Well - it was a fairly uneventful meeting; I'm kinda embarrassed to admit it, but the other person who attended, while I got his real name, I don't think I ever asked for his handle - I am going to assume it was artjumble until I know more...?
The coffee shop was nice, and not crowded, nor loud. We ended up leaving a little after 8pm - where we were sitting was beginning to be used by a performer setting up, and we both needed to get back home.
I think next time we'll leave the meeting at an hour, given how this one progressed. From our discussion, I am also going to try to find something more central Phoenix, rather than "west side", if I can at all swing it.
I'm also going to get in contact with HeatSync/Gangplank, and talk to them about things; see if they want to help set up a "central/west chapter" or something. Maybe they could help get the word out. So far things are looking like it should be more general in focus, though I would like to keep the Arduino in there - we'll see where that goes.
I am also going to look into seeing how I can "get the word out" better on other forums - since I am a subscriber to Make, Nuts and Volts, and Servo magazines, maybe there might be forums or something I could use to get the word out there...
Anybody have further suggestions? Phoenix is a big city, there have to be more than just a few people doing Arduino and/or electronics/robotics/interfacing -type projects, right?
Hmm - does anyone know which "big company" electronics firms are in the valley still? Motorola? Honeywell? Intel? Would it be worthwhile to contact them, see if they could help spread the word to their employees?
