Once we decided to rent the new office (instead of working out of homes, coffee shops, and borrowed conference rooms), we started to think about all of the cool things that we could do once we had our own space. One idea, of course, was to host user group meetings. Some of the area user groups were facing finding new space, since their previous host (the Ann Arbor ITZone) had changed focus and was now going to start charging for the use of the space. We think that the user groups are worth supporting, and so one of the biggest criteria as we looked for space was room for events like user group meetings.
But then, as I mentioned, we started thinking about other things that we could do. One idea was Lightning Talks. We decided to start Lightning Talk Fridays, from 3-5 twice a month. They're free, open to the public, and the topics will be chosen by the people who attend, and we've added an SRT Solutions forum to manage the schedule, and allow people to get more information about them.
Just yesterday, we decided on the Lightning Talk schedule through the end of the year. I published it on our public events calendar. A few hours later, one of our readers pinged me and asked where the schedule was, and how to sign up (gotta love RSS). Turns out that she's going to be in town that day (from Ohio) and wants to do a lightning talk! Cool!
Anyhow, so I pointed her ar the SRT Solutions Lightning Talks forum, and I'll point all of you there as well. Please join us, starting on October 12 at 3 pm. We'll start the first lightning talk (10 mins in duration) at 3:15, and we'll schedule them every 15 minutes until 4:45 if we have enough topics. If you're interested in talking, please sign up. If you're interested in attending, please come! But either way, feel free to join the forum (you need to create an account, but it's free).
Lightning Talks Friday Forum: http://srtsolutions.com/forums/32.aspx
Schedule for October 12: http://srtsolutions.com/forums/t/1280.aspx