During 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:

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

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

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

• \[http://wiki.apache.org/lucene-java/LuceneMeetupMarch2009 Lucene Meetup\]

• \[http://docs.codehaus.org/display/MAVENUSER/Maven+Meetup+ApacheCON+Europe+2009 Maven Meetup\] \\

Visit the above links to sign up!

If you'd like to organize an evening Meetup this year, please contact Arjé Cahn at arje(@)apache(.)org. We have room for 6 Meetups in total, 3 on Monday 23rd and 3 on Tuesday 24th of March, between 18:00 and 23:00.

Sponsored by:

• Hippo
• Lucid Imagination

If you are interested in sponsoring a MeetUp, contact Delia Frees: delia@apachecon.com

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
  

Things that worked out well in previous Meetups:

• Keep it short: short talks of about 15 to 30 minutes in length keep the audience's attention
  

Examples of successful Meetups

• The Cocoon [GetTogether] \[http://web.archive.org/web/20021211212225/http:/outerthought.org/cocoon/gettogether/ 2002\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20070731114515/www.orixo.com/orixo/events/gt2003/ 2003\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20070731114515/www.orixo.com/orixo/events/gt2004 2004\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20051218082652/http://www.cocoongt.org/ 2005\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20061128135645/http://www.cocoongt.org/ 2006\], \[http://web.archive.org/web/20071029162107/http://www.cocoongt.org/index.html 2007\]

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