, but if I don't answer I'm probably just not at my PC.

So, other than that, thanks for being members of NWO-PUG and the PHP community at large. I hope you'll stick around. It's my wish to get back to normal user group meetings, but in the meantime, let's hang out online.

--

Chris Tankersley

[Keith Instone]

Thanks for the update, Chris. I think it makes sense to turn off the meet-up group: it is a great resource for very active groups, but less active groups can use other tools for a lot less cost.

I hope the group stays alive! I think we need it for 2 reasons: a place for people to focus on PHP. The Toledo Web Professionals, as an example, covers a wide range of topics and PHP can be one on of them, but I think we also need groups that are focused on specific technologies. Also, we need more groups meeting across the region, not just in downtown Toledo or in BG. West of the I75 corridor can be your specialty, and some people that are nearby may show up even if they do not have a strong interest in PHP, but just because they want to hang out with people in that part of the region.

As for how to get things going again, I hope that http://toledotechevents.org/ can help. There might be some "western" venues in there already, but probably not. You can see what else is going on, even tho it takes some travel, and maybe some of you from the west can carpool to downtown/BG, etc. That at least gets the Defiance area people together to talk about what to do in your area. Maybe you will find a group to partner with. For example, the Toledo Web Professional organizers love to partner with others. If you want to take charge of a PHP event near Defiance, they might partner with you - calling it a joint event - and try to get some of their members to drive to your event. You do the program and the location and they drive their members to it (pun intended).

Finally, if you can make only 1 trip to downtown Toledo each year, it should be for the Tech Toledo Geek Dinner Holiday Mixer. http://toledotechevents.org/events/722 There is plenty of time to plan for it, encourage Defiance area people to make the trip, etc. If you get a group committed, we can make a whole day of it - co-work from Seed, etc.

I know it is tough for someone to travel to things at all points of the region - we are spread out. But I think we can both create groups that serve a sub-area (like Defiance) and draw in a few people every once in a while to travel and connect with people in other parts of the region.

And as you think about what to do next, feel free to ask me for help. That is what Tech Toledo is all about! http://techtoledo.com/

Keith

[Chris Tankersley]

Hi Keith!

On 7/1/2014 8:08 AM, Keith Instone wrote:

Thanks for the update, Chris. I think it makes sense to turn off the meet-up group: it is a great resource for very active groups, but less active groups can use other tools for a lot less cost.

I hope the group stays alive! I think we need it for 2 reasons: a place for people to focus on PHP. The Toledo Web Professionals, as an example, covers a wide range of topics and PHP can be one on of them, but I think we also need groups that are focused on specific technologies. Also, we need more groups meeting across the region, not just in downtown Toledo or in BG. West of the I75 corridor can be your specialty, and some people that are nearby may show up even if they do not have a strong interest in PHP, but just because they want to hang out with people in that part of the region.

As for how to get things going again, I hope that http://toledotechevents.org/ can help. There might be some "western" venues in there already, but probably not. You can see what else is going on, even tho it takes some travel, and maybe some of you from the west can carpool to downtown/BG, etc. That at least gets the Defiance area people together to talk about what to do in your area. Maybe you will find a group to partner with. For example, the Toledo Web Professional organizers love to partner with others. If you want to take charge of a PHP event near Defiance, they might partner with you - calling it a joint event - and try to get some of their members to drive to your event. You do the program and the location and they drive their members to it (pun intended).

I have no problem partnering with TWP for events in our area, the trick is venues. If I get the time I might hit up the local library or the Promedica hospital in town, as I see Toledo Tech Events has ones up that way listed. I don't mind driving up to Toledo/BG every once in a while, but I know especially during the winter it gets sketchy. I should probably hit up TWP to see about doing a PHP event in Toledo, I just don't want to make a habit of Toledo being where we do monthly meetings.

Finally, if you can make only 1 trip to downtown Toledo each year, it should be for the Tech Toledo Geek Dinner Holiday Mixer. http://toledotechevents.org/events/722 There is plenty of time to plan for it, encourage Defiance area people to make the trip, etc. If you get a group committed, we can make a whole day of it - co-work from Seed, etc.

Stop scheduling the week I'm in DC and I'm in! :P

I know it is tough for someone to travel to things at all points of the region - we are spread out. But I think we can both create groups that serve a sub-area (like Defiance) and draw in a few people every once in a while to travel and connect with people in other parts of the region.

I agree.

And as you think about what to do next, feel free to ask me for help. That is what Tech Toledo is all about! http://techtoledo.com/

Keith

On Monday, June 30, 2014 11:39:15 PM UTC-4, Chris Tankersley wrote:

Hello Everyone!

First off, let me apologize if you end up with two copies of this message. I'm sending it both to the mailing list on Google Groups as well as through Meetup. Not everyone is on a single list, so for those of you that are on both lists, I apologize.

This e-mail is somewhat of a status update and a notification of some changes. Feel free to respond via whichever medium you get this in, or directly to me at ch...@ctankersley.com and I'll do what I can! The Meetup account will end this weekend, so if it's after the 6th you'll have to e-mail me.

What's the current status of the group? For the most part, we're just sort of 'here.' I've never disbanded the group, so for all intents and purposes we're all still part of the user group. I'll be hitting up different companies like O'Reilly and Zend to see what their current deals are for user group members so that we can take advantage of their offers. Other than that... well, there's not much more than that. We don't have a dedicated meeting space nor meetings (due to the lack of a meeting space), so there isn't much going on. 

This has been almost exclusively to lack of time on my part, and I apologize. When I started the NWO-PUG we had better access to facilities through my employer at the time, and since then we've somewhat drifted. Finally, after a few meetings at NSCC where we were unable to secure a room it just lost steam. A few times I've sent out e-mails for suggestions from people to get us back up and going and have met with limited success. 

As of today, I'm going to be moving the group officially back to 'mailing list' mode. I'm going to be shutting down the Meetup group since it never really did much for us, and will setting up a small website with some basic information. My plan is to have the new site online this weekend at http://www.nwo-pug.org, which currently just redirects to Meetup. 

If you are only on Meetup.com and not on the mailing list, head over to https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nwo-pug or send an e-mail to nwo...@googlegroups.com. The group does require approval before joining so once you've joined or sent in a message, I'll finish the approval on my end. We've had issues with recruiters posting all sorts of non-PHP jobs and I'll keep that lockdown going. I'm going to remove all the posts before this one in an attempt to clean things up and start us off fresh and get rid of a bunch of spam in there. 

I'm also going to post a Welcome message there, which you can reply to if you would like. Just give some basic information about yourself so that we existing members can all know each other. I'll be trying to come up with a weekly newsletter highlighting some interesting posts and stuff that I come across, and feel free to post questions or your own stuff to the list. As long as it's not outright spam, post away!

I will also be linking to the posts from NomandPHP, which is a virtual PHP user group run by Cal Evans. Even if we get back up and running fully, NomandPHP is still a great way to watch presentations from some big names in the PHP community.

What about meetings for ourselves? One of the biggest hurdles has been a location. NWO-PUG covers a wide region, and one of the few locations that has come up has been Seed Coworking in Toledo. That is quite a distance for many of our members. At one point BG was also brought up, but still has some of the same issues. I'd like to find something in within 20-30 minutes of Defiance, which while for partially personal reasons, that are should make it a short enough drive for most members. Toledo or BG is an hour plus and I feel too far away, especially if we want to have earlier meetings as requested in previous surveys.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the resources to find a location. If someone in the group would like to step up and figure something out, then please do. One of the big reasons for a user group is to get to actually talk to people and interact outside of an online medium, so I'd like to get meetings up and going again. I'm just not in a position to do that. 

If we think it's worth it, we might even do stuff via Google Hangout if someone wants to do a presentation. I've done a few and it seems to work out well. 

If you're on IRC, I've set up a channel on freenode called #nwopug. Feel free to come and hang out. I'll be in there as dragonmantank. I have an IRC bouncer so I should always be there, but if I don't answer I'm probably just not at my PC.

So, other than that, thanks for being members of NWO-PUG and the PHP community at large. I hope you'll stick around. It's my wish to get back to normal user group meetings, but in the meantime, let's hang out online.

--

Chris Tankersley

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[Bud Manz]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the late response, but here goes!

I agree with Keith on all points.  I am willing and able to travel at least once per year to Toledo and I do!  I have went every year that I have been a member of TWP for the Holiday Mixer and it is always been a positive experience... maybe this is something we could implement with NWOPUG?  I have also spent time at Seed for a couple of events and it is a nice facility.

Thanks,
Bud Manz

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