| Description of Novice SIG Meetings The Novice SIG meets at Mack Trucks, Inc. in their World Headquarters building. We meet in the Auditorium, which is a very nice facility. Our meetings are very informal. We sit around tables placed in a "U" shape, facing a projection screen. Bill Armstrong usually supplies his laptop from his work, and the Club has a nice projector that hooks up to the computer, and displays the computer's screen onto the wall screen. Though the meeting officially starts at 7:30 pm, people often arrive as early as 6:45 or 7:00 pm, and we all chat about our computers and our interests. There is no structure whatever during this period. We have had as few as 10 people, and as many as 45-50, but the average is around 20-25. At 7:30 we start the meeting with a general question-and-answer period. Many of the answers, or suggestions, come from the people attending. This Random Access period lasts about 30 minutes, and then we start the topics for the evening. Audience participation continues as we discuss the topics. The projector allows everyone to see what is happening on the computer screen. We finish around 9:00 pm or slightly later. Some people hang around and chat, or ask more questions then, as we pack up the projector and computer. |