August 22nd, 2006

As the dog-days of summer draw to a close, New York PHP Community will be trying something new for our August General Meeting. The New York PHP mailing list is regarded as one of the premier technical and non-technical discussion lists for the PHP and open source communities. This month, we bring the mailing list to life by opening the meeting floor to those with engaging questions and insightful viewpoints.

The format of this meeting will be quite different from the usual. Rather than a single presentation, we're asking community members to come and speak for no more than 5 minutes. These short "lighting talks" will be the basis for further audience participation, discussion and Q&A.

No slides or formal presentation material is required, and we encourage everyone to come and start a discussion. Discussions will be moderated, and capped at 30 minutes, at which point another lighting talk will be presented. Here are some tips for asking the right questions:

• Viewpoint and experience based questions and discussions are best


• Feel free to come prepared with a couple of URLs or other online material to help demonstrate your discussion points


• Don't ask How-To questions: These are best left for the mailing list itself


• NYPHP Talk Live isn't an easy way to get technical help - don't come with a list of homework questions. Think of broader, more engaging question and discussion points


• Technical discussion is encouraged, but think high school debate club or model UN - not physics class or a spelling bee

No prior registration is required (except to RSVP), and we encourage everyone to come with their questions and discussion starters. Laptops and Internet access will be available to aid in discussion and for short demonstrations.

Please join us this August as we break new ground, and help shape what could be a regular occurrence for NYPHP Community meetings.

Thanks to IBM for providing a great presentation space with seating for plenty.

As a service to our community, New York PHP Community meetings are always free and open to the public.