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One of the great staples - and most fun parts - of online communities is, ironically, the chance to meet offline. It’s something that I’ve enjoyed greatly throughout my career. Since joining Stack Overflow, I’ve wanted to do them here as well. It’s a valuable opportunity for staff to meet with the folks who really make the sites work and to get the chance to hear directly from you. So I’m delighted to announce that our first “Stack IRL” in-person community event will take place on Thursday, October 10th, from 6-9 PM ET in NYC!

If you are in the New York area, I hope that you will join Stack Overflow’s CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar, myself, Adam Lear, Rosie, and Sasha for the evening at a venue in Midtown. We’ll have beverages and food, and this will be an opportunity to mingle with us and one another. There is no formal ‘program’ outside of a brief welcome and the chance to chat with each other.

Space is extremely limited, so if you are interested in attending, please sign up ASAP. We understand you may want to bring a guest, so there is an option on the form to let us know if you plan to bring a “plus-one” (Because space is limited, we can only accommodate one guest per person). We’ll keep RSVPs open for two weeks, and we’ll send you the location (or let you know if you are on the wait-list) once we close them.

We hope that this will be the first of many in-person meetups in the future. If it goes well, we will look into doing more of these in other major cities. I really hope that if you are in the NYC area, you’ll join us. I’d love the opportunity to thank you in person for everything that you do to make the site (and the whole network) a success and a vital part of the Internet’s infrastructure.

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    mumble mumble... IRL... grumble mumble
    – JNat StaffMod
    Commented Sep 9 at 21:51
  • Lol. Maybe next time @JNat 😁
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Sep 9 at 23:15
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    @JNat suppose it was being held where you're located, would join in such a case?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 10 at 12:55
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    I suspect the grumbling is more the implication that this waves hands at the pervasive Internet is somehow still not really part of Life, @shadow
    – Shog9
    Commented Sep 10 at 14:54
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    What Shog said, yes xD
    – JNat StaffMod
    Commented Sep 10 at 20:46
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    @DanMašek • Limited number of spaces; • Only one guest; • A datetime with 10 in it; • “beverages and food”… I'm pretty sure Prashanth intends to eliminate attendees one-by-one (as an ironic consequence of their vices, of course, and not at all deliberately) until only one remains, at which point he will offer them the position of CEO during a remarkable demonstration of Stack's space programme. (How does it work? Why, unicorn power!)
    – wizzwizz4
    Commented Sep 11 at 10:46
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    Haha @wizzwizz4 - you've cracked the code! Jokes aside, I'm really looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible IRL and having a great conversation.
    – Prashanth Chandrasekar Staff
    Commented Sep 12 at 14:40
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    Why not just tell us how many spaces there are instead of that cryptic "limited space"?
    – Lambie
    Commented Sep 14 at 17:05
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    @Lambie - Its to save face in the aftermath, there might be 50 spaces but when only 8 people with their +1 turn up, the photos won't be as embarrassing
    – Sayse
    Commented 4 hours ago

6 Answers 6

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For clarity, will those attending the event earn Not a Robot badges on Stack Overflow?

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    Happy to say that yes, we're taking the "Not a robot" stickers with us and we will be assigning the badges to those in attendance who appropriately complete the necessary steps as laid out on the stickers (basically, you go to a particular site and enter your ID number from the sticker while logged in.)
    – Philippe StaffMod
    Commented Sep 10 at 2:37
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    What if we are robots?
    – End Antisemitic Hate
    Commented Sep 10 at 3:43
  • 11
    Be in disguise?
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Sep 10 at 5:51
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    @Philippe I didn't know there is also a sticker. Is there a picture/screenshot of it somewhere?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 10 at 6:12
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    But there are no events planned.
    – Martin Schröder
    Commented Sep 12 at 13:37
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    @MartinSchröder - yeah yeah, i'm behind on that. It'll get up. :)
    – Philippe StaffMod
    Commented Sep 12 at 14:38
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I can't take part as I'm bit too far, however I'll ask some questions for the benefit of others.

  • Are there any requirements related to the SE profile of the one who send the request?
  • If not, how would you choose? Is there e.g. consideration for mods?
  • What is the "Code of Conduct" for those who arrive and will meet the CEO? (e.g. how to approach him, what can and can't be asked, etc.)

Enough for now, let others ask the rest, if interested.

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    Responding in order: * Requirements: none, other than that you be willing to attend if invited, or to let us know that you won't so thaat we can pass along the spot. * We're going for a representative mix of folks. We're not going to bias toward all mods or all non-mods, but you're goingt o need to have SOME involvement to be considered. One or two comments likely won't do it. Beyond that, I believe the intent is to bias toward early responses. * There are no rules for that, beyond the bounds of courtesy. We believe that folks here are generally respectful and he has indicated (cont)
    – Philippe StaffMod
    Commented Sep 10 at 2:34
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    (cont.) no questions are out of bounds. Obviously, we're trying to talk to as many of the folks there as possible, so please allow others to ask questions, after you've had a chance.
    – Philippe StaffMod
    Commented Sep 10 at 2:35
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The options format in the last question is weird.

enter image description here

You should be using a radio button instead of checkbox.

enter image description here

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    thanks for catching that! I switched that question to multiple choice, so only one option can be selected
    – Sasha StaffMod
    Commented Sep 10 at 14:38
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I'd suggest streaming the meeting on Twitch and YouTube if you want the event to have reach. That's what everyone else seems to be doing these days.

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    Depends if this is just a meet and greet, or whether Prashanth/Phillipe will be giving a speech or anything. Watching randos mingle isn't that useful :)
    – Robotnik
    Commented Sep 10 at 0:46
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    @Robotnik you mustn't have been watching what the regular Twitch content is. No speeches needed, just meeting and mingling is enough to make for great entertainment. If someone wants to make a speech that's a plus but IRL itself is the main event.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Sep 10 at 0:49
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    I dunno. I'd liken it to streaming PAX or Comicon. Watching people mingle at a distance from a camera on a stand? Boring. Streaming panels, presentations, or keynote speakers though? That's something worth watching.
    – Robotnik
    Commented Sep 10 at 0:52
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    @Robotnik off course not, have someone from staff or attending walk around taking the audience/chat along for the mingle. I pledge to spam emotes in chat.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Sep 10 at 1:04
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    "regular Twitch content"... Well, to clarify, 'Just Chatting' is a relatively new directory, and kinda cringe. But, yeah, that's most of Twitch nowadays.
    – M--
    Commented Sep 10 at 1:09
  • @bad_coder - That I could get behind :)
    – Robotnik
    Commented Sep 10 at 1:14
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    It being streamed/recorded would also mean folks (not only staff, but also attendees) would need to be more guarded/careful. Unless there's anything actually worth streaming, it would probably not be worth the cost/effort.
    – V2Blast
    Commented Sep 10 at 1:43
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    @V2Blast You need to be guarded when walking down the street if you don't want to be filmed. (Isn't it a US legal saying: no privacy is to be expected in public places?!) But ok, if they want an event for a handful of people in NYC and leave everyone else out that's fine by me. I'm sure Philippe would have some great party lines and good talking points, I was looking forward to hearing him in an informal setting.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Sep 10 at 1:54
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    I appreciate your confidence in my party lines. I’m already warehousing appropriate dad jokes for this event. However, the main purpose of this event is for us to connect with folks in person and I think a random camera following is going to change that dynamic. We have other plans for other types of things to communicate in other ways. And yes, YouTube streams are one that I would love to trial at least once, for content that’s well suited to that medium. Probably best not to waste that on my dad jokes.
    – Philippe StaffMod
    Commented Sep 10 at 2:27
  • @Philippe but selfies won't hurt, and will give those interested something to show to their grandchildren, when the day will come.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 10 at 6:11
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    Dad jokes? I'm too old for dad jokes.
    – user4581301
    Commented Sep 11 at 0:26
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    @Philippe: Now I demand a YouTube stream of nothing but your dad jokes... :P
    – V2Blast
    Commented Sep 11 at 17:21
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Just for what it's worth, this is not actually the first.

Back when SO was (fairly) new, they had a few in-person events. I went to one at the office in Denver (which I'm not sure exists any more, but did at the time).

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    Pretty sure Denver still exis- oh, the office. Ah, good times... I learned the existence of "bourbon bacon apple tarts" at one of those, and still occasionally make them for myself.
    – Shog9
    Commented Sep 11 at 2:53
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    Hey @Shog9--in fact, I spent most of my time at that event talking to you...
    – Jerry Coffin
    Commented Sep 11 at 4:21
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    Well while I'm the last to take the side of the current management, I'd say it can be considered the first such event under the current management. :) (Assuming your intent is to defy the usage of the word "first" and Jeremy edit being rolled back)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 11 at 6:21
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We’ll keep RSVPs open for two weeks, and we’ll send you the location (or let you know if you are on the wait-list) once we close them

How large do you expect this event to be? How will the attendees get selected? Is it on a first-come-first basis or will there be a some sort of lottery? If I add a plus-one, would I get lower priority if a lottery is implemented?

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    Partial answers to your questions are in this comment by Phillippe. No indication of whether those bringing plus-ones would get lower priority.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Sep 13 at 10:55
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    Adding a plus one will not give you lower priority in being added to the list of attendees. We want everyone to be comfortable and we know that bringing along a friend, partner, or coworker can help with that. However, for people who end up being invited from the waitlist, we may not have space to include their plus ones. We will send more information via email to folks who sign up.
    – Sasha StaffMod
    Commented Sep 16 at 14:01

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