PSIG Anniversaries

PSIG is the “Programming Special Interest Group” I host in the Chicago suburbs. The group celebrates two anniversaries this year. The first, in June, is PSIG’s tenth birthday. The very first PSIG took place in June 1996.

In some ways, it seems like forever ago. But mostly, it doesn’t seem that long at all. I mostly feel now like I felt then — that I have a whole lot to learn. Perhaps this is a ringing endorsement of the software development field, where you can read and work extensively for fourteen years (I started programming professionally in 1992) and still can’t see the horizon.

PSIG has evolved over the years. It started out meeting at a hotel conference room paid for by The NorthWest of Us Mac User Group (MUG). It would last maybe a couple of hours. MUG membership boomed so much, eventually we rented our own office and PSIG started meeting there. Those were the MUG’s heydays, and they weren’t destined to last. A little more on that later.

Having a dedicated office with street access eventually mutated PSIG. I never saw it coming, even though ostensibly I was in charge.

PSIG meetings started out fairly small, contained affairs. Small group, a couple of hours. Today, they’re essentially a geek party every month, perhaps one order of magnitude below DrunkCamp, but much along the same vibe. It’s been a long while since the meeting hasn’t spilled over into the next day. I’m usually driving home around 2 am.

Having the office to ourselves meant we didn’t need to be done by a certain time. I’m a night owl, and I really enjoy the group that shows up, so I’m the last one to put an end cap on the night. Over the years, I’ve corrupted most of the group to stay up with me.

At the last meeting, I think poor Dave Dribin finally got to start his presentation at 9:30 pm. And it was an hour-long preso. (Great presentation, by the way. I was especially appalled at Mac OS X 10.3’s poor password security.)

Pizza contributes to the marathon. After a few months in our office, I realized we could get pizza for the meetings. Insert applause. At first I got delivery, but soon realized there was a place nearby that I could just walk to. Initially, I would just have the meeting continue without me and I’d run over and bring back the pizza.

Quite organically, over the course of a few months, guys started joining me. There’s a convenience store next to the pizza place, so guys would walk with me to go get some drinks to go with the pizza. It got to the point where I’d have to lock up the office, since everyone was heading over there with me.

Now the pizza jaunt is a tradition.

These jaunts are surprisingly beneficial. There’s this interesting mash-up of who you’re walking beside, both going there and coming back. The group is large enough that they’ll be two to three independent conversations going on at once, in wildly interesting and divergent directions.

Predictably, PSIG attendance waxed and waned over the years, but I’m happy to report over the last three or so years, it’s been steadily climbing. In fact, the last meeting had record attendance, with all the seats taken and more having to be broken out.

Small point of pride: in the ten years, I haven’t missed a meeting (knock on wood). The worst case was when my father was rear-ended by a Coke-a-cola truck a few years back and I was late an hour or so (Mike Menze was kind enough to let that meeting’s attendees into the office where it could start without me).

Either fortunately or unfortunately, PSIG has lived long enough that not only did it see the start of the MUG office, it’s also seeing the ending. The office is going away sometime this summer, and PSIG will be migrating back into meeting in a hotel conference room as the MUG significantly cuts its burn rate by killing off the rent expense.

I’m unsure at how the migration back into a hotel conference room will effect the group’s dynamics. The pizza jaunt may become impractical, and the hours may have to be reined in to something approaching “normal”. One upside is the hotel will have free Wifi Net access, which is something sorely missing from PSIG today (or maybe not — folks concentrate on the speaker that way (except Dan Pourhadi who is so addicted he jacks in via his cell phone (and has no shame qualms about Googling the speaker’s topic))).

I’ve been kind-of looking around at possible other meeting places besides the hotel, but before I get serious I want to at least give the hotel a decent shot. There was all sorts of emergent behavior that sprung up when PSIG moved to the office. PSIG’s more mature now, so I’m sure there’s other interesting facets that could manifest.

I mentioned PSIG celebrates two anniversaries this year. Squeaking in just under the clock, the December 2006 meeting is scheduled to be PSIG 100 (WWDC 2006 was a close call at preempting August’s meeting, which would have pushed PSIG 100 into 2007).

It’s still too early to say much as things get hashed out, but if you’re the type who reads this blog, then you might want to be thinking about spending a night or two in the Chicagoland area around autumn. There’s something in the works.

Sunday, April 23, 2006
12:05 AM