Global Meeting in 2020

Where and when will the 2020 global gathering be?

On the last global call we very briefly tossed about ideas for the next global gathering. Those of us who couldn’t make the 2019 gathering are looking forward to coming in 2020! No one wants to miss 2 of these in a row!!

There was a bit of talk of North America. What are your thoughts? Its likely the most expensive option (travel) for the community over all. I would be willing to organize something in Southern Ontario if there is interest. On the other hand - having it in the UK would likely be most efficient given the critical mass already close to there.

When should it be? Summer (in the North) is holiday time - so sometimes thats good - people can combine it with a vacation if we had it June - August. My personal vote would be later fall - but regardless, I’m going to plan to be there!

Australia and NZ folks - you have to travel the furthest. What are your thoughts?

@NickWeir @lin_d_hop @luisramos0 @maikel @Jen @danielle @Kirsten @Bevan @EmilyRogers @kristinalim @lauriewayne1 @MyriamBoure @Matt-Yorkley @Rachel @sauloperez @sigmundpetersen (just pinging anyone off the top of my head to get this convo started)

I second that @tschumilas, I didn’t realise just how out of the loop you feel when you’re not there, it was good to have an understanding of that but I really don’t want to experience it again :slight_smile:

In terms of us Aussies, the first half of the year is super dooper busy, we’ve got quite a few things in our local pipe until May at the earliest. And I’m cognisant of 1. how busy you are in growing season @tschumilas and 2. how we lose momentum on things when we run these around the summer period when everyone heads off on holiday.

So my vote would be for either May, or September/October. As to location, it would be awesome to do it in North America to try and get connections and the such working there however I do agree that doing it in Europe is more efficient in terms of more people already there.

In terms of location, for us Aussies both Europe and NA are far away so it’s much of a muchness. Only things to note are that I think @Jen will be in the US in September, and that I have the possibility of being on the west coast of the US in mid May for my other job. I’d really love to be there, but I don’t think I’m up for 2 long haul flights this year.

Yes, I’ll be on both North American coasts Septemberish for climbing. Both apprehensive and keen to fit in some work at start/end of the climbing trip either as a global gathering or as one on one work with @tschumilas and/or @lauriewayne1 if it were useful (:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:apprehensive just in terms of how long I’ll be away from Aus work if adding work days onto an already lengthy leisure trip)

I have been wondering about whether we should/how we might schedule concurrent gatherings around the globe. So for example we Australians could get together with NZ folks in person, at the same time as people are getting together in Europe, and elsewhere, and find some ways to structure the meeting to allow for this way of working.

I really like this idea…but I also have misgivings. It could potentially lead to a split in connection, and there is such value in having everyone together in the same place talking about the same stuff. Especially when it comes to software development, there’s nothing better than being all together working on stuff. So I think I’m leaning towards not liking the idea more than liking it… :upside_down_face:

Hello, I am glad you asked this question @tschumilas :slight_smile:

There’s nothing like being there but I think it’s crucial we keep focusing and improving the way we get information out of the gathering: videos, summaries, community posts, meeting minutes. Making the remote presence on the meetings of the gathering easy (quality of the conference calls) is also something very very important I think.

As for timings, in terms of product/software there’s no urgency to have a gathering so I think we could wait for September. I think September is better than October because the weather is better, and because it leaves more time between the gathering and the end of the year than October/November.

As for location, I’d like to offer to host the gathering in Portugal where the tech gathering happened in November 2018. The house has space for the meetings to happen and at least 8 people can sleep there for free. If we do it in September, instead of the heavy rain we experienced in 2018, we will have the swimming pool operational and the sea 3kms away.

I plan to attend the gathering if it happens in Europe, otherwise I’ll be a remote presence :slight_smile:

For me, May would be impossible at this point in time. I’ve already booked 3 off the farm workshops/conferences in may and I couldn’t possibly be off farm more than that. I think the idea of concurrent gatherings is good - but not very helpful for new instances where there are not many people around. Its SO important for newish instances to be part of the community in person. Maybe its a combo thing - new instances gather together in one place (maybe kickstart our learning community) and others join virtually/concurrently. @Jen - where in Canada are you climbing?

I agree that I’d much rather all be together, and more is achieved when we are. But I think $ and carbon guilt aren’t going to permit that every year. And as we increase the number of instances we need some other formats too so that we’re not missing out, plus we’re building strength in regions other than Europe. e.g. imagine if at least Canada and USA got together, and NZ and Australia got together, and Brazil and Costa Rice got together…
Maybe we’re not at that size yet, but I think worth beginning to think about.

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I agree with you @Jen !

As for my availabilities: I’m searching for an excuse to visit a very good friend of mine in Montreal, whom I haven’t seen in years.
So September in North America could be something doable for me. Even if there is no gathering happening, I would be very happy to meet you guys :heart_eyes: !

That being said, I also wanted to add that in Europe we shouldn’t wait for a global gathering in order to meet and get some work done together. The tech gathering you’ve organized @luisramos0 was very nice! Now that I think of it, last year I had the chance to meet part of the team several times : November in Porto, February in Brussels, May in London first, then in Drome, July in Barcelona.

Porto, Brussels, London and Barcelona were 2-4 days gathering. But I do believe we need to continue to make them happened along having global gathering. The two serves different purposes.

Totally would love to do a September mini-gathering in SW Ontario - even if @Rachel @Jen were the only ones who could make it. You could absolutely stay with me - and the organizing would be simple. We could plan some theme-focused meetings with local people here (by then there will be a a few people working with me I think! - and it would be a great introduction to the global project). Who else wants to visit my flower farm in September? Breathtaking blooms, a pool, a forest, semi-rural living, amazing food, terrific people…

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