The latest edition of #SAPStammtischSYD was roughly 2/3 triumph & 1/3 disaster.
The triumph was that we had a great turnout. I would say it was around 30 people attending in a short space of time. Around 20 of these came from the SAUG (our user group) conference which was just down the street in the ICC. Another 10 people came who weren't at the conference.
We were dealt a difficult hand by the SAUG organisers, as this year the middle evening of the 2-day event was a Monday night. Can you get people to come out on a Monday night to catch up with their work friends, and also to make some new ones? Turns out you can!
@jeff_thad the bright idea to get SAUG to send out an alert about the event on the conference mobile app. That must have helped. We also told many people at the conference about the Stammtisch.
The disaster part was that the bar (Harajuku Gyoza) took last orders for food and drink at.....8pm! We did go on to another venue although we lost many people in the move, as is to be expected I guess. By that I don't mean that they were wandering the streets alone, rather than they decided to head home at that point to their loved ones.
I imagine that many reading this in big cities around the world will be amused by that early closing time. In truth Sydney is an early-to-bed town IMO, because folks get up super early to exercise (e.g. surfing, running, walking the dog....). Of course, Monday nights are probably the quietest of all.
What was especially gratifying was that we had a number of first-time attendees. I know that only a small fraction of the SAP ecosystem know about Stammtisch, so its great to see our reach grow.
Welcome new folks, come again and bring a friend next time!
Please let us know what you thought of the event. Did you like Harujuku? I think the highlight of that place is the food, but I noticed that during Stammtisch only a few people tried the food (there were some snacks at the conference drinks beforehand). I enjoyed my katsu curry, anyway.
We will aim to hold a Stammtisch to coincide with SAUG again next year, but I think we should consider a different venue, especially if it's on a Monday night.
Look out for a more summery (hopefully) Stammtisch around late November time this year. Does anyone fancy a return to Squire's Landing? Let us know in the comments....
PS Apologies for missing so many people from the photos....
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