Ratatouille the Rat, mascot of the revamped, rejigged Sydney Bloggers' Meet-up Group, who gathered for drinks at the ArtHouse Hotel, Sydney CBD, tonight.
Showing posts with label Bloggers of Sydney Meetups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bloggers of Sydney Meetups. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Re-energising
Ratatouille the Rat, mascot of the revamped, rejigged Sydney Bloggers' Meet-up Group, who gathered for drinks at the ArtHouse Hotel, Sydney CBD, tonight.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
"Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Group is closed"
My still-fledgling Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Group was closed yesterday "because nobody stepped up to become the Organizer", or so said the Meetup email message. Quelle surprise!
"But don't worry!" it continues, "There are over 48,963 groups on Meetup with 128 groups near Sydney. You can join another Meetup Group and meet up with real people who share your interests."
Oh yeah?
Meetup started out as a free site, and it's still free to join up. As a few very strange individuals have proven, it's possible to join every one of those 128 Sydney groups and make out you are into every hobby, pastime or interest listed, but never turn up to any of them. Eventually, Meetup started to charge group organisers a fee - you can run three groups for the monthly charge, which is very reasonable if you run a moderately-sized group and everyone dutifully tosses a coin into the hat at each meeting.
What it doesn't cover are the groups that attract only one or two other people to each meeting - usually a different one or two, frustratingly enough. I've corresponded with a TV interest group out of New York, whose coordinator boasted his false advertising of a "free trip to Hawaii" prize (his co-leader was going anyway), and supplying enough free alcohol at meetings to get the women tipsy so the guys who attended would have a better chance of scoring for the weekend. If that's what I was supposed to do to attract more people to Sydney Meetups, then "No, thank you".
Re the Bloggers group: I still don't understand it. People joined with such enthusiasm - we gathered about 30 people over the first six months - but it was as if the act of joining was the end of all participation. The inaugural meeting was very encouraging, but it was to be a one-off success. The worst event involved me travelling into the city (from the outskirts of Sydney) on a weeknight - additional to my regular Thursday night trip - because a few people had said Thursdays were impossible. So we tried a Wednesday, and I was expecting to meet seven other bloggers at the Attic Bar of the ArtHouse Hotel. An hour later, I was still sitting there alone for an hour, with my pathetic little sign on the table - and then Neerav turned up, after having already RSVPed "No". (I was so glad to see him, but all we could do was commiserate and try to understand why no one else could keep commitments.)
The other local Bloggers group supposedly has over 100 people - and only about five of them have even gone back to the site regularly since it was reactivated, even though they'd all get regular automated emails from it, and I did several mail outs. Strange. I've stepped down from an organisational role with their group, too. Maybe someone else can resurrect that particular phoenix, but I doubt it.
Way back in about 1998, I joined an Australian site called School Friends, which expanded to include New Zealand, then UK and is now international and known as Friends Reunited. It, too, was originally free, then started charging a smallish fee to be able to send messages. Receiving messages, and replying to old, stored messages was still free. I chose not to pay but there was nothing more frustrating that to get an unexpected email about an old friend or work colleague, and have to consider if they were worth paying a fee just to be able to read the contents of their message. Savvy use of Google was often enough to track them down via their other web presences, but that didn't always work.
Friends Reunited eventually locked all old correspondence stored on the site, unless you became a paying member. Interestingly enough, earlier this year, Friends Reunited again became completely free - Facebook and MySpace would be huge competition to pay sites - but I've have very little reaction to attempts to contact people from those now-free Friends Reunited lists. Probably people haven't returned to update email addresses.
Only this morning, a penpal in the USA mentioned a scam from a big, similar reunion site he'd joined. When first joining, as a free member, he'd performed a search for someone but they weren't listed. now, he's received a message that records show that person has signed up to look for him. He can't read their details (beyond some very sketchy ones) until he becomes a premium paying member of the service but... he originally signed up with a pseudonym, so there's no way that person was searching for him under that alias.
How long before Facebook starts to charge a monthly fee, I wonder, or will the advertising keep it afloat?
A bizarre little item while playing around with Facebook last night: a message on a friend's page that said something like, "You would not believe what someone just said about you on this blog...", and when you click on the hyperlink provided, it takes you to a facsimile of the Facebook page, and puts up a "Please enter your username and password to read this message". Curiouser and curiouser... A quick glance at the URL revealed "fanebook", not "facebook". It was yet another phishing expedition!
Where there's a will there's a scam.
"But don't worry!" it continues, "There are over 48,963 groups on Meetup with 128 groups near Sydney. You can join another Meetup Group and meet up with real people who share your interests."
Oh yeah?
Meetup started out as a free site, and it's still free to join up. As a few very strange individuals have proven, it's possible to join every one of those 128 Sydney groups and make out you are into every hobby, pastime or interest listed, but never turn up to any of them. Eventually, Meetup started to charge group organisers a fee - you can run three groups for the monthly charge, which is very reasonable if you run a moderately-sized group and everyone dutifully tosses a coin into the hat at each meeting.
What it doesn't cover are the groups that attract only one or two other people to each meeting - usually a different one or two, frustratingly enough. I've corresponded with a TV interest group out of New York, whose coordinator boasted his false advertising of a "free trip to Hawaii" prize (his co-leader was going anyway), and supplying enough free alcohol at meetings to get the women tipsy so the guys who attended would have a better chance of scoring for the weekend. If that's what I was supposed to do to attract more people to Sydney Meetups, then "No, thank you".
Re the Bloggers group: I still don't understand it. People joined with such enthusiasm - we gathered about 30 people over the first six months - but it was as if the act of joining was the end of all participation. The inaugural meeting was very encouraging, but it was to be a one-off success. The worst event involved me travelling into the city (from the outskirts of Sydney) on a weeknight - additional to my regular Thursday night trip - because a few people had said Thursdays were impossible. So we tried a Wednesday, and I was expecting to meet seven other bloggers at the Attic Bar of the ArtHouse Hotel. An hour later, I was still sitting there alone for an hour, with my pathetic little sign on the table - and then Neerav turned up, after having already RSVPed "No". (I was so glad to see him, but all we could do was commiserate and try to understand why no one else could keep commitments.)
The other local Bloggers group supposedly has over 100 people - and only about five of them have even gone back to the site regularly since it was reactivated, even though they'd all get regular automated emails from it, and I did several mail outs. Strange. I've stepped down from an organisational role with their group, too. Maybe someone else can resurrect that particular phoenix, but I doubt it.
Way back in about 1998, I joined an Australian site called School Friends, which expanded to include New Zealand, then UK and is now international and known as Friends Reunited. It, too, was originally free, then started charging a smallish fee to be able to send messages. Receiving messages, and replying to old, stored messages was still free. I chose not to pay but there was nothing more frustrating that to get an unexpected email about an old friend or work colleague, and have to consider if they were worth paying a fee just to be able to read the contents of their message. Savvy use of Google was often enough to track them down via their other web presences, but that didn't always work.
Friends Reunited eventually locked all old correspondence stored on the site, unless you became a paying member. Interestingly enough, earlier this year, Friends Reunited again became completely free - Facebook and MySpace would be huge competition to pay sites - but I've have very little reaction to attempts to contact people from those now-free Friends Reunited lists. Probably people haven't returned to update email addresses.
Only this morning, a penpal in the USA mentioned a scam from a big, similar reunion site he'd joined. When first joining, as a free member, he'd performed a search for someone but they weren't listed. now, he's received a message that records show that person has signed up to look for him. He can't read their details (beyond some very sketchy ones) until he becomes a premium paying member of the service but... he originally signed up with a pseudonym, so there's no way that person was searching for him under that alias.
How long before Facebook starts to charge a monthly fee, I wonder, or will the advertising keep it afloat?
A bizarre little item while playing around with Facebook last night: a message on a friend's page that said something like, "You would not believe what someone just said about you on this blog...", and when you click on the hyperlink provided, it takes you to a facsimile of the Facebook page, and puts up a "Please enter your username and password to read this message". Curiouser and curiouser... A quick glance at the URL revealed "fanebook", not "facebook". It was yet another phishing expedition!
Where there's a will there's a scam.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Webloggers' Meetup Group (not!)
Due to my disappointment in the membership of the Webloggers' Meetup Group, the Assistant Organiser - ie. me - of the Sydney Webloggers' Meetup Group has stepped down, without nominating a successor.
Although the group has over 100 members, and about 80 on an automated mailing list, only twelve people have even visited the Meetup site in recent months. Since I started as Assistant Organiser last February, not one member (who wasn't also a member of my other Bloggers' Meetup) has attended a meeting of this group. Attendances of myself, my guests, and members of the other group, have been:
six, two, five, four, eight (five of whom were friends from outside both groups), one, zero (ie. cancelled due to lack of interest)... and tonight: two.
What these figures don't show are the number of people who RSVPed but failed to show. The lack of support for bloggers' meetings, beyond the simple act of joining up, has been bizarre.
Maybe someone else out there will express interest to the list owner, and try to kick start the group again? It used to be so much fun when Sara was coordinating it, and it seems I've failed utterly to spark so much as a glimmer of interest.
Although the group has over 100 members, and about 80 on an automated mailing list, only twelve people have even visited the Meetup site in recent months. Since I started as Assistant Organiser last February, not one member (who wasn't also a member of my other Bloggers' Meetup) has attended a meeting of this group. Attendances of myself, my guests, and members of the other group, have been:
six, two, five, four, eight (five of whom were friends from outside both groups), one, zero (ie. cancelled due to lack of interest)... and tonight: two.
What these figures don't show are the number of people who RSVPed but failed to show. The lack of support for bloggers' meetings, beyond the simple act of joining up, has been bizarre.
Maybe someone else out there will express interest to the list owner, and try to kick start the group again? It used to be so much fun when Sara was coordinating it, and it seems I've failed utterly to spark so much as a glimmer of interest.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Blogathon anyone?
Recently, I've had a small influx of new members to the two blogging Meetup groups I organize, and there's always curiosity as to why these meetings seem to flounder from lack of interest. One new member has suggested a "blogathon" type meet up (eg. attendees bring laptops, 3G or iBurst and blog for an hour or two one morning or evening), and following it up with subsequent meetings and blog-ins.
There are two Sydney-based groups over on the Meetup site for bloggers who live in Sydney. A quick pocket history:
While the first few meetings in early 2007 were fizzers, the Sydney Webloggers Meetup took off quite nicely under Sara, aka The Bargain Queen, and by scheduling several Meetups in 2007 as unofficial after-parties to big web conventions in the CBD (and publicising them through her very successful blog) attendances were at the 20 to 30+ mark. A very healthy Data Miners group broke away (so they could sit chatting about all that mathematical stuff) and formed their own Meetup group but - I dunno... maybe most other attendees were coming to find out how Sara (and friends) were suddenly starting to make an income out of blogging on the side?
Sara was suddenly unable to run meetings, and no one else on the site was vetting and approving messages to their bulletin board, or even answering emails. In 2008, in frustration, I started up a separate Bloggers of Sydney Meetup group (focusing on hobby blogging, so as not to step on toes) and I politely spammed quite a few on the old site to tell them about it. Then, about three days later, the owner of Sydney Webloggers emailed me to say he'd made me an assistant organizer of his group - and thus I ended up running two groups. (Sara and her husband went off to New York, to start her US career as a pro blogger, I hear.)
Strangely, in the five Meetups I've run in 2008, nobody from Sydney Webloggers has ever attended a meeting who wasn't already also in my Bloggers of Sydney group. Numbers are currently at 103 for Sydney Webloggers and 33 for the group I started. A few crossovers. Obviously, no one in Sydney Webloggers is much interested in hobby blogging, but their complete silence on what they would like is deafening. (Even though I now use blogs in my professional life as a primary school teacher-librarian, it's obviously not what they wish to hear about.)
I've tried weeknight and weekend meetings. Not much difference. Coffee shops, pubs, restaurants. Not much difference. The last successful Meetup (in a restaurant at Albion Park) had eight people (two drove from Canberra), but only two (plus one guest) were actually from my Meetup. The rest were from Aussie Bloggers' Forum bbs!
I don't own a laptop or 3G or iBurst, so I wouldn't have a clue who'd respond to such an idea. I keep hoping enough people will come to a meeting and we can discuss it. Looking forward to working out more ideas.
Anyway, this may be my Meetup swan song...
Announcing a new Meetup for The Sydney Weblogger and Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Groups!
When: Thursday, September 11, 2008 7:00 PM
Where: Click the link below to find out!
Meetup Description: It's been a while since I scheduled a meeting. I guess people reckon it's been too cold to venture out on a school night? I'm happy to design meetings around your preferences, and invite special guests but I need to hear about them first. Come and meet fellow bloggers of Sydney, don't just sit at home blogging about coming along one day!
Learn more here:
http://blog.meetup.com/371/
http://blog.meetup.com/408/
There are two Sydney-based groups over on the Meetup site for bloggers who live in Sydney. A quick pocket history:
While the first few meetings in early 2007 were fizzers, the Sydney Webloggers Meetup took off quite nicely under Sara, aka The Bargain Queen, and by scheduling several Meetups in 2007 as unofficial after-parties to big web conventions in the CBD (and publicising them through her very successful blog) attendances were at the 20 to 30+ mark. A very healthy Data Miners group broke away (so they could sit chatting about all that mathematical stuff) and formed their own Meetup group but - I dunno... maybe most other attendees were coming to find out how Sara (and friends) were suddenly starting to make an income out of blogging on the side?
Sara was suddenly unable to run meetings, and no one else on the site was vetting and approving messages to their bulletin board, or even answering emails. In 2008, in frustration, I started up a separate Bloggers of Sydney Meetup group (focusing on hobby blogging, so as not to step on toes) and I politely spammed quite a few on the old site to tell them about it. Then, about three days later, the owner of Sydney Webloggers emailed me to say he'd made me an assistant organizer of his group - and thus I ended up running two groups. (Sara and her husband went off to New York, to start her US career as a pro blogger, I hear.)
Strangely, in the five Meetups I've run in 2008, nobody from Sydney Webloggers has ever attended a meeting who wasn't already also in my Bloggers of Sydney group. Numbers are currently at 103 for Sydney Webloggers and 33 for the group I started. A few crossovers. Obviously, no one in Sydney Webloggers is much interested in hobby blogging, but their complete silence on what they would like is deafening. (Even though I now use blogs in my professional life as a primary school teacher-librarian, it's obviously not what they wish to hear about.)
I've tried weeknight and weekend meetings. Not much difference. Coffee shops, pubs, restaurants. Not much difference. The last successful Meetup (in a restaurant at Albion Park) had eight people (two drove from Canberra), but only two (plus one guest) were actually from my Meetup. The rest were from Aussie Bloggers' Forum bbs!
I don't own a laptop or 3G or iBurst, so I wouldn't have a clue who'd respond to such an idea. I keep hoping enough people will come to a meeting and we can discuss it. Looking forward to working out more ideas.
Anyway, this may be my Meetup swan song...
Announcing a new Meetup for The Sydney Weblogger and Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Groups!
When: Thursday, September 11, 2008 7:00 PM
Where: Click the link below to find out!
Meetup Description: It's been a while since I scheduled a meeting. I guess people reckon it's been too cold to venture out on a school night? I'm happy to design meetings around your preferences, and invite special guests but I need to hear about them first. Come and meet fellow bloggers of Sydney, don't just sit at home blogging about coming along one day!
Learn more here:
http://blog.meetup.com/371/
http://blog.meetup.com/408/
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Where is everyone...?
Well, I think maybe I'm officially depressed.
On Thursday night, a planned CBD Meetup of local bloggers attracted just a handful of positive RSVPs - which dwindled to only two by the morning of the meeting. I emailed the only other person who was coming and said he might want an early night instead. Then I realised that if anyone did send a last minute RSVP - as has happened in the past - I had no way to find out (work's firewall blocks all social networking sites) and a brand new person would turn up to find nobody at the coffee shop. So I had to turn up anyway...
My emergency back up plan - to catch an Internet friend for coffee also failed miserably (I got stood up) - and I ended up in exactly the dilemma I had sought to avoid: standing around in the cold in the city when everyone else - even the coffee shop's regular crowd - was at home snuggled in front of the TV and heater.
You know, I avoided the recent remake of "I Am Legend" because I heard the featured character ends up wandering a deserted Manhattan, New York. (That was me in Sydney on Thursday night, but I no longer feel like a legend.)
This is sounding bitter but, in these days of mobile phones, the way we all run our lives is changing. To the opposite of Meetup.com's ambitions, we all seem to rely to much on spontaneity and coincidence. Someone else I know (only "virtually") is always saying he "really wants to meet up" with the Star Trek group soon, but he's just emailed me that he's still unable to give any advance dates.
I'm fighting a losing battle. In one Meetup group I run, two members with young families want Saturday meetings. But one is in the inner city; and the other is in the west, and neither want to travel. How many others in our group are willing or able to travel to either event? Who knows? (From experience, not that many.)
Sorry if I sound jaded but I've spent way too many days sitting on park benches wondering where everyone else is. I've been at Meetups (and not official "Meetups") either by myself, or with only one or two others. Especially annoying when we've been expecting 20 or so). I've sat in parkland settings in Lane Cove, Parramatta Park, Royal Botanic Gardens, Manly Beach and many coffee shops and pubs over the years. Thank goodness I have my Star Trek novel with me. I've just endured almost a year's worth of solo "Lost" meetings and solo bloggers' meetings (in the CBD) and solo Art workshop meetings (here at my place in the West). In most cases I'm told at least six to eight people are "definitely" turning up - and it ends up being just me, or just me and one other. And it's almost always a different "one other". If only all the "others" turned up on the same day!
Now I'm even attracting "serial Meetup joiners", who seem to get their kicks out of RSVPing "Yes" to Meetups all over Sydney and yet have absolutely no intention of coming along.
On this Sunday, I'm heading off on a train to a Bloggers meeting in Albion Park near Wollongong. I invited over 140 people through my two blogging Meetup groups several months ago, to meet people from the new bloggers' bbs. What a grand adventure! When we planned it months ago - to give people maximum time to plan their social calendars - I thought I'd be leading an entourage. Guess how many of my members are doing the train journey with me? NONE. In fact, only one member (and his wife) is still going. I'm really hoping the Canberrans turn up from the other direction, and I really hope/assume the Sydney-based people organising it will be there.
Well, in the wee hours of this morning, I put Parramatta and CBD Saturday gatherings on the schedule for the Star Trek gang, and hopefully some members (beyond the Thursday night regulars, who are usually quite regular) will surprise me by RSVPing. I'll hold my breath, but only until I turn blue.
Ooops. ;)
On Thursday night, a planned CBD Meetup of local bloggers attracted just a handful of positive RSVPs - which dwindled to only two by the morning of the meeting. I emailed the only other person who was coming and said he might want an early night instead. Then I realised that if anyone did send a last minute RSVP - as has happened in the past - I had no way to find out (work's firewall blocks all social networking sites) and a brand new person would turn up to find nobody at the coffee shop. So I had to turn up anyway...
My emergency back up plan - to catch an Internet friend for coffee also failed miserably (I got stood up) - and I ended up in exactly the dilemma I had sought to avoid: standing around in the cold in the city when everyone else - even the coffee shop's regular crowd - was at home snuggled in front of the TV and heater.
You know, I avoided the recent remake of "I Am Legend" because I heard the featured character ends up wandering a deserted Manhattan, New York. (That was me in Sydney on Thursday night, but I no longer feel like a legend.)
This is sounding bitter but, in these days of mobile phones, the way we all run our lives is changing. To the opposite of Meetup.com's ambitions, we all seem to rely to much on spontaneity and coincidence. Someone else I know (only "virtually") is always saying he "really wants to meet up" with the Star Trek group soon, but he's just emailed me that he's still unable to give any advance dates.
I'm fighting a losing battle. In one Meetup group I run, two members with young families want Saturday meetings. But one is in the inner city; and the other is in the west, and neither want to travel. How many others in our group are willing or able to travel to either event? Who knows? (From experience, not that many.)
Sorry if I sound jaded but I've spent way too many days sitting on park benches wondering where everyone else is. I've been at Meetups (and not official "Meetups") either by myself, or with only one or two others. Especially annoying when we've been expecting 20 or so). I've sat in parkland settings in Lane Cove, Parramatta Park, Royal Botanic Gardens, Manly Beach and many coffee shops and pubs over the years. Thank goodness I have my Star Trek novel with me. I've just endured almost a year's worth of solo "Lost" meetings and solo bloggers' meetings (in the CBD) and solo Art workshop meetings (here at my place in the West). In most cases I'm told at least six to eight people are "definitely" turning up - and it ends up being just me, or just me and one other. And it's almost always a different "one other". If only all the "others" turned up on the same day!
Now I'm even attracting "serial Meetup joiners", who seem to get their kicks out of RSVPing "Yes" to Meetups all over Sydney and yet have absolutely no intention of coming along.
On this Sunday, I'm heading off on a train to a Bloggers meeting in Albion Park near Wollongong. I invited over 140 people through my two blogging Meetup groups several months ago, to meet people from the new bloggers' bbs. What a grand adventure! When we planned it months ago - to give people maximum time to plan their social calendars - I thought I'd be leading an entourage. Guess how many of my members are doing the train journey with me? NONE. In fact, only one member (and his wife) is still going. I'm really hoping the Canberrans turn up from the other direction, and I really hope/assume the Sydney-based people organising it will be there.
Well, in the wee hours of this morning, I put Parramatta and CBD Saturday gatherings on the schedule for the Star Trek gang, and hopefully some members (beyond the Thursday night regulars, who are usually quite regular) will surprise me by RSVPing. I'll hold my breath, but only until I turn blue.
Ooops. ;)
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The magic cupboard
Poor little Jack dreads what comes out of the magic cupboard. Sometimes it's doggie chocs (Yay!), sometimes worming medicine, sometimes itch tablets, and sometimes Puppy Milk - or liver sprinkles to put on his morning puppuccino.
This week, I've been pulling out my own treats from the same cupboard: contents of several showbags from the Royal Easter Show. Wicked! My resistance is low. No such thing as a half-empty packet!
Today, I headed into the city for a lunchtime meeting of Sydney's blogging community at Star Bar. Five of us turned up this time - improved from the last meeting, certainly, but still not very representational of the whole membership list.
However...
Sunday's magic number: 91.3 - Yay! Doing okay. Not much progress, but still stable.
This week, I've been pulling out my own treats from the same cupboard: contents of several showbags from the Royal Easter Show. Wicked! My resistance is low. No such thing as a half-empty packet!
Today, I headed into the city for a lunchtime meeting of Sydney's blogging community at Star Bar. Five of us turned up this time - improved from the last meeting, certainly, but still not very representational of the whole membership list.
However...
Sunday's magic number: 91.3 - Yay! Doing okay. Not much progress, but still stable.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
RIP (again?) Sydney Webloggers?
The Sydney Webloggers Meetup Group was supposed to be meeting last night, at the delightful ArtHouse Hotel's attic room in the CBD. Eight people had RSVPed "Yes" (plus one "Maybe") through the website, I'd sent out several reminders, and had several phone calls groveling with the ArtHouse staff to please, please, please find us a spare corner in their fully-booked Attic.
Yesterday afternoon, I had a 50 minute train trip into the city (cost $10), arrived 15 minutes early (as suggested by the Meetup site), and patiently waited half an hour before I actually found someone to talk to. (Thanks Neerav for turned up, especially since he'd actually changed his RSVP during the day when he realised he might well get caught up at work, and it was only a fluke he could make it after all.) Then a 60 minute trip home. If any Webloggers arrived after 8.20pm (for a 7pm meeting) then they missed us as, by then, Neerav and I were walking disappointedly to Central Station.
The last ArtHouse attic meeting, I told the staff I was expecting fifteen people and we got six. The last Bloggers coffee shop Meetup attracted only four people. Note that I scheduled yesterday's meeting for a Wednesday night, rather than Thursday, based on member suggestions; people had complained that Thursdays weren't good for them.
What does it say about my social life, that I actually keep a date free to meet with people I assumed were interested in meeting a fellow blogger? Maybe I'd have had more luck going home instead, to play on the Internet?
It's embarrassing when I sell my soul to the devil convincing the ArtHouse to sneak us into the only (busy) room they're allowed to take bookings for after 5pm - with me telling them I have confirmed RSVPs for at least eight people (which I did), and then the barman sees me taking up room for eight people and drinking alone. That's happened twice now. Each time I was so confident I had the meeting under control, but I end up looking like a dork. And a liar.
Most of my feedback told me that bloggers are highly unlikely to travel too far from the CBD if they've been at work all day, and a lot of the members seem to work in the CBD. They also tell me they have "family responsibilities" on weekends. I'm not sure I want to investigate suburban bars and restaurants on the off-chance that some bloggers might turn up when they're not playing weekend sport, or working overtime, or spending time with their kids. (I can just see me travelling off to some suburb I've never visited before, to sit in another strange bar or coffee shop... waiting for nobody again.) Please do think of me sitting by myself at the next meeting. I'll be easy to find; I'll be the one not at home writing my blog.
I'm getting very good at this, you know. I've recently had sketch group meetings for eight confirmed attendees - at which there were no models and only one artist, ie, me. And I've sat in restaurants at a table for 15 people, apologising to the waiters that we "seem to only have five people after all and yes, you can take away the other ten chairs because I can see that every other section of your restaurant is fully booked and we look like greedy, lying idiots".
I think I blame mobile phones. People seem to be way too spontaneous now that they can get distracted from keeping an appointment on their way to said appointment. Mind you, even if they do call me to cancel ten minutes before they're due to arrive, it still doesn't help me explaining the situation to the place that had kept my booking for me.
Will these Meetups survive? I think I'm beyond caring.
Yesterday afternoon, I had a 50 minute train trip into the city (cost $10), arrived 15 minutes early (as suggested by the Meetup site), and patiently waited half an hour before I actually found someone to talk to. (Thanks Neerav for turned up, especially since he'd actually changed his RSVP during the day when he realised he might well get caught up at work, and it was only a fluke he could make it after all.) Then a 60 minute trip home. If any Webloggers arrived after 8.20pm (for a 7pm meeting) then they missed us as, by then, Neerav and I were walking disappointedly to Central Station.
The last ArtHouse attic meeting, I told the staff I was expecting fifteen people and we got six. The last Bloggers coffee shop Meetup attracted only four people. Note that I scheduled yesterday's meeting for a Wednesday night, rather than Thursday, based on member suggestions; people had complained that Thursdays weren't good for them.
What does it say about my social life, that I actually keep a date free to meet with people I assumed were interested in meeting a fellow blogger? Maybe I'd have had more luck going home instead, to play on the Internet?
It's embarrassing when I sell my soul to the devil convincing the ArtHouse to sneak us into the only (busy) room they're allowed to take bookings for after 5pm - with me telling them I have confirmed RSVPs for at least eight people (which I did), and then the barman sees me taking up room for eight people and drinking alone. That's happened twice now. Each time I was so confident I had the meeting under control, but I end up looking like a dork. And a liar.
Most of my feedback told me that bloggers are highly unlikely to travel too far from the CBD if they've been at work all day, and a lot of the members seem to work in the CBD. They also tell me they have "family responsibilities" on weekends. I'm not sure I want to investigate suburban bars and restaurants on the off-chance that some bloggers might turn up when they're not playing weekend sport, or working overtime, or spending time with their kids. (I can just see me travelling off to some suburb I've never visited before, to sit in another strange bar or coffee shop... waiting for nobody again.) Please do think of me sitting by myself at the next meeting. I'll be easy to find; I'll be the one not at home writing my blog.
I'm getting very good at this, you know. I've recently had sketch group meetings for eight confirmed attendees - at which there were no models and only one artist, ie, me. And I've sat in restaurants at a table for 15 people, apologising to the waiters that we "seem to only have five people after all and yes, you can take away the other ten chairs because I can see that every other section of your restaurant is fully booked and we look like greedy, lying idiots".
I think I blame mobile phones. People seem to be way too spontaneous now that they can get distracted from keeping an appointment on their way to said appointment. Mind you, even if they do call me to cancel ten minutes before they're due to arrive, it still doesn't help me explaining the situation to the place that had kept my booking for me.
Will these Meetups survive? I think I'm beyond caring.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Computer says, "Blog!"
There's nothing more embarrassing than booking a table for fifteen people at a popular restaurant, and finding that everyone who RSVPs to your Meetup will only commit to a "Maybe", and then only four or five turn up. Been there, done that, bribed the waiter.
However, I'm thrilled to report that, for last night's inaugural meeting of Bloggers of Sydney, we were expecting twelve people (one had stated he was doubtful, but I had removed the pesky "Maybe" option) and ended up with thirteen! Not bad for a group that's only been around for a few weeks. It was a friendly, chatty, supportive group. I thouroughly enjoyed myself and I can't wait to explore all the new members' blogs.
Due to my zeal in volunteering my services to the other blogging Meetup group, there are two February meetings:
Bloggers of Sydney Meetup Group. For more details, please see the full listing: http://blog.meetup.com/408/calendar/7184749/
When: Thursday, February 14, at 7:00 PM (Valentine's Day)
Where: Old Vienna Coffee House, QVB, Sydney CBD.
Sydney Weblogger Meetup Group. For more details, please see the full listing: http://blog.meetup.com/371/calendar/7185298/
When: Thursday, February 21, 7:00 PM
Where: ArtHouse Hotel, Sydney CBD. Please keep in mind that the ArtHouse bouncers impose a dress code - smart casual.
So, at the moment, I'm balancing two groups. To keep them a bit distinctive, I've suggested that the newly-formed Bloggers group might prove more attractive to hobby bloggers, while the more-established (but inactive since July 2007) Webloggers group maintains its emphasis on people who blog as part of their job, or for some kind of remuneration. The Data Miners spun off into their own Meetup group in 2007.
I'll aim for a balance between coffee vs alcohol venues. If you join up one of the groups, please do suggest friendly venues that promote opportunities for people to mill around and establish new conversations. And feel free to promote both groups on your own blogs.
Meanwhile, you can keep pace with the Australian blogging scene online at the wonderful, new Aussie Bloggers web site and its very active Forum. It's one of the most user-friendly BBS sites I've used! Very impressive network, which only launched last Monday and is off to a great start.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
To procrastinate, or not to procrastinate? That is the question!
If we blog so we can procrastinate about housework, career and taxes, what is it called when we procrastinate about blogging?
Actually, I haven't really been procrastinating about my blog, although I've only managed weekly posts so far in 2008. I've been very busy behind the scenes.
You see, the Sydney Webloggers Meetups seem to have gone defunct, since last July - assistant organiser Sara has been unwell and she even invited me to help organise a Meetup for her last August/October - but that was when I was galavanting off to Brisbane Trek conventions and a visit to Perth. Since then, the old site has been unresponsive and, with no one moderating its message board, there was no way to tell everyone that we should have another meeting.
So, I withdrew my leadership of the dismally-underpopulated "Lost" Meetup Group, struggling to find any members for the past year, and now I find myself running three Meetups groups: the successful Star Trek one; a fledgling, but growing, Art Modelling one (for artists and models of western Sydney to get together and collaborate on interesting art projects - we hope); and the all-new Bloggers of Sydney.
It's a big month! The Star Trek crew are next meeting up, like we did a year ago, in Darling Harbour for Australia Day; there's hopefully a life drawing session for the Art Modellers the next day; and - by then - the Bloggers will have already met on the preceding Thursday night for their inaugural gathering. As a result of forming the new Bloggers group, I was contacted yesterday by Aussie Bloggers, a new website officially launching on January 21st. It looks very interesting and should be a cohesive way of linking up with other Aussies with blogging in common.
And next week, the new JJ Abrams' movie, "Cloverfield" premieres. Hopefully Australia is getting the teaser trailer for JJ Abrams' currently-lensing "Star Trek" movie, similar to the plan for the USA cinemas! I can't wait, and "Cloverfield" sounds like fun, too. A monster movie - something terrifying ransacking Manhattan - and filmed in documentary, shaky cam-style, rather like the effects for "The Blair Witch Project". And by the man behind "Lost", "Mission: Impossible 3" and the new "Star Trek" movie!
Meanwhile, I am also working on a new book idea. And procrastinating about it.
Sunday's magic number: 91.5 - Well, I'm not really sure. The scales are being wacky today - maybe it's the hot, humid weather. It was my housemate's landmark birthday yesterday, so there was: a scrummy, but sensible, breakfast at the wonderful Mash cafe in Glenbrook in the lower Blue Mountains; a scrummy, but sensible, lunch in the Penrith Domayne centre; and a huge family barbeque last night. I did weigh myself yesterday afternoon, to see what damage the BBQ, alcoholic punch and birthday cake might cause, and the scales said 89.9, so I was thrilled! This morning, the numbers claimed I was 92.5 - several times - but eventually settled on 91.5. I knew I hadn't eaten that much! But maybe these scales are... unreliable. Yeah, blame the scales!
Actually, I haven't really been procrastinating about my blog, although I've only managed weekly posts so far in 2008. I've been very busy behind the scenes.
You see, the Sydney Webloggers Meetups seem to have gone defunct, since last July - assistant organiser Sara has been unwell and she even invited me to help organise a Meetup for her last August/October - but that was when I was galavanting off to Brisbane Trek conventions and a visit to Perth. Since then, the old site has been unresponsive and, with no one moderating its message board, there was no way to tell everyone that we should have another meeting.
So, I withdrew my leadership of the dismally-underpopulated "Lost" Meetup Group, struggling to find any members for the past year, and now I find myself running three Meetups groups: the successful Star Trek one; a fledgling, but growing, Art Modelling one (for artists and models of western Sydney to get together and collaborate on interesting art projects - we hope); and the all-new Bloggers of Sydney.
It's a big month! The Star Trek crew are next meeting up, like we did a year ago, in Darling Harbour for Australia Day; there's hopefully a life drawing session for the Art Modellers the next day; and - by then - the Bloggers will have already met on the preceding Thursday night for their inaugural gathering. As a result of forming the new Bloggers group, I was contacted yesterday by Aussie Bloggers, a new website officially launching on January 21st. It looks very interesting and should be a cohesive way of linking up with other Aussies with blogging in common.
And next week, the new JJ Abrams' movie, "Cloverfield" premieres. Hopefully Australia is getting the teaser trailer for JJ Abrams' currently-lensing "Star Trek" movie, similar to the plan for the USA cinemas! I can't wait, and "Cloverfield" sounds like fun, too. A monster movie - something terrifying ransacking Manhattan - and filmed in documentary, shaky cam-style, rather like the effects for "The Blair Witch Project". And by the man behind "Lost", "Mission: Impossible 3" and the new "Star Trek" movie!
Meanwhile, I am also working on a new book idea. And procrastinating about it.
Sunday's magic number: 91.5 - Well, I'm not really sure. The scales are being wacky today - maybe it's the hot, humid weather. It was my housemate's landmark birthday yesterday, so there was: a scrummy, but sensible, breakfast at the wonderful Mash cafe in Glenbrook in the lower Blue Mountains; a scrummy, but sensible, lunch in the Penrith Domayne centre; and a huge family barbeque last night. I did weigh myself yesterday afternoon, to see what damage the BBQ, alcoholic punch and birthday cake might cause, and the scales said 89.9, so I was thrilled! This morning, the numbers claimed I was 92.5 - several times - but eventually settled on 91.5. I knew I hadn't eaten that much! But maybe these scales are... unreliable. Yeah, blame the scales!
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