Fall 3000 meeting by the Bay?
August 29, 2007
Rumors float this month, while the wheels turn for a November 3000 do, as the British would call a gathering.
Can the 3000 community keep itself from meeting? Signs during this summer point to no, and a novel meeting that is gathering steam by San Francisco Bay.
The year 2007 posed the prospect of being without a gathering dedicated to the HP 3000. But now a cadre of luncheon launchers, led by Europeans Alan Yeo and Michael Marxmeier, wants to give away place-settings once again. A limited capacity, one-Saturday luncheon and networking day meeting is emerging on the Euros’ dance card for November.
The pair of men, whose ScreenJet and Eloquence firms drove a 2005 HP 3000 Luncheon, appear to be at it once more. With pledged support from MB Foster and Speedware, and requests out to other key 3000 supporters, a weekend do, as the British say, seems likely to form.
Novelty has never been in short supply among the 3000 community’s developers and entrepreneurs, as evidenced by a new wrinkle in the meeting concept. The gathering will have an attendee limit — the talk is 50, maybe as many as 100. The agenda is wide enough to include updates on 3000 solutions for homestead and migration sites, but leaves room for informal dinner gatherings around a day-long event including a lunch.
The meeting, as-yet unnamed but being scouted, will be free. Attendees will bear only travel expenses — which can range from the Europeans’ Trans-Atlantic trip costs to a few gallons of gas for a drive to the area hotel. The payoff is a weekend day or so to network, trade tips and get updates.
In 2005 Yeo and Marxmeier, with on-site help from QSS founder Duane Percox, gathered about 25 customers and partners for a short-notice luncheon near San Francisco. Interex had cancelled its conference and gone bankrupt so quickly that 3000 community members got stuck with travel tickets to a city with no HP meeting.
This year’s instigators promise to give the community enough notice to book travel, or keep a weekend open — as well as a pledge to follow though with the event once it’s established.
At presstime of our printed issue, the details of this Bayside MPE Meeting — a monicker we use for lack of a finalized name — were still developing. Keep up to date with The 3000 NewsWire’s blog for particulars. In our office, we are keeping our November calendar ready for an MPE/iX networking trip. The current buzz has the gathering on the weekend of November 17.