First Meeting Scheduled - Thurs Feb 11th 7PM Google Midtown

Google has agreed to host our first meeting (Feb 11th, 7PM) at their Midtown offices!  

Google Atlanta
Millennium at Midtown
10 10th Street NE
Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30309
Phone: +1 404-487-9000
Fax: +1 404-487-9001

I am excited to get this group started, and to meet everyone and learn more about Google technologies! Please help get the word out, let your friends know, and join the Google Group - http://groups.google.com/group/gtug-atlanta.

The lineup will be a short intro about the group and the plans for it, by me, and then a presentation by Chris Ramsdale (Googler) on GWT best practices.  After Chris' presentation we should also have time for a round of 5-6 lightning talks - quick talks by *YOU* that last only 5 minutes or so, on any topic related to Google Technology you want. This should open up things for discussion and get us talking, and it gives people who haven't had time to pre-schedule things an opportunity to speak to the group. (We will likely have time for 5-6 of these per meeting, so everyone may not get a chance each time, but I will bring a sign up sheet or such, if you don't get a chance on one occasion, there will be another.)

A few procedural notes about the setup, attendees will have to sign the standard Google Badge/Meeting NDA (I will attach a PDF copy of the agreement to this group for review, nothing shocking in it, just standard letting you in to the inner sanctum type stuff), and there is no free parking at the building. The building has a 24/7 parking lot that accepts credit cards, just not free. Another option is the 10th street MARTA station which is right next to the building.

Hope to see you there! Again - Feb 11th, 7PM Google Midtown.

Incubation Phase

I spent a little bit of time on the site here today, and created a new Google Group - http://groups.google.com/group/gtug-atlanta. 

Please join the group and let fly with ideas. I would like to have a meeting later this month, to get on schedule for once a month in 2010. I Heard from Googler Chris Ramsdale today that we can likely use the meeting room at Google Midtown! Woot. With that all that is left really is a little recruiting, an agenda, and coming up with something to say!

As for general meeting format I think the idea of a mixed mode, with some time allotted for lightning talks, and then some time for a pre-planned speaker, is my favorite. I would like to organize things that way. 30 mins or so of anyone who wants to speak (with a strict 5 minute time limit, JavaPosse style), and then 30 for a speaker, and 15 or so for questions and general mayhem. Not too long, not too short.

I will make sure to keep this site up to date with the latest details.

Bootstrapping phase!

I am just getting started setting up an Atlanta GTUG. This site is the first artifact, but, once things are setup hopefully we will be able to roll pretty quickly.