Guest Bastiat Posted April 24, 2014 Posted April 24, 2014 Hi everyone. I wanted to circulate the idea of Stefan hosting an event for listeners. I want to see a show of hands for how many people would be willing to carpool/fly out to Canada or possibly the US to meet up with a bunch of other Freedomainradio listeners. I know Stefan does many speaking events but this would serve the purpose of FDR listeners getting together to socialize, feel more connected with the worldwide FDR family, as well serve as a fundraiser for FDR.
Kevin Beal Posted April 25, 2014 Posted April 25, 2014 There used to be yearly BBQ's, but I don't think that happens anymore. It takes a lot of work to set up and organize and market, etc, but if you want to work on that then that sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I might show up for something like that. I can't speak for Stef or Mike, but I imagine that the problem with asking Stef to host it and put it together is that he and Mike already have a ton of stuff on their plate and so if you want something to happen for the show, they are much more likely to consider it if you actually do some of the work yourself and demonstrate through your action that it's a valuable proposition. They get suggestions everyday probably and a lot of them sound good in theory, but if you aren't willing to work at it yourself, you aren't likely to convince them. I thought it would be a great idea to have all the podcasts in a single place in a convenient web-based podcast browser. Something like a Philosophysician 2.0 (if you know what that is). And so I actually built it. Several iterations in fact to show as a prototype, hoping it would get integrated into the main site. I pestered Stef for a while and he posted about one version in the donator section and I got some good feedback, but it didn't quite fit into how the current site is setup. And then Mike became operations manager and we talked about how we might make it work and so I designed a few mockups, he liked them and I got to work. I got JamesP to help me out who did an awesome job designing an API and setting up the database and some other back-end development magic. With some consulting, more feedback and a lot of work (and a TON of tags a listener put together for a separate project), I've got a beta up and running and I think it's pretty damn cool. You can check it out here. (An official launch is coming up!) I would suggest, that if you really think this is a good idea to get people together, that you try it out yourself maybe in a smaller way, like all the people in the state you live in, or something like that. You could even do it to raise funds for the show! It does sound like a fun idea, and I hope that you do.
adamNJ Posted April 25, 2014 Posted April 25, 2014 I would participate in that, specially one located in the American North East
Guest Bastiat Posted April 25, 2014 Posted April 25, 2014 Thanks for the feedback Kevin. I have already started getting people together in the state of Arizona for a weekly meetup, although very small. I will work out some logistics and planning so I have something substantial to present to Mike and Stef regarding a larger function. Any suggestions hugely appreciated. I feel like if I could be in one place with many other FDR listeners it would be a great experience as well as a great time I'm sure If I remember correctly, there were a lot of FDR listeners in the Meet and Greet forum looking for local meetups so NY may be a good central location. I'll keep working on this.
Wesley Posted April 25, 2014 Posted April 25, 2014 I have heard that Mike is interested in getting something organized this year along the lines of the old barbeques, but I am not sure if progress is being made along those lines. I am in the Rochester, NY area and would be happy to help out with some planning and logistics for a weekend over the summer or something and I have been getting together a few people in the area for FDR meetups so I might be able to get some of them to help out too if the plan was to do it here or something. Of course, this is just the occasional on-the-ground stuff that would be relevant for this kind of event. There is a lot that can be done remotely and with the help of more people, especially if you have experience planning an event like this, then things will go much more smoothly. While Mike could be involved in the project and managing Stef's schedule and operations and stuff, I think it will be much more guaranteed to happen if we can pool community resources and time in order to get everything together almost to the point where Stef and Mike just need to show up at a cool event. Kevin's post helped to illustrate how people can go out and do the things that they want to see changed instead of asking others to do it in their place, especially when they know how spread thin Stef and Mike can already be. I would love to see the community become much more active in creating content and getting cool stuff done and reseach topics for presentations rather than the seeming perpetual whining and demanding that I occasionally find on the boards. (This is not directed at anyone in this thread, I am just expressing some general frustrations I occasionally have with people who say they want things and then don't act to make it happen.) If you want something to happen, then work to make it happen!
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