Future of MUGs

[Jason]

A few of us were talking about after the last monthly PLUG meeting last week about the poor attendance at MUGs so they're on hold at the moment.

We were wondering whether we should just have one in between regular meetings or not at all.

What's everybody's feeling on this?

Anybody who has attended a MUG in the past, is there anything we can do to bring you back?

Which day of the week do you prefer?

If you haven't been able to attend, was their a particular reason?

Was a particular night bad for you?

Any feedback would be helpful.

[ssfc72]

I don't see any problem with continuing with the Mugs, as they are.

As per the usual posting  for the weekly Mug, if not enough people post in the weekly Mug sign up, that they can make the Mug, then the Mug won't occur that week.

The day of the week, while normally Monday, can also be changed by the people who can attend, for that particular week.

Especially now, that we soon won't have a PLUG meeting for July and August, I would like to have the Mugs continue.

We have lost 2 people who used to attend the Mugs and I can think of another person who occasionally attended, but hasn't for quite sometime.  So we are down to a smaller group of Mug participants, at this time.

Bill

[cod3poet]

There is also another consideration as we are in this new age of technology. We can schedule at home meetups via google hangouts or some other free conference media, we're all net enabled so there is no reason why we can't set up a video / audio chat and even do a screen share

Not that I don't do that on the daily as is!

But yes I also feel the importance of having these meetups I just want to do what's best for the majority of us.

[Jason]

If individual members want to setup a time for each week for a PLUG MUG, you can use the form of announcement here which is along the lines of what Bill is suggesting. It basically sets a date (and a time, Brian!) and location and says that if nobody signs-up (thought you could set it a minimum of three if you wanted) by the end of the day before the meeting, a cancellation notice will be posted. You could change that to something along the lines of "the meeting is automatically assumed to be canceled if at least three people don't sign up".

If you like the formatting, you can even use the template below and it's already set up for you. Next week whoever is interested in going to a MUG, choose a date and location. Let's try this out for a few weeks and see if it helps. Heck, I'll  start by announcing one for this Wednesday evening.

Of course, you can always beat us to the punch and announce one yourself with a time that fits your schedule, Brian.


--------------------------- sample MUG announcement ------------------------

Once a week, members and non-members alike, are invited to hang out with other Pluggers for coffee and snacks. We call these nights PLUG MUGs. There will be free wireless internet but no agenda; just friends enjoying each other's company and showing off their latest gadgets. It's also a great place to get help with your technology problems. Everyone one is welcome and we all have fun so check it out!

The next one is being held at  [INSERT TIME] on [INSERT DATE] at:

[INSERT LOCATION OR USE THE ONE BELOW]

Tim Horton's
898 Monaghan Road (near Lansdowne St. W.)
Peterborough, Ontario

Map

For these weekly MUGs events to keep happening, we really need to know that people are coming and roughly when. This is to avoid situations where only one person shows up. And it also helps early birds arrange sufficient seating. Signing up just means you post below that you intend to come; it's not an iron-clad commitment. Of course, you can still come if you haven't posted below.

If you're unable to post, check this topic: Can't post? Here's why and how to fix it.

Check the day of the meeting to make sure it's still on. If at least 3 individuals don't post by noon the day of the MUG or only one person does, consider the meeting canceled.

Otherwise, see you there!

[Paul Kneeland]

Personally, I think the chore of posting about the MUG meetings should be assigned to one member (other than the President) in the same way that it was Bob's job in his pre-presidential days. This way if the person forgets to post, we can say, "You had ONE Job...".

[Jason]

Personally, I think the chore of posting about the MUG meetings should be assigned to one member (other than the President) in the same way that it was Bob's job in his pre-presidential days. This way if the person forgets to post, we can say, "You had ONE Job...".

Well, in our case if nobody else posts, anybody can post suggesting a place, time and date like I did here for tonight. I got the go-ahead from Brian to try it this way. So if you're discouraged that you don't see an announcement posted, go ahead and do it yourself.  You can use or adapt the template above (which I recently edited). Of course, as Brian suggested, there is nothing stopping members from arranging more than one meet-up if they wish.

And somebody can even try a virtual online meeting. I've be curious to try it in Skype or Discord with video chat or even text chat. Might be good when the weather is bad as a backup particularly for people like William and you that travel a long distance to attend.

I also suggest if anybody is going to setup a MUG in the week that they do it at least a couple of days in advance.

And if it doesn't work out, we'll try it another way. Call it the Spring/Summer of experimentation.

[cod3poet]

It's a community for a reason