benelux laser meet

[FourDee]

I may come depending on place / time (I'm a very busy person )

[mccarrot]

Arround may there will also be a ILDA conference in Amsterdam, hosted by hugo again.

What will be the best month to plan this BELEM meet?
end of November?
December is always a busy month for everyone, and in january everyone is bankrupt.

[colouredmirrorball]

For me it would be the best in a school holiday. There is one at the end of October, or the end of December. There is an extended week-end (is this the correct spelling? Why are we speaking English anyway, tis een verlengd weekend) 11th of july, I don't know how it is in Netherland.

FourDee, I saw once you live somewhere in Menen, maybe we could carpool?

[mccarrot]

Eind oktober ga ik niet redden met het regelen voor de locatie

Trussen voor de laser op te hangen, geluid (PA), ILDA Y splitters etc. heb ik allemaal.
Het is alleen afwachten wat de prijs is van de toplocatie die aan het regelen ben. De locatie is echter wel in Purmerend, (15 min met trein of auto van Amsterdam, en nog geen 5 min lopen vanaf het station)

Indien er weinig animo is kan ik ook nog uitwijken naar een klein bedrijfpandje, maar die is maar

Eventueel kan er in goed overleg een slaapplaats geregeld worden.

Verder zal het op een zaterdag of eventueel zondag gebeuren omdat de meeste hier toch gewoon werken.

[soforene]

Just my 2p worth.

This is primarily an English language forum and once threads start going off in other languages (be they Dutch, German, French, Spanish, etc.) then it's going to dilute the whole "essence" of what this place is.

• What if some English speakers wished to attend a *LEM based in another country but have no inkling due to not being conversant in that language?
• What if laser info was posetd in anther language that someone who doesn't speak that language was looking for?

I'm not xenophobc but I'd hate to see this place fragment.

What do other PL members think.......

[Zoof]

I completely agree with soforene.

[colouredmirrorball]

Sorry Soforene, it is just a lot easier to type in your own language.

What if some English speakers wished to attend a *LEM based in another country but have no inkling due to not being conversant in that language?

I don't think anyone would like to go to a place where you don't speak the language. But indeed, if somebody from Germany or something would like to attend, we would better speak English in that case.

Thanks mccarrot for... there you have it already, I have forgotten the word in English and I am too lazy to open Google Translations ...het organiseren van the event. No, that is ridiculous. I should better stop here...

[Anthony]

Fragment?????

because some Dutch and Belgium laserist are trying to come together and for ease of the conversation are talking dutch?
It's easyer to make things clear in dutch so there will be no misunderstandings.

Come on... you are really exaggerating it a little... we are not Laser terrorists trying to blow up the PHOTONLEXICON server with a earth orbiting space laser discussing the details in arabicDutch.

[soforene]

Please see post 15 in this thread for clarification.

[buffo]

Anthony;

Francesco (UncleWorm) is from the Netherlands, and yet he attended SELEM 2008 here in the US.

Likewise, Ray (Pitts) traveled all the way from New Zealand to attend FLEM Mark II in March of this year.

Bottom line: just because the event is in another country doesn't mean that people won't travel far and wide to attend the event. You should encourage people to come from afar.

As for the language issue - if you don't want anyone from an English-speaking nation to be able to attend your meet, then feel free to post in Dutch. However, I believe you are doing the community, and yourselves, a disservice by doing that. You may miss out on valuable tips from others that have already hosted several Laser Enthusiast's Meetings. (Particularly our UK members, who have managed to host some of the largest meets to date...)

Also, no one mentioned terrorism; why did you bring it up? (The lesson here is: Don't judge all Americans by our foreign policy.)

The "fragmenting" argument is based on the experience of numerous other forums that have split apart once certain groups started talking only to themselves. It's a low risk with our group, I think, but it *is* a risk nonetheless.

Just my 2 cents worth...

Adam