South West, MO: Regional Monthly Meetings

[kdd121s]

At the last South West MO Regional Meeting, we discussed the idea of arranging monthly meetings. I guess we will start the ball rolling with some initial questions. 1st: should we have the meetings at the beginning, middle or end of every month? 2nd: what day of the week works best for everyone on average? 3rd: what time of day works best for everyone on average? 4th: what city should the meetings be held? 5th: should we rotate which cities we meet at every month? 6th: what venues within the selected cities should we hold the meetings at? These are just some starting questions to get the discussion ball rolling.

What generally works best for me: part of the month doesn't matter to me, Sundays, afternoon to evening time, cities I am flexible with as long as it is at or under an hour drive, I know some good coffee shops in Springfield (other cities I am not too familiar with their venues).

We should probably keep this thread as a sticky so that new people can add their ideas and so that we can adjust things as problems arise. By problems I mean things that might necessitate changing: day, time, city, venue, etc. This will also allow people to arrange car pooling if necessary. I hope that this will be a helpful starting point for discussing our monthly meetings. Well, I am done yammering for now .

[Eighttrucktires]

I like the idea of a Sunday afternoon. I was hoping the next meet could be The Sugar Rush.
Meet at a local park with us bringing decadent deserts to share. With a nice caffeine and, nicotine finish.......

[defdave]

If it's on a Sunday and there's sugar a'plenty, count me in.

[trukinlady]

kdd121s;

Great post!

I'm throwing in my 2 cents worth, IMHO

I vote for the 2nd Sunday of every month in the afternoon. If we choose a restaurant location, it won't be in the middle of a lunch or dinner rush. I also think we should consider a location where we can be noticed by the public. Maybe we can get others interested in e-cigs.

There are benefits to having different locations. The down side: it can be confusing to keep track of. Especially if you're unfamiliar with a certain area.

I think we also should keep in mind a venue that will allow for expansion of our group. If we start in a small area, we won't have room for more members as time goes on.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's ideas!

[defdave]

Also, how about a centralized location like Springfield that would be easy for folks to get to from Joplin to the west, Bolivar to north, Lebanon to the east, and Branson to the south.

[kdd121s]

In all honesty, Springfield has more venues that would be ideal for our gatherings and it is centralized for the most part. There are several lounge/coffee shops in Springfield that have plenty of space for our group to expand. Two that are off the top of my head are The Mud House and the Mud Lounge. Both offer Hors d'oeuvres/pastries/small serve foods and a good variety of drinks. Both venues are comfortable settings and are very nice. I am curious to hear what more members have to say.

[timothymass]

I wouldnt be opposed to having it on a sunday evening we will just have to see what others will be able to work around

[timothymass]

hey kdd121s you didnt vote on your own poll lol

[quasimod]

Sorry I missed the 1st meet, guys. I don't want to vote in the poll, because I have no preference. With my schedule, any day is as convenient (or inconvenient) as the next.

[kdd121s]

Here are two ideas for locations in Springfield, MO that we can use to hold our South West, MO Regional Monthly Meetings: Mudhouse & Springfield Brewing Company. Both locations: are open till at least 10:00 p.m. on Sundays, child friendly, serve food, comfortable seating, large enough to allow for our meetings to expand, have WiFi, clean, nice, laid back, etc.. Another bonus is that both venues have web pages that all of you can look at and access. Below are the links to their web pages:

Mudhouse :: Home

Springfield Brewing Company - Home

I figure the Springfield Brewing Company will be the more suitable of the two options as it is larger and encourages larger gatherings. From what I can gather from the other posts in relation to the South West, MO Regional Monthly Meetings: does the Second Sunday of every month at 6:00 p.m. in Springfield, MO sound like a reasonable compromise? Let me know what you all think and then we will create a tentative calender and full commuting directions for our monthly gatherings. Look forward to hearing from all of you. Cheers.