<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">I didn't really picture it as being something so formal as having speakers really. At Reading nothing like that goes on and it's a very casual atmosphere. Especially if the uni was used as a way of getting people involved very quickly I can't imagine the people we'd get responding to that sort of thing. I see it very much as a gather in the pub, bring a laptop and chat sort of thing. People can try live CDs on their machines or play with it on my install. When issues arise 'I need to use X application, how do I do that without Windows?' we would deal with it in a practical way by setting up a working solution on the spot and talking them through how linux can make their lives easier or better I could see it being set up probably earlier in the month than Reading so that people can be encouraged to join in with both if it takes their fancy. On 29/07/12 09:25, Jon Spriggs wrote: </div> <blockquote cite="mid:CAOrCWev5oSkNyQdrsNGX13sEF=PD=N-afuTvdOmigQqajYVYoA@mail.gmail.com" type="cite"> Hi Gareth, That sounds like a great idea. As you've got Reading LUG pretty close, perhaps it might be a good idea to propose to them having a New Users session once every couple of months, and make it part of their usual rotation. Having been involved in trying to organise speakers at a LUG before, if you've got someone coming to you with ideas, that's much better than trying to come up with something or pressuring someone into talking for you :) If Reading LUG are completely against the idea and you feel the only way to progress is to start your own LUG, then have a quick look at what <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://lug.org.uk">lug.org.uk</a> can offer you. All the best -- Jon "The Nice Guy" Spriggs <div class="gmail_quote">On Jul 28, 2012 11:41 PM, "Gareth France" <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:gareth.france@gmail.com">gareth.france@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Firstly thanks to Alan Bell for a fantastic BBQ today, I think it's safe to say everyone had a great time and I left feeling rather enthused and inspired! A discussion about how people may get involved without specific technical skills came up and one of the suggestions was creating some sort of group meetings in the local area. I have had such ideas for quite a while now and I'm wondering if it could actually work. I know we've got the Reading LUG just down the road but as great as those meets are they don't go out of their way to encourage first time users to come along. I'm thinking perhaps a regular meet here that's focused on getting people to try it and helping them through the culture shock might work. Something that could work alongside or even be considered a satellite to the Reading meet. With the Uni in town it shouldn't be hard to get an initial group of interested people, maybe meeting in the student bar or something and take it from there. All thoughts appreciated. Gareth -- <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com</a> <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk</a> <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/" target="_blank">https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/</a> </blockquote> </div> <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset> </blockquote> </body> </html>