Comments on: Thinking about Meeting Number Two http://www.londonhug.net/2007/05/30/thinking-about-meeting-number-two/ London Haskell User Group Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:06:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Lennart Augustsson http://www.londonhug.net/2007/05/30/thinking-about-meeting-number-two/#comment-270 Lennart Augustsson Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:09:59 +0000 http://www.londonhug.net/2007/05/30/thinking-about-meeting-number-two/#comment-270 Since the majority voted for monthly meetings I guess we should have one next week. Are there any plans for this meeting? Since the majority voted for monthly meetings I guess we should have one next week. Are there any plans for this meeting?

]]> By: Alex McLean http://www.londonhug.net/2007/05/30/thinking-about-meeting-number-two/#comment-142 Alex McLean Thu, 31 May 2007 08:05:36 +0000 http://www.londonhug.net/2007/05/30/thinking-about-meeting-number-two/#comment-142 I would be happy to give an accessible talk on making music with Haskell. Somewhere around 20 mins plus questions would be fine. We could also debate "why isn't functional programming more widely used in the arts", although I suppose the arts is an industry :) I would be happy to give an accessible talk on making music with Haskell. Somewhere around 20 mins plus questions would be fine.

We could also debate “why isn’t functional programming more widely used in the arts”, although I suppose the arts is an industry :)

]]> By: Miles Gould http://www.londonhug.net/2007/05/30/thinking-about-meeting-number-two/#comment-138 Miles Gould Wed, 30 May 2007 23:48:55 +0000 http://www.londonhug.net/2007/05/30/thinking-about-meeting-number-two/#comment-138 The Perl community goes even further with the "short talk" idea: they sometimes have sessions consisting entirely of five-minute "lightning talks". I can thoroughly recommend the practice: it's very interesting for the audience (the format forces the speakers to trim away *all* the fat from their talks, the pace is kept high, and if you don't like this talk, there's another one along in three minutes and thirty-two seconds...), and it's a good way of breaking new speakers in gently (particularly if you copy London.pm, and buy all new speakers a pint afterwards :-) ). Mark Fowler wrote an excellent article on <a href="http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2004/07/30/lightningtalk.html" rel="nofollow">preparing lightning talks</a>. Even if you don't go that far, I find conferences with lots of short talks are usually a lot easier to follow than conferences with long talks. YMMV, of course. Monthly meetings are probably less forgettable than bi-monthly meetings, even with email reminders. IIRC, London.pm have monthly social meetings (pub full of Perl hackers), and bi-monthly technical meetings (presentations etc) - maybe something like that would work. More generally, there are a lot of language usergroups in London (<a href="http://london.pm.org/" rel="nofollow">Perl</a>, <a href="http://londonpython.org.uk/" rel="nofollow">Python</a>, <a href="http://www.javanicus.com/londonjava/" rel="nofollow">Java</a>, <a href="http://lrug.org/" rel="nofollow">Ruby</a>...), who would probably be very happy to share their experiences and pub databases - have you talked to any of them? The Perl community goes even further with the “short talk” idea: they sometimes have sessions consisting entirely of five-minute “lightning talks”. I can thoroughly recommend the practice: it’s very interesting for the audience (the format forces the speakers to trim away *all* the fat from their talks, the pace is kept high, and if you don’t like this talk, there’s another one along in three minutes and thirty-two seconds…), and it’s a good way of breaking new speakers in gently (particularly if you copy London.pm, and buy all new speakers a pint afterwards :-) ). Mark Fowler wrote an excellent article on preparing lightning talks.

Even if you don’t go that far, I find conferences with lots of short talks are usually a lot easier to follow than conferences with long talks. YMMV, of course.

Monthly meetings are probably less forgettable than bi-monthly meetings, even with email reminders. IIRC, London.pm have monthly social meetings (pub full of Perl hackers), and bi-monthly technical meetings (presentations etc) - maybe something like that would work. More generally, there are a lot of language usergroups in London (Perl, Python, Java, Ruby…), who would probably be very happy to share their experiences and pub databases - have you talked to any of them?

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