If it's nice out, I'd also like the idea of holding an event in the Commons. The obvious drawback with an outdoor event is that weather makes attendance a real gamble. Last year, turnout in Boston Common for the Great American Wiknichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston#June_26.2C_2011_.28Sunday.29_.E2.80.93_The_Great_American_Wiknicgot dampened by rain, and last-minute weather developments threatened plans for Wikipedia Takes Bostonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Takes_Boston(fortunately it turned out to be sunny).
If I can help make calls to potential venues, please let me know. Boston Public Library asks that reservation requests be submitted at least 4 weeks prior to the event (see here http://www.bpl.org/central/meetingrooms.htm), so if we want to meet there we should act quickly. Once a date and venue is firmly set it'd be great to set up a geonotice. If we'd like to boost turnout more, we could also leave notifications on the talk pages of all the Wikipedians in New Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedians_in_New_England .
Cheers, Eric
P.S.: I've signed uphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/New_England#Sign_upto attend on Saturday 4/21, but could also do Sunday 4/22 or Sunday 4/15. I wouldn't be able to make Saturday 4/14, Saturday 4/28 or Sunday 4/29.
On Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 6:27 AM, Samuel Klein meta.sj@gmail.com wrote:
On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 5:50 AM, Dominic dmcdevit@cox.net wrote:
The date's not set in stone. In fact, it happens to be the same weekend as the Free Culture Summit in SF, too, but I'm not sure if that really affects many people.
Any later, though, and I'm afraid we're getting into finals time and then summer for students (and, on a personal note, I'll be traveling); make it earlier and we're giving people that much less notice. (Also, not to seem indifferent to your situation, I imagine almost everyone else traveling from outside New England is coming from relatively nearby on the East Coast.) So, that's why I originally picked it, at least.
I have a potential conflict that weekend. Is the previous Saturday also an option? You could post two dates on the page to see who is available when, and put the word out. I've been telling people it is the 21st, though :-) It's good to have a date.
Thoughts on a Boston venue: if it's nice out, we could hold it outside on the Commons...
SJ
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