Who and/or What Next?

[Burr Sutter-4]

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

[Quadir Kareemullah]

Burr,

How about Matt Raible (http://www.raibledesigns.com)? He is Founder and Lead Developer at AppFuse, has presented at OSCON 2008 and ApacheCON 2007.

• Java Blogger since 2002
• Power user of Java Frameworks
• Author of Books: Spring Live and Pro JSP 2.0
• Lead UI Architect at LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/mraible)
  

He could present a comparison of popular java web frameworks

- Quadir

2009/3/19 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

--
************************************************************************************

He merges the night into the day (i.e. the decrease in the hours of the
night is added to the hours of the day), and He merges the day into the night
( i.e. the decrease in the hours of the day is added the hours of the night).
And has subjected the sun and the moon: each runs its course for a term appointed.
Such is Allah, your Lord; His is the Kingdom, And those, whom you invoke or call
upon instead of Him, own not even a Qitmir (the thin membrane over the date-stone).

-- Qur'an Chapter 35 Verse 13

************************************************************************************

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
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http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

[Kakolla, Nag-2]

Some parts of this message have been removed. Learn more about Nabble's security policy.

I would like more of hands on sessions and it need not be Speaker has to demonstrate. Rather, more of lab session where we take up some small problem in particular technology and do hands on exercise so that we get a feel and have better chance to learn over presentation.

 

Also, we should be able to get some invitations from local charity groups to seek help in java related technology to implement tasks and we help them. What do we get? We get a kick to use latest & greatest technologies which we don’t get to use at work.

 

Thanx & Regards,

 

Nag Kakolla

404-978-8066

---

From: Burr Sutter [mailto:burrsutter@...]
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 8:57 AM
To: General AJUG membership forum (100-200 messages/month)
Subject: [ajug-members] Who and/or What Next?

 

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

[Burr Sutter-4]

Matt Raible is an excellent suggestion.

Gunnar, Sudhir or I will reach out to him.

2009/3/19 Quadir Kareemullah <quadir@...>

Burr,

How about Matt Raible (http://www.raibledesigns.com)? He is Founder and Lead Developer at AppFuse, has presented at OSCON 2008 and ApacheCON 2007.

• Java Blogger since 2002
• Power user of Java Frameworks
• Author of Books: Spring Live and Pro JSP 2.0
• Lead UI Architect at LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/mraible)
  

He could present a comparison of popular java web frameworks

- Quadir

2009/3/19 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

--
************************************************************************************

He merges the night into the day (i.e. the decrease in the hours of the
night is added to the hours of the day), and He merges the day into the night
( i.e. the decrease in the hours of the day is added the hours of the night).
And has subjected the sun and the moon: each runs its course for a term appointed.
Such is Allah, your Lord; His is the Kingdom, And those, whom you invoke or call
upon instead of Him, own not even a Qitmir (the thin membrane over the date-stone).

-- Qur'an Chapter 35 Verse 13

************************************************************************************

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

[Dan Marchant]

I would be interested in lunch meet-ups to exchange ideas, chit chat
about technology directions, etc...
Anyone interested in lunch in Alpharetta area?

- Dan

2009/3/19 Kakolla, Nag <Nag.Kakolla@...>:

> I would like more of hands on sessions and it need not be Speaker has to
> demonstrate. Rather, more of lab session where we take up some small problem
> in particular technology and do hands on exercise so that we get a feel and
> have better chance to learn over presentation.
>
>
>
> Also, we should be able to get some invitations from local charity groups to
> seek help in java related technology to implement tasks and we help them.
> What do we get? We get a kick to use latest & greatest technologies which we
> don’t get to use at work.
>
>
>
> Thanx & Regards,
>
>
>
> Nag Kakolla
>
> 404-978-8066
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Burr Sutter [mailto:burrsutter@...]
> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 8:57 AM
> To: General AJUG membership forum (100-200 messages/month)
> Subject: [ajug-members] Who and/or What Next?
>
>
>
> Hello AJUG'ers,
>
> It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great
> speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see
> covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?
>
> Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful
> please let the rest of us know.
>
> Here are some examples of different types of events:
> - DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this
> encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up
> at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue
> goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
> - NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to
> come out so they don't miss billable time
> - Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most
> senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore
> techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to
> political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs,
> consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and
> not traveling)
> - Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry
> Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of
> session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The
> basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no
> slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels,
> markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.
> This is one of the least costly events.
> - Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm)
> meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really
> large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not
> shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only
> cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like
> this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched
> Talladega Nights a three years ago.
> - Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very
> challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop"
> sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must
> spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a
> lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500%
> increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of
> sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said,
> we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing
> to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc.
>
> What else?  Who else?
>
> Burr
>
> _______________________________________________
> ajug-members mailing list
> ajug-members@...
> http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members
>
>

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

[Steve Finch-2]

How about an evening of TopCoder competition?  There are some competitions that require teams.  If we win, the money could be applied to AJUG events, or give the participants a discount on next year's DevNexus.  :)

Steve

2009/3/19 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

--
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefinch

_______________________________________________
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[Burr Sutter-4]

Great idea.  Would you be willing to lead the team?  Or is anyone else out there interested in a leadership role?

2009/3/20 Steve Finch <steve.finch@...>

How about an evening of TopCoder competition?  There are some competitions that require teams.  If we win, the money could be applied to AJUG events, or give the participants a discount on next year's DevNexus.  :)

Steve

2009/3/19 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

--
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefinch

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

[Steve Finch-2]

Well, just to show how out of touch I am with TopCoder, they did away with Team competitions quite a while ago.  They still have references to team competition in their forums, but Assembly and Testing are now considered individual events.

We could still form teams to solve problems and create submissions, but only one person would get the points/ranking/cred at TopCoder.

2009/3/20 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Great idea.  Would you be willing to lead the team?  Or is anyone else out there interested in a leadership role?

2009/3/20 Steve Finch <steve.finch@...>

How about an evening of TopCoder competition?  There are some competitions that require teams.  If we win, the money could be applied to AJUG events, or give the participants a discount on next year's DevNexus.  :)

Steve

2009/3/19 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

--
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefinch

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

_______________________________________________
ajug-members mailing list
ajug-members@...
http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members

--
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefinch

_______________________________________________
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[Jamil Karim]

Well, even without TopCoder... Team competitions sound like a good, fun idea... Maybe we could have a coding day where people show up, divide in teams, and then are given a task to complete (create a web site / game / application, etc.) over the next 4-6 hours...

Later,
 Jamil Karim

2009/3/20 Steve Finch <steve.finch@...>

Well, just to show how out of touch I am with TopCoder, they did away with Team competitions quite a while ago.  They still have references to team competition in their forums, but Assembly and Testing are now considered individual events.

We could still form teams to solve problems and create submissions, but only one person would get the points/ranking/cred at TopCoder.

2009/3/20 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Great idea.  Would you be willing to lead the team?  Or is anyone else out there interested in a leadership role?

2009/3/20 Steve Finch <steve.finch@...>

How about an evening of TopCoder competition?  There are some competitions that require teams.  If we win, the money could be applied to AJUG events, or give the participants a discount on next year's DevNexus.  :)

Steve

2009/3/19 Burr Sutter <burrsutter@...>

Hello AJUG'ers,

It is about that time of year to ask...who and what.  Who would be a great speaker to bring to Atlanta? and/or What topics would you like to see covered at our 3rd Tuesday night meetings?

Also, if there is another "style" of event that you think would be helpful please let the rest of us know. 

Here are some examples of different types of events:
- DevNexus happens during the working week - during the day time: this encourages managers to send their employees and we had many  teams show up at DevNexus 2009.  The feedback has been very strong and we made our revenue goals (break even) so look for this event to be back in 2010.
- NFJS happens on weekends - this encourages the contractors/consultants to come out so they don't miss billable time
- Lunches - we have run many lunch bunch type of events inviting the most senior techies in the Atlanta area, no specific agenda, just hardcore techies discussing best practices, emerging technologies, solutions to political problems.  We found that senior architects, team leads, CTOs, consultants can normally take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch (if they are in town and not traveling)
- Open space meetings - we held one of these in Summer of 2007 (Barry Hawkins organized) - several of the attendees really enjoyed this type of session but it is very different.  I've been asked to bring this back.  The basic idea of an open space meeting is that it has no agenda, no speaker, no slideshow with LCD projector - it has open areas, poster paper on easels, markers and an overall theme, with a coordinator keeping things flowing.  This is one of the least costly events.
- Movie theater meetings: Microsoft sometimes has day time (1pm to 5pm) meetings at the Regal Hollywood theater off I-85, the "pros" are a really large screen & stadium seating with popcorn, the "cons" are rooms are not shaped for networking, discussions, lunch is a little more challenging, only cost effective when you hit the 200+ attende mark.  We did something like this at Atlanta Station where James Gosling came to speak and we watched Talladega Nights a three years ago.
- Bring your laptop Hands-on events: this is often requested but very challenging to organize.  A couple of years ago we had a "bring your laptop" sub-group but it ran out of gas.  The difficulty is that the instructor must spend many more hours preparing to give a hands-on session vs a lecture/demonstration.  I would guess that the difference is around 500% increase in workload on the instructor (I've been performing both types of sessions over the last 17 years).  So this is challenging, with that said, we do have some people in the group who are "teachers" and would be willing to teach for 1 to 2 hours on JSF, Seam, Spring, Hibernate, Flex, etc. 

What else?  Who else?

Burr

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