Q & A
Why a JUG in Brussels?
See our answer here…
What activities do you organise?
Below are some ideas we have in mind.
- Java Dégustations
- Conferences, speeches and talks
- Expert cafés
- Coding dojos
- Lightning talk collections
- Barcamps / Unconferences
- Book sessions
- Workshops
- JUG Lunches and Sandwich’n'Java (small talk, 1h at luch time)
- Open Coding Evenings (Hackfests)
- Open-space conferences
Moreover,
- Visiting national and international events
- Attending other JUGs sessions
- Having enriching contacts with other JUGs
- Cultivate the Belgium and Brussels Java scene
Java Dégustations? Expert Café? What’s that?
Java Dégustations are, well, … just drinks … We gather in a nice (and calm) cafée/bistro to talk about Java and all. All you need is time and a coin for a glass of wine (In Vino Veritas!) or a pint of beer (Carpe Cerevisi!).
An Expert Café is something quite funny. Three or four “experts”, this means guys that have an expertise in a specific topic, sit at one table each. The attendees create small groups of 3 to 6 people and each group joins an expert table for a 30 minutes talk. This can be a Q&A session, a monologue or a mix of both. At the end of each mini-session, the groups do a “round-robin” (watch out, geek joke) to switch the table. At the end of the session, every group passed 30 minutes with each expert.
Barcamps are free conferences (so called ’unconferences‘) where all attendees must also contribute. (More Info)
During a Book session, the moderator reads selected passages of a book, which are then discussed, either in a monologue or a dialogue. The moderator can, but must not be the author of the book. This may sound boring, but doing this is a great source of inspiration and sometimes conducts the mind in undiscovered domains.
Coding Dojos are inspired by the Socratic Circle, a learning method that involves questions and debate between participants and teacher, illuminating different points of views. (More Info)
So…
In case you may ask, there is a bit of French in these names simply because it sounds cool. ;.)
You have more ideas? Please let us know…
Why should I use my free time to discuss cutting-edge technologies?
In the real business life, opportunities to work with the latest and hottest technologies are rare, but often such chances are coming up surprisingly. Then, it is often too late to catch-up quickly. Being part of a living community might give you the right impulses allowing you to not to be overwhelmed by the progress your industry makes.
… only Java?
Na! “Java” in the largest sense, which means “all what may be of interest for a Java coder or architect”. Things from the “agile” domain, like databases or alternative programming languages are part of the lot.
Can I help you guys?
Oh yes, you absolutely can:
- please do not hesitate to contact us and send us your constructive comments and propose ideas,
- check-out the Web site and come back to look for news from time to time,
- if you want to help us in terms of money, please consider to donate a small amount,
- join our Google Group (read via the web interface, if you don’t like mailing lists), our groups on LinkedIn and XING, and follow us on Twitter (tag #brujug),
- the most important: spread the word to your friends, colleagues and all people that might be interested by the project.
The more people we can gather, the easier it will be to find sponsors, organize cool events and find high quality speakers… and find more people to join the project…
Thanks!
Who is paying BruJUG?
Currently, expenses are covered by sponsors, donation and personal investments of the team.The books, all financial information and the articles of the association can be consulted at any JUG event.
So, you are looking for sponsors? Fine, but what do they get for their money?
Sponsors are the key to success, as in most associations without lucrative purpose. You can find more information about our sponsorship concept on this page.
How much do the events cost and what price models you envisage?
First of all, BruJUG is organized by members of the Java community for the Java community. All income in any form is re-invested into the JUG to realize more and yet better activities.
Having said this, let’s go back to the question: for the time being, all events are free to join. In return, we would like to ask you to respect our (time and work) investment as well as our speakers and be present when you register for an event.
Do I have to be famous to speak at the BruJUG?
Obviously, we would like to invite speakers that are known in the Java Community. This is not just for fun, but these guys are able to bring new impulses and ideas into the local community.
However, we are a Belgian group and we are highly interested to invite local people to speak in our meetings. One goal of the BruJUG is to cultivate and develop the local community and inviting local speakers is one of our favorite facilities to achieve this goal.
Nice, you looking for local speakers!
“Yes, we do!”
In fact, the more, the better! We would like to emphasize the Brussels Java community so what’s better to let the Brussels community speak out?
If you are interested in speaking about a technology or presenting your project, contact us. Please note that we (obviously) expect you to have the adequate expertise to present your topic.
I don’t feel comfortable in front of the crowd, but I would like to share my experience!
You are an expert in a specific domain, but don’t want to make an entire talk (2-3h)? Then you are the right person for an Expert Café (see above). To organise an EC evening, we need 3 or 4 specialist willing to lead table discussions. You can be one of them!
Do you accept speakers representing IT companies?
Yes, of course we do! Could you imagine us to reject Guillaume Laforge speaking about Groovy just because he is working for Spring Source? :^)
On the other hand we insist (and taking care) that the speech has a strong technical flair and does not become a commercial presentation.
What language is spoken at BruJUG events?
Belgium has tree official languages: Dutch, French and German, so we have a lot of choice. At the end we decided that our “official” language will be…. English!
Of course, during the event, you will hear all kind of languages and everyone is welcome, independently of the mother language.
What language are talks held in?
The Brussel’s Java people are all international. Already the BruJUG team reunites 3 nationalities. That’s why English is the language of our choice. However, exceptions are possible. In this case, it will clearly be indicated when the event is announced.
Your web page is grey! Boooooring!
*Ahem* Yes, well, we are currently working on our MySpace page using “good-old” 90s web 0.9 technologies – with a lot of colors and flashy gif animations. Stay tuned ;^)
How to contact you for questions and constructive comments?
Take a look at the “About” page, the “Team” page or the Google group.
Do you have a forum or a mailing list?
We have a Google group (see again side bar above), which is actually a bit of both. We kindly invite you to join us there. We are also on LinkedIn, XING and Facebook.
What did Juggy, the Java Finch, like most when he visited the Brussels JUG?
Guess… ;-)
(Last update: 21/09/11)
