While there are probably hundreds of people employed as Linux systems administrators, and hundreds more people using Linux at home for fun, in Cape Town alone, our Linux User Group, CLUG, isn't growing along with these numbers.  It should, though.  It provides two talks a month, on weekday nights, by some of the best people to talk about them, on both beginner and advanced topics, on programming to administration.  And it also has a dinner afterwards for people to meet and learn more about each other and help each other.  CLUG meets on the second and last Tuesday every month, with roughly 20 people attending the talks and about 10 people going to the dinner afterwards.

Growing the pool is making new connections, bringing new people into the community, providing new people to learn from and new opportunities for work or play.  It isn't necessarily about bringing new people into the field (but it is a by-product) so much as it is about making everyone in the field more aware of each other.

The "new" GeekDinner is one alternative off-shoot of CLUG that is about growing the pool.  It places the focus on the opportunity for people to meet and learn more about each other and help each other.  It also provides an excuse to attend in the form of short talks on a wider range than CLUG would normally cover.  Short talks that hopefully at least one of which will add value to a particular diner.  The talks serve two other purposes as well.  They provide an opportunity for people to speak, to learn to speak, to build confidence, and so forth.  And they also provide a way for people to find out what other people are doing, and to inform people about what you are doing, in the hopes that we'll experience serendipitous meetings between the right people.  There's a GeekDinner in Cape Town every two months (next is in three weeks time), and roughly 80 people attend (and often we have more people wanting to come than we can accomodate).

CTPUG, the Cape Town Python User Group, is another alternative off-shoot of CLUG.  Instead of an hour or two every two weeks on weekday nights with general topics, we meet for a larger chunk of time every six-or-so weeks on a Saturday and focus on Python and programming.  We haven't quite settled on a size, but I imagine we'll be having roughly 10-12 people attend the next two or three meetings, but the idea is to grow the pool by being focused and having fewer people, potentially to make stronger connections.

There are many overlaps between the group - not unexpected since in many ways both come out of CLUG (GeekDinner has multiple parents, some of which are also siblings or children).  As such, most CLUG talk regulars have attended at least one GeekDinner.  Most current CTPUG members are members of CLUG (but many don't attend the talks regularly), and almost all of those have been to a GeekDinner.

Both are still quite young.  The new incarnation of GeekDinner is younger even than CTPUG, and both are having their fourth meeting in the coming month or so.  GeekDinner is more obviously successful by size, but I have great hopes for CTPUG. 

Back to growing the pool...

Nobody is going to put on fancy conferences like SXSW, LugRadio Live, OSCON, Emerging Technology Conference, or Ubuntu Live, for us in South Africa until we show that there are enough people for such a thing.  And who wants somebody else's formula anyway?

So, I want to do something on 8th and 9th December.  It'll be self-organising.  Maybe it'll be presentations on one day, and a sprint on the next day.  Maybe I'll see if I can organise to give a full-day Python programming tutorial the day before the weekend for those who want to learn.  We'll see.

Anyway, unlike the previous times you may have heard me talk about this, it's in writing now.  It'll happen - diarise it.  Even if it's just pizza at my place and playing games on my large TV.

Oh, and remind me about it.  Pester me.  And give me ideas for venues and people and communities to talk to about this.  And ideas for a name that's taggable (ie, sufficiently unique that things tagged with the name are obviously about the event), or it'll be called "GeekCamp Cape Town" or something equally horrid.