Hummingbird604.com » Vancouver Bloggers Meetup

Shenanigans on Robson

Raul — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:34:12 +0000

I know that some people were slightly scared about my choice of location for the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup (April 2009) since it seems that Shenanigans may have looked a bit, well… peculiar.

But since I hadn’t found a place for karaoke that was accessible to a vast majority of people (because, you know, I *do* get frequent requests to hold the VBM somewhere that is downtown or centrally-located), I chose somewhere that was very accessible to people downtown [EDIT - At first, I wanted to hold it at the karaoke place right in front, but Lorraine suggested Shenanigan's. And I'm grateful to her for suggesting it!]. Yes, I know it sounds whiney on my part, but hey – I’m an East Vancouver boy. I don’t see the reason why I can’t hold the VBM in East Vancouver as often as I want. But I’ve been asked to go downtown or the West Side and so I’ve tried to do it.

At any rate, despite reservations, it seems as though everybody had a good time at the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup (surprisingly and strangely, nobody commented on my blog about it – but they did on Rebecca’s and Jan’s so I know through third-party confirmation that people had a good time). Hopefully we’ll do another VanTechKaraoke night, but this time, we’re going to get our songs in early in time.

Vancouver Bloggers Meetup for April 2009

Raul — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:24:45 +0000

I have a lot of respect for Jan Karlsbjerg, not only because we both did PhDs (his is in Computer Science, though) and because we are both immigrants to Canada. He is a solid guy who always is there available to provide advice to novice bloggers and to welcome them. He is the scribe to our Vancouver Bloggers Meetup, and this is his April 2009 write up. Thank you, Dr. Karlsbjerg. Thanks as always.

One note that I must add. For me, Vancouver Bloggers Meetup is personal. This is MY meetup. I invest time in trying to find a good place. I organize. I communicate with fellow bloggers. I promote it on Twitter. So, yes I do take it personally when people attend. I’m always thrilled when people do come. But the most important thing – I organize it for YOU. For novice and experienced bloggers. For those of you who want to dip your toes in the online community and those of you who have done it for years. In that sense, it’s YOUR meetup.

Recap of Vancouver Bloggers Meetup Nov 2008

Raul — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:34:04 +0000

The great thing about knowing traditions and establishing them is that you can count on your friends to continue with them. It’s been a long-standing tradition that Jan Karlsbjerg writes a summary (recap) of the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup. This month, Jan follows up with the tradition, so I’ll just link to his awesome recap for the November 2008 VBM. I tried to do a little bit of a liveblog but didn’t work out ok I had a wonderful time though. Thanks everyone for coming!

One thing that I think Jan might have missed was the discussion that Shane and I had about potentially doing a large, combined Meetup.com. I am friends with the leaders of pretty much each one of the Vancouver relevant meetups that we all attend (Third Tuesday – Tanya, Real Estate Tech – Steve, Sales Performance – Shane, Young Professionals – Steve and Shane, Entrepreneurs – Minna) so I would think we could indeed do that informal, kind of end-of-the-year affair. Let me know if that would appeal to you all.

Vancouver Bloggers Meetup November 2008 liveblog

Raul — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:17:05 +0000

Technically it won’t be a liveblog because I’m not really listening to the conversations, but it was nice to see Eric, Alex, Tom (who are newbies to the Vancouver Blogger Meetup) and to see some familiar faces and friends (Airdrie Miller, Will Wertheim, Matt Collinge, John Biehler, Lorraine Murphy, Shane Gibson, Jan Karlsbjerg, David Drucker and Karen Hamilton.

I expected a few more people that had confirmed (John Chow himself included!), but I have had a really good time despite the fact that not everybody could make it. It’s hard to attend all the meetups when there is so much going on in Vancouver!

UPDATE – 8.37pm – Even though a few bloggers have left already, Matt, Eric, Jan, Lorraine, Karen, David and myself are still here. We are talking about WordCamp Whistler, and Northern Voice 2009. We also were talking about the podmob at Sushi Bento (I missed it).

Vancouver Bloggers Meetup November 2008 coming up!

Raul — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:56:52 +0000

This month’s Vancouver Bloggers Meetup will take place at Gene Cafe on Kingsway and Main, on November 20th at 6:00pm. Here is the link to the Meetup site so that you can RSVP (or join the meetup in case you haven’t joined yet). Here is a review of Gene Cafe (not by me, though!).

With so many meetups happening in Vancouver, there may be some clashes every so often, but I am hoping that if we keep it to the third Thursday of the month (two days after Third Tuesday), it will provide structure and stability. Can’t wait to see all my fellow Vancouver blogger friends soon!

National Digital Media Day and Vancouver Bloggers Meetup 2008

Raul — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:41:26 +0000

Visit National Digital Media Day September 25

Rebecca kindly invited me to join her through her tour (and live-blog) of Metro Vancouver celebrating National Digital Media Day (September 25th, 2008) which is tomorrow. We’ll be liveblogging and visiting several municipalities along the way. I really value these kinds of “day trips”, and it’s actually the realization of something we had talked about a long while ago – going on a Metro-Vancouver-wide day trip.

So, we’ll be starting at 9:00am with breakfast in Surrey, then we’ll head throughout the Metro Vancouver area, I think we’re hitting Salt Tasting Room at 1pm for lunch with Anthony Nicalo of Farmstead Wines who has kindly agreed to sponsor drinks, and then another destination before Rebecca drops me off for my 7:00pm appointment with the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup at Isabella’s house.

There will be wi-fi and a potluck at Isabella’s and most certainly, a number of bloggers. Then on Friday it’s the BarCamp Vancouver 2008 party and on Saturday, the event itself. And on Sunday, I plan to take a Raul day and not blog at all. Hope you all enjoy our liveblogs tomorrow. Be sure to check Rebecca’s posts and mine as both will be tagged/categorized “ndmd08″. Furthermore, I will be blogging about environmental issues in Vancouver throughout the day, so feel free to drop suggestions and comments.

Vancouver Blogger Meetup August 2008 and September 2008

Raul — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:59:50 +0000

Earlier last week, I sent out a message to the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup list-serve asking whether people would like to have an August 2008 meetup or wait until September 2008. As many of you may remember, the July 2008 Vancouver Bloggers Meetup was a resounding success. I want to keep it that way.

If you need a photographic reminder of how awesome our past Meetup was, you can look at Karen’s and Cecily’s Flickr accounts, as well as mine.

Now, here’s the thing. I am not in Vancouver, as most of you know. Therefore, I can’t physically organize the August meeting. I’ll be back in Vancouver around mid-September, but we also have BarCamp 2008 in September (you must have known about this as we all blogged about it!).

So, I did a tally of the responses. I clustered the No, Maybe and I Don’t Care responses into basically “Not-Yes” (e.g. a response that isn’t Yes — God, I’m such a Captain Obvious!). Anyhow, the email tally is completely tied. 8 people said Yes and 8 people didn’t. Colleen and Keith were Twittering last night about how it might be better to send this VBM to September (an opinion that Isabella shared, and a number of other respondents to my survey)

I recognize that this date may be a tad too close to BarCamp Vancouver 2008, but if you think about what the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup is, (and I quote), “over time it’s become a close-knit group of friends who enjoy each other’s company” (David Drucker on the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup site, comment for July 29, 2008), the VBM is basically us (friends) getting all together to geek out and talk about stuff (as very appropriately said by Jan Karlsbjerg). So, let’s take a relaxed approach and do it in September instead.

To try and incorporate the majority of the feedback I got from everyone who responded, I decided to organize it for September 25th, 2008. Before I get smothered (I know, we’re going to be super busy for BarCamp Vancouver), let me suggest that we do it as a casual get-together. If we need to talk shop and do some fine-tuning about BarCamp (most of the organizing committee is also on VBM), we could always do that. Let’s take it as a relaxed, friendly get-together, and thank you Rebecca for suggesting that something might be done and potentially associate it with National Digital Media Day.

Rebecca is co-organizing with Jon Husband the Blogging portion of NDMD. [UPDATE - Sorry Rebecca, I think I jumped the gun! Ok, so here is the link to the Save-The-Date for NDMD] [ SIDE NOTE - Rebecca, I don't know how you do it, you're also involved with New Forms Festival 2008! I have the feeling we're going to have a VIDFEST 2008 redux ] Isabella had suggested doing something at her house, but we can always fine-tune the details as we get closer to the date. One thing you can be assured: two words – LARGER VENUE.

I really hope I didn’t disappoint those who wanted a VBM in August, but honestly, the September date works much better I think (even for me). Feedback, as always, appreciated. And… I miss you guys, I really do.

Vancouver Bloggers Meetup for July 2008 – What a success!

Raul — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:30:38 +0000

It’s past midnight on Wednesday already. I just got home from having done some shopping at Safeway on Commercial, and catching up on Twitter (sorry if you were one of the people who were viciously bombarded with my tweets). I would *love* to write a really detailed recap, but I am sure that a lot of other bloggers will. And since I am now the Organizer of Vancouver Bloggers Meetup, I am hoping I will be cut some slack (as I spent the vast majority of the time trying to ensure everyone was having a good time, and doing introductions, etc.)

So, a few points. Yes, I know the venue was small, but even though it was so small, lots of people showed up and it was really heartwarming for me. I am very honored that Isabella decided to bestow her leadership role on to me, I really am. I even got my Blogger Sword! I promise I shall use its power for good

I did miss many good friends of mine who are also bloggers, too many to recount, but I do want to single out Rebecca because she did an amazing job of organizing and she entrusted me with passing on her message of how proud she was of the work we all who Blogathoned did, as well as news that there would be some commentary about Blogathon on Metro Vancouver (the newspaper).

Along the same way, Rebecca, it is important that you know that everyone in the room gave you an in absentia ovation for all your hard work in organizing Blogathon. I’m very proud of you and honored to call you a friend. I know these are trying times for you, but I sure hope you know you can always count on me, I really do.

After the Blackwater Cafe (whose staff should be fully commended, as we stayed there well past their closing time, almost 9 pm and Adrienne was SO incredibly helpful and sweet – really good times) a bunch of us headed down to the Lamplighter for a couple of beers. Overall, I had a fabulous time, and I am glad to have seen you all. And as I mentioned in my speech, I am very honored to be able to call so many of you my friends. You are truly awesome.

And on that note, I should go to sleep. I haven’t recovered from Blogathon and need my sleep. Catch you all later.