Re: December meetings
Re: December meetings
- Subject: Re: December meetings
- From: email@hidden
- Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2002 07:37:01 EST
Our group does a Holiday Dinner (in deference to members who do not celebrate
Xmas - like myself because I am Jewish and our atheistic/agnostic members).
So December's meeting is a non-meeting meeting. We meet at a local
restaurant. It is "dutch-treat" and the arrangement is made ahead of time for
separate checks with restaurant management.
While RSVP's are not required we do ask members for the courtesy of a
response by 2 days prior to the event so the restaurant knows if they will
need to add extra waitstaff. Then we add 6 to that number. To date this has
worked out fine and we have never been off by more than 2 or 3 which is
manageable for the restaurant.
Attendance at this event is usually better than attendance at meetings with
approximately 75 to 100 people showing up. The one big thing is that at this
event very little business is discussed. We try to make it purely social and
not even discuss computers (although we have one fellow who just does not get
it and when he shows up whoever is next to him gets an earful on his old Macs
and his problems...c'est la vie).
Being as January 1st is a time for new beginnings it becomes a time for
housecleaning as well. At the December event all the tchatkes that have been
picked up at tradeshows as well as software that has accumulated over the
year and not been raffled off or given to someone to review are given out as
gifts. We do this raffle-style. People are draw numbered tickets when they
arrive out of a hat. Items are already numbered and in a large box. Towards
the end of the evening (after entree but before dessert) quantity of tickets
left are counted and if there is enough for everyone to have a second and
possibly a third ticket people are invited up to draw an additional one or
two tickets. Then items are pulled out of the box and numbers announced.
Spouses, significant others, friends, children (as a matter of fact anyone
except pets) are all invited to the dinner and everyone gets to participate
in the drawing.
Additionally we make sure to give something to the members of the waitstaff
that were assigned to us and prior to the checks being handed out an
announcement is made concerning proper tipping and the easy way to do it.
(Here with a 5.25 percent meal tax I suggest that folks leave 3 - 4 times
tax; if we meet across the state line in NY where it is 8 percent I suggest
they double the tax or leave twice plus half...this helps prevent the
waitstaff from being stiffed as some members rarely go out and have no
knowledge about tipping.)
By the way - if you choose to do an event like this it is best to book the
restaurant well in advance like by the end of September. This gives you two
meetings to hype the dinner plus time to ask local vendors for donations if
necessary.
Additionally several members may have software they have purchased over the
course of the year that did not meet their needs and may be willing to donate
it for the party along with assigning their rights to whoever wins it.
Finally, if someone (or several folks) in your group is/are willing, keep an
eye out at places like CompUSA and other vendors. Many of them will have
specials throughout the year that are "free after rebate." Another way to
build up a great prize collection for the party. All this is explained to
attendees and no one seems to mind at all.
Hope this helps.
Peter
P.S. - we do a pot-luck during the summer.
Peter A. Weissenstein
Vice--President/Industry Liaison - AppleCore Berkshire County
Apple Product Professional 2000, 2001, 2002
email@hidden
In a message dated 12/8/02 1:05:42 AM, Richard Huggins writes:
>
If some of you clubs do a Christmas emphasis of some sort in your December
>
meeting, I'm curious as to what you do. Do any of you decorate your meeting
>
room? Have a Christmas-themed program of some sort? Do any of you do a
>
full-blown Christmas dinner, catered, at a restaurant or pot-luck? Other
>
ideas?
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