At Dayton Dynamic Languages last night, we watched a great video, "Git for Ages 4 and Up". ("WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not For Children Under 4 Years.") We had a great time, and I learned a bunch of things that I literally put to use for work on the bus home that night.
So, what's the difference between watching a video at home and watching it at a user group meeting? The all-important pause key. Every couple minutes, one of us would say, "Wait, what?"; we'd pause and discuss. Discussion is always the best part of a user event; anytime I help organize an event where the attendees don't start talking to each other, I'm disappointed. DDL never has a problem with discussion, but the video acts as a great tool to help seed and drive the conversation.
Now I'm thinking that all sorts of groups may want to add an occasional Movie Night to their regular meeting schedule. There are plenty of great video sources like Python Miro Community, but watching with your friends adds enormously to the experience.
[Hi to all my friends at CodeMash! Sorry I'm not there... next year in Sanduskalem, right?]
