[kwlug-disc] Creative Mornings

[Chris Frey]

On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 04:42:46PM -0400, Paul Nijjar wrote:
> You probably should not follow my advice too closely, because although
> we have been long-lived the group is kind of moribund. Honestly I
> wonder whether user groups really make sense any more. When people
> want information they find it online, and half the time people attend
> the meeting and just use the wifi to do other things instead of being
> present for the presentations. (Oh boy. I just got a whole lot of
> people upset with me, even though I am guilty of this too. I hope this
> means attendance does not drop further now.) 

This does happen, and it's not a problem in my opinion.  Sometimes it is the
social aspect people come out for, more than the technical.  This is where
the after-meeting shines.  I think both the meeting and after-meeting
feed each other, one with newcomers, and the other with regulars.

But there are opposite cases as well.  I remember that I had a long time
interest in LaTeX, but never quite cracked the nut sufficiently that I
did anything with it.

Then I saw a KWLUG presentation on it, which launched me so far that I
was able to typeset a small book just for fun.

So I find KWLUG presentations good for learning the unexpected.
For things that I *must* learn right now, I can't wait for a presentation,
nor does a presentation fill in all the details required to get up to
speed on some topics.

- Chris