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Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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Rethinking Skype Conference Call Scenario
Meetup.com Cuts Freebies, Charges $230/year
An Austin Geek's Guide to Getting Over Yourself at SxSW
Too Many Words?
Meetup.com Cuts Freebies, Charges $230/year
An Austin Geek's Guide to Getting Over Yourself at SxSW
Too Many Words?
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Saturday, April 16, 2005
Rethinking Skype Conference Call Scenario
Skype Journal has me rethinking my opinion on Skype conference calls. As usual, I was thinking inside-the-box and viewing conference calls as requiring individual endpoint origination (participants should call into the conference.) Of course, with SkypeOut I can originate the conference and connect all parties. I had some initial resistance to the idea of having to pay for calls here in the states, having gotten used to calling anywhere in the US from my cell phone without additional fees. But SkypeOut's $.02/minute rate is less than half the lowest conference calling service I've seen, and the hassle factor is lower. Not requiring participants to remember a special number and passcode is a good thing.I'm still having lots of trouble with the 1.2.0.41 client, and Skype have not bothered to answer my support request. But once I get that cleared up I'll be adding some SkypeOut minutes and trying the conference calling feature. I'll still be adding the VoIP line for my main business number, but the Skype scenario is promising.
Posted by: 
Terry Frazier at 12:25 AM
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Categories: Business & Finance, Collaboration, Technology
Terry Frazier at 12:25 AM
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Thursday, April 14, 2005
Meetup.com Cuts Freebies, Charges $230/year
Meetup.com has put away the teat. It will be interesting to see if this starts a spiral down into nothingness.We have some news to share that we don't think you're going to like. There's no point in dancing around it so here it is. Starting May 1st, every Meetup Group will have to pay a monthly fee. Read on for the details.
How much? If your group starts paying in April, the charge is $9/month for the rest of the year. (If you wait until May 1st it goes up to $19/month). The substantial discount (more than 50%) is a "thank you" for being one of the first Meetup Groups.
Nine dollars?! To some, $9 every month may sound like a lot for an Organizer to pay, but remember, it's a group fee, not per person. If the Organizer splits the cost among the members who show up each month, it's probably $1 - $2 per person.
With a Thank You like that, I'm not sure Meetup users need any enemies. "Only $1 or $2 per user" is a tired, overused ploy that just doesn't work. Hundreds of internet services have died on the premise they could get a few pennies a day per user. I'm sure Meetup has lots of user stats and something makes them believe, however vaguely, they can pull this off. I don't know. I sure don't have the smarts of someone like Esther Dyson or the other backers, but this is such a drastic change that, to my cynical mind, it smells like VCs at DFJ have tightened the screws to get some profits rolling at any cost - maybe to pretty it up financially to try and unload it or something.
Meetup has never really taken off here in the south and maybe that colors my view. This will be interesting to watch.
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 8:35 PM
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Categories: Business & Finance, Collaboration, Strategy
Terry Frazier at 8:35 PM
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Tuesday, March 8, 2005
An Austin Geek's Guide to Getting Over Yourself at SxSW
I leave Friday for a fun-filled weekend at SxSW. I grew up in Texas and love Austin, but this will be my first time at the conference, so I was glad to find (via BoingBoing) Austin geekster David Nunez' guide to getting over at the show. David doesn't pull any punches and has some great tips. If you're going it's worth reading the whole thing:The unofficial geek guide to getting over yourself at SxSW Interactive 2005
Here's how you can tell if you have not had the full SxSWi experience:
You find yourself back in your hotel room for the rest of the night right after the last panel of the day. You haven't shaken hands with people who look and act nothing like you You haven't had dinner with complete strangers. You've stuck only to your clique of people that you see daily back at your hometown. You haven't attended the EFF / EFF-Austin / Creative Commons Party on Monday night (free drinks! free food! live music! delicious food! (I should know, I'm responsible for getting it)) You left Austin without fifty business cards of new contacts you expect to email at somepoint soon. You left Austin without the intention of calling 3 new contacts to meet up within 2 weeks of getting home You haven't crashed every clique you see You aren't smiling and smiling BIG You are talking more than listening, You haven't had a conversation or at least said "hi" to me, David Nunez. You don't have an orange, happy face sticker on your badge.
David has a great section on 'disconnecting' - you know, stopping all that IM'ing, e-mailing, and generally annoying keyboarding all the time - and talking with 'right here, right now' people. That's really why I'm going - to meet new people, stretch out a bit, get a little outside my comfort zone. So if you plan to go let me know and we'll connect. Should be a blast.
Here's a helpful list of restaurants around Austin. I have some dietary restrictions so the site is geared toward that, but it looks like a really good listing of local restaurants with reviews by people who have been there.
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 7:39 PM
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Categories: Collaboration, Productivity, Technology
Terry Frazier at 7:39 PM
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Too Many Words?
Here's a great idea for the graphics-challenged among us. I ran across it over on Creating Passionate Users (found via Innovation Weblog). It's simple but helpful - if you can't use graphics programs, or don't want to shell out a few hundred dollars for Adobe Illustrator, just brainstorm on a white board and capture the result with a digital camera.
I've written many times about the power of graphics and the need to include them in blog posts. And yet, I am woefully lacking in exactly that. Too many words sums up my approach to lots of things. As CPU contributor Kathy Sierra says, good graphics give you accuracy, speed, and access and are critical to reaching today's younger readers. She closes with this valuable advice:
Too Many Words
[...] before you write something, ask yourself "What could I do in a visual form (photo, illustration, cartoon, whatever) that would make this point?" and see if you can do it. If you don't know a graphics program, start learning. It's the 21st century, and I believe that skill with visual/graphic tools (you don't have to be a designer!) should be right up there with typing and writing. Just something everyone knows how to do. (Virtually all kids in US schools are getting some training in some form of computer graphics.) Not everyone who writes on a blog is expected to be Hemmingway, and not everyone who creates pictures is expected to be Picasso. Keep thinking back of the napkin sketch. If you're not used to thinking in pictures, it might take a little practice, but before long, you'll wonder how you got along with only words. : )
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 12:58 PM
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Categories: Collaboration, Learning
Terry Frazier at 12:58 PM
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This Page was last updated: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:06:57 GMT
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