[IGDA_indies] organizing locally

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Brian Hook wrote:
>
> The biggest problem is finding people that give a damn. [etc.]

Good points Brian, generally speaking.  It's worth being honest about
the difficulties one faces when trying to organize people.  I want to
chime in and remind people, however, that there are solutions and
progress is possible.  But the short answer, which some may not like
hearing, is "You Have To Do It Yourself [TM]."

Do not discuss with other people what the proper framework for
organizing Indies in your city should be, or whether states should have
'capitals' and all of that.  Go out and do it!

I'm doing it for ML in Seattle, a language family with few adherants.
See
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mlseattle/
Our first meeting was 3 people at a Belgian pub, including myself.  At
that point it was the OCaml SIG.    I changed it to the ML SIG to get
more people, and indeed I got 6 instead of 3.  Further growth will be
difficult, but we've certainly got quality if not quantity.

To cause groups like this to exist, you must:

- make a proposal in relevant forums
- get people's input on date, time, and place
- firm up the date, time, and place, i.e. make the decision that nobody
else is making
- always show up.  You are the leader: you don't show up, nobody else
will.
- continue to meet on a regular basis.  Try every 3 weeks.

The good news is that programmers are actually a disciplined species.
At least when dealing with small quantities of them, if they say they
will show up, they will.  Contrast that with artists on Craigslist,
another group of people I've tried to organize on similar lines.
They're all a bunch of flakes!

> > 2) should we have live roundtables? If so where? I personally
> > nominate Austin, TX. For this section of discussion, I would like
> > to see when and where people think it might be a good time to meet.
> > Yearly (if not more frequently) Roundtables in the major cities and
> > capitols I feel would be a good thing as it would get more people
> > together. Of course a convention/conference/expo would be even
> > better ;)
>
> GDC birds-of-a-feather meeting is a much better idea.

It is not a "much better idea."  It is a completely different idea.  If
someone wants to organize live roundtables in some city they should just
buck up and do it.  Exact same principles apply as I outlined above,
i.e. You Have To Do It Yourself [TM].


Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

When no one else sells courage, supply and demand take hold.