Last night's SDM dinner...
... went pretty well, I think. We had 8-10 people, and most of them
were "new faces" in that they were people outside my cohort and ones
who haven't showed up in the past. Given that it was a busy school
night for current SDM students, I think it was a pretty good turnout.
Maybe, just maybe, there's enough interest to rekindle this informal
monthly networking event.
I used Facebook Events to organize this dinner, and it worked well.
The interface is simple and easy to use. Invitations and reminders
were delivered reliably. The RSVP mechanism is simple. Unlike
eventbrite.com, Facebook allows people to change their mind and
respond differently over time.
I made the event public, so it showed up on the MIT network events
calendar within Facebook. This turned out to be a blessing, as at
least two people who were not in my original invitation list found the
event and joined us. Not coincidentally, these two were new SDM'08
students: welcome aboard, Rob and Jeremy!
Of course, some of the usual party animals also showed up ;) It was
nice to see Sorin is back in town, and I hadn't seen Rehan, Rajiv, or
Anand in many months.
So Facebook Events worked well enough to retain, and turnout was good
enough to keep me motivated to continue organizing these dinners. If
you're not on Facebook already, chances are you will miss out on these
dinners. Join Facebook, and then join the SDM Group on Facebook.
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