Almost every time I talk about Beer & Blog to someone, I inevitably have to find an answer to “What is it?” Over time I think I’ve come up with some pretty good answers (no, I don’t have a prepared answer for that question!), but today I’m taking it to the crowd!

So for all of you who have been to Beer & Blog, what is it? Why do you like it? Why would someone who hasn’t been enjoy coming?

Let’s here it now!

jtrigsby

Number One… Its fun! Even when we’re out in the big dining room, we still have a great time catching up with each other and talking all things blogging, social media, and tech! (BTW, I even called early this week… but they have a standing reservation each month that we ran into this time. Sorry)

Number Two… The food isn’t bad at all! In fact, I’m really diggin the Bratwurst and/or Currywurst dinner every Tuesday night. Reminds me of Germany!

and finally…

Number Three… Because you’ll have to be there to find out the last reason! Ok, I know… kinda lame, sorry… but its at least a pretty good attempt right?

Come on down to the West End Grill Tuesday night, in fact any Tuesday night, and meet up with the rest of us to talk tech! See ya there!

@jtrigsby

For those of you that were not at last weeks meeting, you missed a good one. We were one person short (and if you weren’t there… this means YOU) of doubling our attendance again! Its awesome!

One of the topics I brought up had to do with meeting structure (ik… business). Should we have a program, no program just talking, etc. After a little discussion and thanks to a great suggestion by Raymond (@strages) we’re gonna take a stab at it this week.

Following the Ignite model, we’re looking at two to three (or more, more the merrier) presentations, each limited to 5 minutes. The presenter can (should) use slides, maximum of 20, and they must auto advance ever 15 seconds. Lots more info is available on the Ignite web site (see link above).

The idea is to have a few presentations starting at 6:00. Between switching and what not, we probably have time for a max of 4 preso per meeting (about 30 minutes total). Then after they are done, if we want to chat about any of them, even several of them, we can.

If you have a topic you’d like to present, come prepared! I’ll have the laptop, projector and screen and should be able to handle any PowerPoint, Google Doc, Open Office, or Prezi type presentation. Don’t feel constrained by these, they’re just what I have easy access to.

Ok, so I have no idea as of right now what I’ll present on, but I’ll do one. Who else is up for it!!??

UPDATE: We have the room to the right as you come in the front door!

West End Grill 6610 Old Madison Pike

Just a quick note (to get the RSS feed moving) and to remind everyone that we meet EVERY Tuesday night, including tonight, at the West End Grill on Old Madison Pike. Here’s a map if you need it. I’ll have Twitter open if you need me. You can tweet @bnbhuntsville or @jtrigsby.

Look forward to seeing everyone there!

UPDATED!
Wow, what an AWESOME group we had tonight. Yeah, we weren’t blowing the doors out of the West End Grill, but we Doubled In Size again this week! Fantastic chatter around the table about our blogs, online activity, paranoia, php / mysql… just some good ‘ol stuff!

One subject that got a little traction was the topic of, um… topics. No, really! So far we’ve spent our meetups getting to know one another. As we continue to grow we’re thinking that having some scheduled topics might be a good idea. You know, the whole Power Point karaoke thing… what?… You haven’t heard of Power Point Karaoke? {grinning…} Well you’ll just have to come see that!

Be on the lookout for a new post in the next day or two regarding format and topic suggestions!

Thanks a ton to everyone who was able to make it tonight! We missed those of you who didn’t make it and hope to catch you next week… same blog time… same blog channel!

@jtrigsby

Once again we’ll be at the West End Grill from 5ish to 7ish so come and go as you need to… we’ll love to see ya!