SaskBlogs.ca

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.

On CKOM.com’s John Gormley Live, the topic was blogs, and how an author from Calgary slammed blogs as being a detriment to political activism. Well Saskatchewan bloggers phoned and corrected that silly notion.

You need to sign up to be a Newstalk Insider to download the podcast of the radio show. It’s from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM that you need to download.

Saskboy of AbandonedStuff.com, Kate from SmallDeadAnimals.com, Wild Doug, Lance of Catprint in the Mash/Saskblogs Aggregator, and several other bloggers from around the province called in, and were mentioned by the callers and John Gormley as recommended reading.

Lance Levsen’s Saskblogs Aggregator was mentioned in the Regina Leader Post’s feature story on Monday, along with quotes from more half a dozen Saskatchewan Bloggers.

Saskatchewan bloggers interviewed included Kate from SmallDeadAnimals.com and Eric of Mutually Inclusive PR (who appeared with his blog on the cover of the capital’s newspaper). Also quoted by L-P reporter Karen Brownlee were Saskboy, Randall Friesen, John Murney, Mike Stefaniuk, and others.
Saskblogs.ca’s goal of bringing fun events together for bloggers was mentioned twice, once in the second part of the story about political blogs (for which I don’t have a story link at the moment).

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Here’s a blogger from far away talking about Saskatchewan blogs.

I [Saskboy] was at the University of Regina main campus on Monday, and realized that John Murney is working on his economics program there, so I left a message for him to meet me. So I’ve now met the well known and respected Saskatchewan blogger, John Murney.

We talked about politics, with his friend Patrick, and my girlfriend Ashley, and other friends of ours walked by and stopped to talk too. It was great to talk to someone who knows Saskatchewan and Canadian politics so well. Our best guess is that there will be a provincial election in either May or June 2007, so watch for that. I think May is most likely.

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In other Saskblogs news, Lance has rolled out version 3 of the Saskblogs Aggregator. I’ve noticed a few additions to the blogroll in the past weeks, and hopefully word will spread among bloggers from the most rectangular province on the prairies, and we’ll hit 200 members in 2007.

The days of public barbecues this year has drawn to a close [unless global warming kicks in really hard ;-)]. So that leaves Saskblogs events in the realm of planning only. Suggested dates and venues for 2006 are now open for discussion, as are Winter indoor (or outdoor) events.

Is there any interest in a Regina pub gathering this Fall, or Winter? Or possibly a beer and pizza type event on a Saturday, at the UofR if I can get something like the Computer Science Students Society on board to bring a crowd?

Saturday was the first Saskblogs BBQ in Saskatoon. The turnout wasn’t as high as expected, but the weather wasn’t perfect and I think next year we’ll have one earlier in the Summer when people have more time for outdoor activities. The Main Stream Media showed up, and added significantly to the attendence figures, since the reporter Jeremy is a blogger from Saskatchewan too. Also in attendence was Dan, Lance, Derek, and Saskboy (moi).

This time we used lighter fluid on the BBQ, and no one lost fingers or body hair. Not that we lost any last time.

There were going to be a few women coming too, but Ashley was sick, Dan’s wife couldn’t make it due to the weather, and Hecticity wasn’t there either. Kate of Small Dead Animals who was at the last BBQ in Regina was on the road in the States. So even though there wasn’t a big crowd, it was still a fun time to catch up on blog, computer, reporter, and Saskatchewan culture. It’s different talking to people about blog issues, when they can interrupt your train of thought, or make an instant comment. I’m much wittier online because I have a few seconds or minutes to think about a reply instead of milliseconds. Sometimes I worry if I’ve trained my brain to use my fingers for expression when my vocal cords could otherwise be used.
The Star Phoenix published a writeup on Sept. 25 about blogging, and our little event.

Back in Regina Saturday evening the sunset was impressively pink.

Lance is directing the organization of the first Saskatoon Saskblogs Meet. Everything about it can be discussed here, and you can register as well.
Lance writes - A great spot that’s got good access to facilities and parking:

So, Saskatoon Bloggers Meet on Sept 23rd, 1 pm at Diefenbaker Park in Saskatoon. Bring your own burgers and “whatnot”. It’s a family outing so think first. Also it should be noted that it is against the law to have open alcoholic beverages in public.

Drive west down Taylor Street till the end. The street takes a sharp corner the to left and becomes St. Henry Avenue. Follow that till the road turns into Diefenbaker Park. You are now on the west side of the exhibition grounds. To your right is Diefenbaker park. You should see a couple of picnic tables and barbecues there. We’ll be at one of them. One is behind some trees, the other behind the washrooms. I’d suggest the trees.

Here is the map.

I’ll arrange for combustibles, be that wood or briquettes for the flame. I’ll also bring a bean salad, a macaroni salad and paper plates and plastic cutlery.

There is a tonne of open space, so if anyone brings along any sports stuff (Frisbees, football, balls, etc) they would probably be put to use. Animals are welcome at Diefenbaker, but remember to bring along the equipment to clean up after your pet.

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Stephen Glauser has created the RSVP form. Please reigster for the event - we’ll try and send event reminders or updates to registered bloggers.

View bloggers registered for Saskatoon’s first Saskblogs event.

Saskboy writes - Bring a friend, or three, or seven, or eight!