Need advice on starting a Python group

[CM]

On Mar 11, 9:57 am, gb345 <gb... at invalid.com> wrote:
> I'm hoping to get advice from anyone with prior experience setting
> up a Python group.
>
> A friend of mine and I have been trying to start a
> scientific-programming-oriented Python group in our school (of
> medecine and bio research), with not much success.
>
> The main problem is attendance.  Even though a *ton* of people have
> told us that it's a great idea, that they're *very* interested,
> and have asked to be added to our mailing list, the attendance to
> our first few meeting has never been more than 5, including my
> friend and I.  Last time just he and I showed up.
>
> The second problem is getting content.  The format we'd envisioned
> for this group was centered around code review (though not limited
> to it).  The idea was that at every meeting a different member
> would show some code.  This could be for any of a number of reasons,
> such as, for example, 1) illustrate a cool module or technique; 2)
> present a scientific research problem and how they used Python to
> solve it, or get help solving it; 3) get general feedback (e.g. on
> code clarity, software usability, module architecture, etc.).  But
> in principle just about anything is OK: e.g. a talk on favorite
> Python resources, or a comparison of Python with some other language,
> or an overview of Python gotchas would all be fair game.
>
> Also, we stressed that the talks were not expected to be polished:
> no need for PowerPoint slides, etc.  Just project any old code onto
> the screen, and talk about it, or scribble stuff on the chalkboard.
>
> Still, we have a hard time finding volunteers.
>
> And even when we've had volunteers, hardly anyone shows up!

Do you advertise each time and describe what the topic will be for
that meeting and why the attendees should care?  That might make a
difference.  I.e., there's a big difference between:

a) The Thursday afternoon Python for scientific applications is
meeting, and I should remember that this week amidst all the other
stuff I have going on.

and

b) Wow, this Thursday there will be an hour workshop on how to create
publication quality graphs (somewhat) easily in Python using ready-
made tools...and there will be pizza!

Also, giving it a cool acronymic name doesn't hurt.  :D

Che