Subject:
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Re: First BayLUG meeting deemed "a success"!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.us.ca.sf
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Date:
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Tue, 25 May 1999 16:12:08 GMT
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Viewed:
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821 times
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--- David Zonker Harris <frenezulo@esperanto.org> wrote:
> We met at the Fremont main public library in the Fukaya Room. This
> room
> was large, seats 96 folks, and we had (14) 2.5'x 5' tables set out
> for
> our use, whith lots of chairs. We had a bunch of power outlets on the
> walls, as well as in pockets in the floor. (A liaison for the library
> had dropped in to monitor the event, and was happy to see that we
> were
> welcoming walk-in folks, and we have been invited to return again!
> :-)
This was a very good sized room especially if we want to separate club
and visitor activities - for now, not too small, not too big. I'm glad
we were favorably received. We could line up the tables so half the
room is for visitor interaction stuff, and the other half for the train
and display only stuff.
> We had about 15 LUGNET/RTL folks there, plus 6 more family members.
> We actually figured that the walk-in folks probably numbered closer
> to 100 folks, based on a few counts during the day.
Maybe a couple more black & white signs up inside the library itself to
attract more visitors? I had one guy come up and ask me (the wrong
person) about Mindstorms, but I was happy to tell him what I could.
> This begs the question about
> where we should meet next. If the Fremont site is good, we can try to
> set up another get-together in a few months. Otherwise, who want's
> to take on the next gathering, and where should it be? :-)
There seems to be a greater concentration of people from the southbay
than from any other area, or so I think. So ATM Fremont seems
comfortable to me. But if folks wanted something a bit more northerly,
I could try to see there's someplace in Castro Valley or close by
that's sort of halfway up the bay. Did we get the Fukaya Room for free?
I'm assuming so.
> We also 'officially' kicked off BayLUG, signing up our first couple
> of
> free members, and first paid member!
> (http://baylug.org/membership.html)
It was good to meet Joe "Everything's Negotiable" Greene.
> We had two tables pulled together for two train loops, and we rotated
> engines from Tom McDonald, Mark Bens, Russell Clark, and myself. We
> had
> an assortment of cars to run, including some that were built on-site
> by
> a couple of the kids (Ross Benz and ???). There were a few accidents,
> but no real casualties that couldn't be rebuilt. (At least, I didn't
> hear about any...but my UP engine, and Tom's black/yellow deisel both
> took some damage, and need to be strengthened...)
Z is being very kind - structurally my diesel engine sucks and must be
improved, but I've never run it under heavy use before, only at
Christmas.
> Mark offered some good suggestions:
>
> Joe Greene had spread his big tub-o-LEGO out on the floor, so we • <snip>
>
> We probably should have a building area, even if it's just bricks,
> if we have the room open to drop-ins. (Or, we all tell the kids "No
> building today, just show & tell".)
For all the negative things that happened, I like the idea of having a
play area. I think this will do more long-term encouragement than
anything else. But maybe we can split the room in half by separting the
room with the tables? I didn't realize we were going to be open to the
public (no biggie though) or else I would have bought some rope/yellow
tape to corden off the trading zone.
> The Fukaya Room has whiteboards along one long wall, and push-pin
> bulletin boards on the other long wall. We would use these for
> posting
> signage, (rules?), other information above the tables, so folks know
> what they can touch, and what they cannot.
While that's good, I think even a bit more must be done to make it
obvious to kids that "You are to stay behind this line" sort of thing.
Joe was very kind to let everyone in on his collection, but I can see
that kind of thing getting old.
> As I was putting the trains away, I noticed a few small parts
> missing
> from a few cars, but nothing drastic. We *did* have a few problems
> with
> folks that thought they could take whatever they liked. One group
> took
> a few of the color signs, and one persons building plans (we got
> those
> back, thankfully).
*whew*
If we do have a play area, I'd like to suggest that we keep it a fair
distance from the door but still fairly close to us to keep the madness
under control.
The window signs were well intended and drew people in, but we should
have taped/secured the signs to the windows and whiteboards somehow on
the walls.
> I shot a short bit of video. The day was pretty busy,and I forgot
> to
> roll the camera more often.
If you have outlet access and a long tape, do some specific shooting,
and then maybe just let it roll by itself on a tripod. As a side
benefit that might also might deter any sticky fingers. Poor Russell..
down one Ambassador keychain :(
> I have a few photos as well, and I'll
> post
> them when I get the film developed.
>
> Thanks to Raymond F. for the grab bags, and to Mark Benz for
> getting
> the room reserved for us at no cost!
Thanks Raymond! Thanks Mark!
> Thanks also to the BayLUG folks
> helping to set up the website.
No problem. It's a kind of labor of love.
> What did everyone else think? What things should we do next time?
Setup a club donation box made of lego bricks! :) Also, I'll try and
draw up some sort of floor plan for the room if we use it again, so
that things might be more organized. Maybe we should have an official
trading time first, before we open the door to let people in? That also
might be good to discuss club business. I noticed that we were really
distracted whenever someone opened up a box: "Hey! What is that?"
> What should we avoid doing?
If we don't have a designated trading time, then no trading while
sitting on the floor. While it was great to scour that huge pile, it
took our eyes off our stuff. Perhaps we should try and locate a couple
of old table cloths, sheets or blankets on which to spread things on
tables so that pieces are higher up. I had no idea so many people came
through that door.
Just my $0.02.
-Tom McD.
when replying, remove the spamcake if you see it.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: First BayLUG meeting deemed "a success"!
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| (...) It was a very nice place. Plenty of space. Its a good idea to separate interective from noninteractive. It was nice that we were well received. (...) It seemed that we had a constant flow of people, as many as 30 at a time. Signs inside the (...) (26 years ago, 25-May-99, to lugnet.loc.us.ca.sf)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | First BayLUG meeting deemed "a success"!
|
| We met at the Fremont main public library in the Fukaya Room. This room was large, seats 96 folks, and we had (14) 2.5'x 5' tables set out for our use, whith lots of chairs. We had a bunch of power outlets on the walls, as well as in pockets in the (...) (26 years ago, 24-May-99, to lugnet.loc.us.ca.sf)
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