The a2b3 group met at Eastern Accents this Thursday, June 2, 2011. Here's a summary of sorts.
I took notes in a quadrille notebook for the meeting, as an exercise in trying to keep better track of what was happening. The book is similar to what became popular on the University of Michigan campus during the 1980s, when university president and nuclear engineer James Duderstadt would bring quad notebooks to meetings, and everyone else followed suit quickly.
There was a sign in, again which is unusual, and I tried to introduce people rather than having them introduce themselves. That's hard, but I think it's totally doable. I'll eventually learn people's short self-descriptions to the point where I can do them all myself, a goal in my preparation for the next event.
The meeting ran long, and I missed one of the cardinal principles of a lunch meeting: if people need to leave at a precise time, know that ahead of time so that they can be first to introduce themselves. Apologies to the three people at a table of 18 who didn't get a chance to speak up.
In the way of meaningless indicators of progress (a recurring theme), there were 3 people new at the table, 1 person newly moved to the area, and 1 person visiting from out of town. As far as I know, there was no one there who was currently a college student, which is unusual and must mean either that it is summertime or that the kids are enjoying Sonic Lunch.
Thanks to everyone for coming; I feel like I was perhaps a bit over-prepared this time, but I have a lab notebook to record the next meeting as well so I can make things a little better and smoother next time.
