UKPA Monday evening Zoom drop-ins

[Feadoor]

I won't be there since I haven't done the GP yet and am planning to squeeze it in! Hope it goes well

[Nilz]

Thanks for continuing to run these, Tom- I hope the lack of attendance last time didn't deter you, and I hope more than just yourself showed up tonight. I was unable to join as, like Sam, I've just been solving the thing! (So thanks for the reminder, as well!)
Couple of thoughts:
1. Is it worth setting up a mailing list (or potentially Whatsapp group?) to remind people that this drop-in is happening? I check my phone and/or emails much more often than this forum and often forget these sessions are running. Difficult to do without flooding people's inbox/ phones with notifications though (I personally would prefer a reminder a few days in advance so I can try to make sure I'm free if I plan on joining, as well as a couple of hours in advance just to make sure I've remembered, but not everyone may want so many notifications)
2. I'm sure this has been discussed before, but would a night other than Monday work better, so that us late-solvers can participate?

[detuned]

Both good points!

On the first, yes - I'm considering some kind of mailing list together with a semi-regular newsletter with round up of competitions, results, news, other random odds and ends together with maybe a puzzle. I definitely agree that relying on people to visit the forums isn't the best way of running things!

On the second, I should probably get around to organising some kind of poll, probably after getting a newsletter set up. I picked Monday as what felt like a convenient evening for me, although perhaps that hasn't worked out recently (I can't make Monday in 2 weeks for example). I think with the right kind of organisation though there is some appetite for these - I'll probably give it more thought once we get the last two GP rounds out of the way. For example we could still run as some kind of a club run, maybe with screen sharing and live solving and that kind of thing.

[detuned]

Hi everyone - I can't make Monday night this week, and probably not Tuesday either. Does anyone have a preference for later on in the week to have a zoom session?

[detuned]

If I don't have any responses by the end of today, I am going to cancel again

[jupilogy]

Hello! If there is one today, I will attend.

[Mblount]

Me too - though I'll probably be able to make other evenings if its organised for later in the week instead.

[detuned]

Yeah I can go ahead and host something at 8 tonight, usual details should apply

[detuned]

apologies, running slightly late, will have it started up in a second

[detuned]

I've started it up, details are:

Tom Collyer is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: UK Puzzle Association Monday evening drop-ins
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/9449677391?pw ... 1kOWljUT09

Meeting ID: 944 967 7391
Passcode: hTg4S6

[detuned]

My internet has temporarily given up the ghost, let me see if it wants to come back again…

[jupilogy]

It's been like a month since the last one, and we've got the Yajilin contest this weekend, so maybe we can meet tomorrow?

[detuned]

I don’t think I can host anything this week, but hopefully that isn’t stopping anyone who wants to get together and discuss!

I have meant to start organising a sort of regular club night in a slightly less slap-dash way for a while now, but haven’t quite got around to it. First thing is to be a bit more systematic with a poll about when is best for people and what sorts of things they want to chat about.

My initial conclusions from the sessions were that they were fun and worth persisting with, but definitely need a step up on the organisational front if they’re going to be sustainable (some of the sessions where no one showed up at all weren’t much fun for me)