Recently I attended the Google Summer of Code 10 Year Reunion. All the events there were set-up well for those that wished to drink and those that didn't. I think the significant things that I noticed that really helped were the following:
1. Good non-alcoholic options for those that didn't drink, also the events weren't at a bar. One was at the San Jose Tech Museum and the other was at a hotel. 2. Different spaces for people. Just meaning for example the Saturday event night had live music and board games. If the live music was too loud though there were places to retreat to not in the main ballroom. Of course this was held at a hotel so there were multiple room options. The board games in this case were really a nice touch for those drinking and non-drinking alike that maybe aren't that comfortable making small talk. Of course this is Google having a big event, so cost wasn't an issue. I do think there are lower cost ways to do this though. Especially if a conference is held at a university. In Washington DC when I lived there we had daytime events on the weekends that were usually a combination of mapping and editing data. Usually at a coffee shop or at one point outside at the zoo. Another option is offices, bookstores, coffeeshops, hackerspaces, community centers, libraries or other places that can be used for gatherings. Sometimes I find it funny having moved back from a country were the majority of the people didn't really drink (Indonesia) to the United States. There were way better non-alcohlic drinks in Indonesia as you might suspect. Though there isn't a reason not to have a couple options. Best, -Kate On Sun, Nov 2, 2014 at 7:05 PM, Serge Wroclawski <emac...@gmail.com> wrote: > Richard, > > Yes, it's quite significant. > > There are many events, eg at SOTM-US where I've felt very > uncomfortable both due to alcohol and noise. > > It's hard to find public places to hold social events that don't serve > alcohol, though. > > While I do drink on occasion (once every 3-4 months), I often feel a > bit uncomfortable with the alcohol culture of geek events in general. > > - Serge > > _______________________________________________ > talk mailing list > talk@openstreetmap.org > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk >
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