During the ApacheCon Europe 2009 in Amsterdam, some Apache projects are hosting what we call "Apache Meetups".

The following Meetups are scheduled for ApacheCon Europe 2009, in Amsterdam:

• \[http://wiki.apache.org/portals/MeetupAmsterdam2009 Wicket Meetup\]

• \[http://wiki.apache.org/jackrabbit/JcrMeetupMarch2009 Jackrabbit Meetup\]

• \[http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WICKET/Wicket+Community+meetups+-+Amsterdam Portals Meetup\] \\

Visit the above links to sign up!

== What is a Meetup?

A Meetup is defined as:

• Organized by the members of the project community itself
• Covering an Apache project (like Wicket, Cocoon, Jackrabbit, Portals, etc)
• Having an open agenda, for which anyone can propose a talk, covering a wide range of subjects
• Bring together a diverse crowd: committers, users and people merely interested in a specific project
• Free or 'real cheap' for attendees (depending on sponsoring)
  

Also, Meetups generally:

• Happen during evenings or in off-peak hours
• Come with beers
• Are supposed to be fun
  

Some basic rules apply:

• Talks are 15 to 30 minutes in length
• Adhere from becoming either a Hackaton (too much hacking, which scared away newcomers) or an ApacheCon (broad, covering many projects)
  

== Examples of successful Meetups

• The Cocoon [GetTogether] \[http://web.archive.org/web/20021211212225/http:/outerthought.org/cocoon/gettogether/ 2002\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20070731114515/www.orixo.com/orixo/events/gt2003/ 2003\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20070731114515/www.orixo.com/orixo/events/gt2004\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20051218082652/http://www.cocoongt.org/ 2005\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20061128135645/http://www.cocoongt.org/ 2006\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20071029162107/http://www.cocoongt.org/index.html 2007\]

• \[http://cwiki.apache.org/WICKET/wicket-amsterdam-2007-11-30.html Wicket Meetup 2007\], \[http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=110019 Wicket Meetup 2008\]