Closing out 2013

As announced yesterday in the August Meeting, our final small-scale meeting of 2013—not including the all-day Regional Conference on November 5th—will be a special one for many reasons.

Scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday, October 17th from 1:30 to 4pm, it’s going to be our first social-only networking event. While technical discussions are expected and welcome, there will not be any official presentations from that perspective. In fact, other than some housekeeping details—and the inevitable must-be-present-to-win door prizes at the end—there won’t be any presentations at all.

This is about the community: we’re basically doing one big “Beers with Ben.”

It’s also a special meeting because it’s the last meeting at the Boulevard Brewing Company for the foreseeable future. Don’t worry: it’s not because we did anything wrong, or because the fine folks at Boulevard doesn’t like us. Boulevard has made the business decision to stop hosting meetings during the workday so that they don’t have to worry about tours causing disruptions of meetings. It’s the simple reality that Boulevard’s tours have become so popular that they run them pretty much non-stop during the day: this is a good thing for our longtime hosts, and rather than whine & cry about losing our favorite meeting locale, the leadership of the VMUG salutes their success!

What’s next? We’re in discussions with Dark Horse Distillery in Lenexa for our bi-monthly meetings, starting in February.

Finally, it’s also a special meeting because this is the first time we’re openly inviting recruiters to play a role. Don’t worry if you’re not looking: interaction with the recruiters will be purely voluntary. But if you’re ready for a change—or are just looking to remind yourself of how happy you are where you are!—this should be an added reason to make this meeting a priority.

Recruiters: if you’re interested in taking a part in this special event, contact Tony Lux for sponsorship details.