[kwlug-disc] Attendance

[Chris Irwin]

>On Wed, Oct 05, 2022 at 09:19:59AM -0400, Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc wrote:
>> The problem with online events is that they are not special.

My thoughts as well. I've attended a few virtual meetings here and there 
(both KWLug and another group), but fewer than when we were in person 
(and I drove in from London for them).

I think the problem is a virtual meeting doesn't keep either the sense 
of "live" or "community". It feels more like idling in IRC while 
everybody watches the same youtube video. Not that I think open mic with 
30 people is a solution, either -- we have enough trouble once we hit 5 
participants in virtual work meetings.

>> For another you can convince yourself that you can just look at the
>> video if you skip the meeting.

Purely from a time commitment point of view, an article or youtube 
series is going to be more useful, as I can scrub through for the 
relevant parts, skip the backstory, and it's not artificially limited to 
fit a time slot.

Once you lose the ability to kind of blurt out a related question, or 
chat on the side with other people, you're really in a tough place 
competing with "on demand" media.

>> For a third attending such a meeting is yet more time you are 
>> spending looking at a screen.

I viewed KWLug (in person) as a night out, while the virtual meetings I 
attend from my desk -- where I already spend too much time working.

On Wed, Oct 05, 2022 at 06:23:20PM -0400, Chris Frey wrote:
> What can we change about the virtual meetings that would give 
>something special to those who show up, that just can't happen otherwise?

This is a thought.

I think the ability to go off-script is the key part of a live event, 
versus just watching it after.  For the most part, an 
in-person-presentation-but-online doesn't necessarily lend itself to 
that.

I don't have any actual ideas to suggest, and I don't want to be a 
downer sapping anybody's motivation. But $above is why I haven't been 
attending, even though it's "easier" than in person.

-- 
Chris Irwin

email:   chris at chrisirwin.ca
  xmpp:   chris at chrisirwin.ca
   web: https://chrisirwin.ca