August 2007 NY Tech Meetup

Aug '07 7 Tue 7:00 PM
Location
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Estimated attendance
 542  people attended.
4.00 4.0051

Who organized?
Scott Heiferman

This one's different

We sold out at 700 RSVPs last week, but after 33 consecutive monthly NY Tech Meetups, we didn't get enough presenters that'd satisfy this crowd.

So instead of risking it with presentations that some would find mediocre, I've decided to risk it with a very different format.

Many of you have suggested that the NY Tech Meetup do a better job at connecting you with other people in the NY tech community. With that, we're gonna do an experiment.

Here's the plan. No demos or presentations. It's be the NY Tech Meetup's twist on an unconference ( http://en.wikipedia.o... ).

* Before 7PM, we'll put 20 signs throughout the space (hallway areas, stage, vestibule, etc), labelled 1-20.
* At 7PM, with y'all seated, I'll ask what topics you want to discuss in small group, and as you call them out, I'll type them onto the projected screen, live, assigning each topic to a number (1-20).
* Then, around 7:15, you choose a topic, go to that spot in the room and chat it up. We'll leave the list of spaces/topics (that I typed at the beginning) -- on the screen during the whole time. Jump from spot to spot as you wish.

It's 20 mini self-organized conferences at the same time. I think it'll be good. Some of you will decide to not show up. Some of you won't like it. But a lot of you will get to see how many great people are part of this community.

Because it's an experiment, because Wilson Sonsini & DFJ Gotham support this community, and because of your $5s at our recent Meetups, this one will be Free. So if it doesn't work, you can't ask me for your money back.

Can't wait to see what happens.....

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Who attended?

  • 542 attendees
    • “ Lot of the topics were uninteresting to me, but I liked the new format. ”
    • “ Good format ! ”
    • “ For me this structure worked far better than presentation/symposium format. Interactional formats enhance networking and further collaboration. I think there should be follow up on this: presentation/discussion maybe in bimonthly succession. ”
    • “ much smaller attendance, but a really nice alternative. think it should be part of the regular rotation ”
    • “ Liked the new format, but maybe we should half and half next time? Like 2-3 meatier presentations and then 6-8 or so topic group chats.. could work out... ”
    • “ A little noisy, it was really hard to hear what other people were saying. ”
    • “ This was the best MeetUp I've been to. The 20 topics people suggested for the unConference format were fascinating. The conversation that started in Group 18: crowdsourcing, growing a social network, organizational democracy, wikis is continuing on a listserve. ”
    • “ Awesome networking. Love the small group breakout. Made great contacts and learned a lot in the process. Definitely do this format again!!! ”
    • “ Wish it kept to the original format; however, unconference is a great format. Just keep it straight, though. ”
    • “ The event was great. Two problems though: 1. It becomes difficult to hear the conversations in the subgroups because of the noise level of the neighboring subgroups. 2. It would be great to be able to attend multiple groups. Perhaps the solution here is to reduce the number of group meeting places and meeting duration by a factor of 3, say 21 topic subgroups meeting in 7 locations with each meeting lasting 20 minutes instead of 20 topic subgroups meeting in 20 locations with each meeting lasting hour. At the end of the 20 minute meeting for a given topic at a meeting location, another topic group will rotate into that location. This should reduce the number of simultaneous conversations making the meeting more audible and allow participants to attend upto 3 (non concurrent) topics. ”
    • “ Very friendly and knowledgeable people. Thanks everyone! ”
    • “ Loved the unconference set up. I think we should do this on a more regular basis. Scott did an excellent job, as always. ”
    • “ Great idea. Our group was a bit too large to manage a single conversation, so it broke into smaller groups. We had a moderator...curious to see if others felt the same. ”
    • “ I unfortunately got there too late after everyone had divided up into groups, but some people did recognize me and nodded hello, and I did have a chat or 2. It was my second time there so I still have get to know everybody. But I had a good time walking around and seeing lots of smilling happy faces and taking a few photos. ”
    • “ good - nice to pick topics that we're interested in ”
    • “ The new format was great! Would be great to continue this format once every several meetings. ”
    • “ The event was too disorganized - the groups needed to have leaders or moderators. The space is too loud for an event like this with everyone trying to speak their mind. Definitely looking forward to returning to the old format. ”
    • “ Interesting format but I think it could have benefited from more structure. ”
    • “ Better than I originally thought. Noise level was very high. Maybe fewer groups with more space in between would be better. ”
    • “ It was a nice experiment, but I miss the formal presentations. ”
    • “ Fun. Wish I had been able to go to more discussions, but I was running one. ”
    • “ Next time let's suggest more discussion topics than needed, then vote the list down. (I'd suggested one, then tried to retract it 'cause some others sounded more interesting, but my voice was drowned about by the din.) ”
    • “ too unorganized. we were making more intros than talking. ”
    • “ Did not care for this newer format. If you have this situation again with no good companies to present it would be better to have open mike night where you give anyone a chance to speak for 1 min and then 3 min of questions from audience. This format was clumsy and hard to hear. This gives people a chance to market their ideas and the audience to hear what interesting things people are doing. I left after 45 min as it was a waste of time. Typically i find your events to be great though... ”
    • “ I really liked the unconference. I got to meet people relevant to my current entrepreneurial needs. ”
    • “ Meetup is all about meeting people and this was a great way to meet people. ”
    • “ As I shared with Scott, the evenign's format was a good risk to take...but when 20 or so of us crowded into one area of the the hall, it was hot and noisey...and we could not hear each other well. I left out after about 10 minute of that ”
    • “ Interesting format. I'd recommend soliciting the topic suggestions and having members vote on which twenty topics to discuss prior to the meeting. If people enjoyed such face-to-face interactions on specific topics, I'd also recommend trying the recently launched online business/social networking tool TravelersTable - it can be used while traveling or at home. ”
    • “ It was great. I had a legal re idea question answered. I had to leave early because of another meeting. But this was a very valuable concet and I would recommend it every few weeks or months. I would rate it great if I had been there for a bit more time. ”
    • Rob
    • Deb