[kwlug-disc] December meeting and Cory Doctorow talk

[Paul Nijjar]

As discussed at the meeting, the University of Waterloo is hosting
Cory Doctorow for a talk during the evening of Monday, December 4,
which just happens to be our KWLUG meeting time.

Originally we had planned to defer the meeting and just go to the
Doctorow talk instead. But it looks like this will be awkward or
impossible, because I have received word that the talk is intended for
current Math/CS faculty people at UW. They have booked the Modern
Languages Theatre (which seats 400 people) but they expect this to
"sell out" with just Math/CS people. 

They may be open to letting others in after Math/CS people have had
first dibs on getting tickets, but they might not do this, and we
would not find this out until days before the KWLUG meeting.

What do the rest of us do? Apparently plans are in the works for
Doctorow to do an afternoon event (maybe 3pm?) at the KPL. That
reading should be open to the public (and that auditorium seats
another 200 people). This sucks for people who have jobs (including
me, who will have the privilege of missing both appearances) but is an
option for those who can get the afternoon off.


The question now is what to do about the December meeting. Both of our
presenters would prefer attending the Doctorow talk instead of doing
their own presentations, but if they cannot get in then probably they
will present for us as a second best option.

Given this situation I can think of the following strategies: 

- We can hold the KWLUG meeting as planned, and just expect that
  turnout will be lower if the Doctorow talk is opened to the public.
  This means that the presenters (and I) are locked into hosting the
  meeting on December 4.

- We could cheat and move our KWLUG meeting to Dec 11. Then if we are
  allowed to attend the Doctorow talk we can attend. If we are
  prohibited from attending we can still go to KWLUG the following
  week. Unfortunately this has domino effect implications for other
  meetups, including the nonprofit sysadmin meetup, and maybe
  HackerNest?

- We could cancel the December meeting, which ruins our KWLUG streak
  and puts us in the failure mode of being locked out of both the
  Doctorow talk and KWLUG. I like this option the least.


I do not know how to make a decision between these three options.
Maybe the presenters could weigh in? Is there an overwhelming
consensus on what we should do? 

For selfish reasons (ie being allowed to see Doctorow speak even
though many of you won't) I would prefer moving the meeting to Dec 11,
but if the presenters cannot move to that date then this will not
work. 

Thoughts?

- Paul

-- 
http://pnijjar.freeshell.org