SaskBlogs.ca

Hi Saskatchewan Bloggers (and blog fans). Interested in having lunch together in Saskatoon on October 13th Saturday?

How does Jerry’s sound for a SaskBlogs gathering in August? Please leave your possible days you could attend in a comment, then I’ll make a reservation at the end of this week.

Jerry’s website.

What are peoples’ preferences for a Saskatoon hosted gathering of Saskatchewan bloggers? BBQ, pub, restaurant, coffee shop, mini golf, backyard, parade (lol)? Speak now and get what you want… including the day in early August it will be held on.

The 2007 Regina BBQ is in the books now, and I’ll say based on the comments from attendees, that it was another good event. Hopefully even more bloggers will make it next year and we improve on our modest attendance.

The turnout was a little too modest for the likes of the only media who showed up this time, since they seemed to have killed the story which was destined for Global News. It didn’t help that the reporter, Jennifer I. didn’t research the story by maybe reading the press release, visiting any of the attending bloggers websites, or show any interest at all in the story. Maybe Kate’s heckling that it was OK that Jennifer didn’t read blogs “because we didn’t watch TV news or read newspapers anyway,” scared her away… but more likely it was just apathy. Never mind that it’s sometimes said that bloggers will one day make TV reporters obsolete…

I’ve had several interviews with media about my blog, and now I see why someone who gets a lot of interviews like Kate, can get fed up with the mundane and ill informed questions directed at web loggers. I’ve had only worthwhile interviews, until Sunday. Someone of Jennifer’s nature, who’s surprised that we didn’t have laptops at our picnic off Wascana Lake, isn’t exactly suited to interviewing a boggle of bloggers. (I’ve just coined that phrase, so if you use it, I may become famous. Gaggle of geese, a murder of crows, and a boggle of bloggers.) I guess I could be more fair, and say that I need to win over people unconvinced about blogging’s charm, and if I couldn’t win over a reporter then it’s my fault or blogging is an uninteresting subject. More likely I think, it’s that Jennifer had her mind made up as to the kind of people at the BBQ, and decided upon seeing a small group that there’s not a lot of people interested in blogging. Considering Kate’s 6 Million page visits, I’d wager that Jennifer erred.

So without the media there for our entertainment, we kicked around a soccer ball a bit, and mostly talked about food, weather, health care, economics, housing boom, climate change, travel, Nepal, worms, elections, and of course our blogs and computers. When the crowd got too large for me to follow all conversation threads, I suppose I missed a range of other subjects.

Monty of Canadian Money Advisor compiled a list of the bloggers who attended. There was a handful of other guests without blogs to link here. Monty’s photo album is the best one online too.

• Saskboy - AbandonedStuff.com and saskblogs.ca
• Kate - Small Dead Animals
• Lance - catprint.ca
• John Murney - John Murney’s blog
• Kevin - UncleMeat
• Laura - Arcologist
• Jeremy - Pilots World
• Jaybird - melonade
• Rhonda - Rescue Regina

–

Details of the picnic before it happened… and more wrap up.

Watch for details on Saskatoon’s 2007 meetup coming soon on saskblogs.ca!

The day of the BBQ has arrived, and the forecast is partly cloudy with a perfect 22 degrees Celsius. It should be a great day, and if you’re in town for the Rider game too… GO RIDERS!

I’ve scoped out the barbecue picnic site just meters west of the Science Center parking lot, and it looks like a good one to host the:

See the turn to the Science Center from Wascana Parkway/Broad St.

I’ll try to have a Saskatchewan flag on display at our picnic site, because if it’s a nice day there will be other picnickers out in the park too.

How do you get in on the fun and food?

• Please leave a comment here if you are coming with how many in your group including you are attending. We also have a spot on Facebook where you can also confirm. RSVPing is optional, but it helps me to plan the number of tables and supplies to have ready. (People who have left a comment at another thread on SaskBlogs.ca don’t have to re-confirm.)

• Everyone brings a food item so there will be enough to share in a pot-luck style meal. Please invite your friends. The more the merrier; have them confirm please, or count them in your stated total.

• Krydor has suggested we make an effort to “go green” this year, so even though I’ll have paper plates/cups/napkins/plastic utensils on hand, please feel welcome to bring your own reusable tableware. There may be carpooling opportunities, so if you’re looking for a ride from Saskatoon, or can offer one, leave a note in the comments here.

• Parking can be done at the Science Center’s parking lot.

The guest list so far includes the following who have confirmed they are coming, or are thinking about it. (The number they are coming with are in brackets):

Saskboy (2)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/insanitycase (4)
http://www.canadian-money-advisor.ca/
http://krydoristan.blogspot.com/ (4)
http://www.arcologist.blogspot.com/
http://katesmudges.blogspot.com/
John Murney
Jason Hammond
Tanya (4)
Terri S.
Kyle MacDonald
Amanda S.
Stephen Glauser
Ryan A.
Eric E.
Aidan M.
Karen K.
Ross

Lance

Kate

If you’re not sure what “SaskBlogs” is, it’s a collection of Saskatchewan websites maintained by writers known as “web loggers”. Lance compiled the list, and programmed the Aggregator which lists the most recent writings by the SaskBloggers. The SaskBloggers and anyone interested in meeting bloggers to talk about anything under the sun, are welcome to attend this potluck BBQ. There will be games available such as soccer, and whatever people want to bring to the park.

I found this tale of a blogger meetup, on the other side of the world.

The anecdote regarding attendance sounds familiar:

Last month I was fortunate enough to host the inaugural Sydney weblogger meetup, where I got to meet Sisi, Petra, Ian and John. I missed out on meeting Sara and Emma, who were at the same pub but didn’t find the rest of us. Therein lies the problem of meetups:

• it’s difficult locating others in the same meetup group in lieu of a visual cue (my fault entirely as the organiser);
• venue/meetup time may be inconvenient
• (I don’t know about you but) face-to-face is hard work

In a meetup group still in its infancy (though 30-strong), we had 20 RSVPs but only seven actual attendees that we know of.

Although meeting face to face is a challenge for any group who has met through the Internet, finding the will to get to an event in another city is especially tough. I was impressed by last year’s turnout of ~22 people at the Regina BBQ, and hope we’ll build on that number some this year. With efforts to expand the Saskbloggers community using Facebook, I think we’ll easily exceed the 22 attendees this year.

For bloggers who use Facebook (a social networking site) I’ve created a Saskatchewan Bloggers group for Facebook users. There is also an event listed on Facebook for the July 8 Regina BBQ, so if you’re a Facebooker, you can RSVP there as well as on Saskblogs.ca or by emailing Saskboy at his Hotmail.com address.

Responding to say you’re coming helps me plan the size of the event, and if I’ll need extra tables and that sort of thing. You can just show up unannounced so long as you bring a little something to share for the pot luck lunch. It’s a public event, so everyone is welcome (even non-bloggers). Bring some friends with you.

So far we have 4 to 6 children coming with 5 bloggers and their 5 adult guests. Keeping in mind that July is more than 3 months away, the turnout could be large indeed if we already have about 15 people after the first few days of planning. I haven’t even sent out (spammed) the invitations to more than a dozen bloggers yet. There are over a hundred and fifty listed SaskBloggers, and we know there are dozens to hundreds more out there!

I smelled BBQ from my bedroom window this afternoon, which got me thinking about Summer. July 8 2007 in Regina doesn’t appear to have any events besides the CFL game where the Riders host the Stamps Sunday at 5:00 PM. There are no big events listed in Saskatoon that day either, so hopefully people can travel down The Louis Riel Trail Highway # 11, and attend the Blogger BBQ in the Queen City. I hope people from all over the province will be looking to meet some bloggers and enjoy a pot luck lunch. There will be a Saskatoon date too, as soon as someone picks one.

So, the Regina SaskBloggers BBQ will be in a Regina park [otherwise indoors if it's heavy rain] at 12:00 PM Noon July 8 2007 Sunday.

Anyone with comments, please chime in. You can email Saskboy at his hotmail.com address, or leave a comment here.