Good day,
Below are the summaries of the last two meetings held in April and May 2010.
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In order to maintain a level of security, we will have to check names we do not recognise from meetings or the emails until we have established our Forum rules. The forum rules are not yet established, but they will be available shortly. Until then, please moderate your posts with the level of professionalism the group aims to reflect.
Regards
Patrick Nairne
May 27 2010
At The Bloomsbury
236 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8EG
Danny Green, Kenn Jordan and Patrick Nairne
Apologies: John Christopher
This meeting was all about the launch of the new website and forum of the BEPN.
I wish to say on behalf of the group, many thanks to Kenn for his incredible effort to produce this extremely professional, polished and feature rich site. This site is considerably more powerful than the current needs of the group and is ready for anything we can throw at it for sometime to come. Please remember that Kenn has not charged for the development, design, hosting, cost of the URL or management of the site which would have earned him into the thousands if done for a paying client. At some point, the group will need to shoulder this.
BEPN.co.uk is the first port of call for information about the meetings and for keeping each other informed. There will be no more group emails unless the site is unavailable.
It would not be practical for everyone to be given administrator access to the whole site, but everyone is expected to do more than just post messages. There is need for members to moderate at different times to ensure new applicants can be approved and their posts checked before being published. Moderators also function to ensure the forum rules are adhered to.
The site still has an enormous amount of work to be done to by the group. The site is a shell, which requires content such as the forum rules. For now, there are many things that need to be done, so massive early contribution is required by all.
Members are encouraged to match Kenn’s efforts by really communicating and turbo charging the information flow so that we can build the group. There were many suggestions on how we could tap into the incredible features of the new website including adding members’ areas for galleries and polls to determine monthly meeting topics and education slots.
With the last few turnouts being low, the Pro lounge of Jacobs was not booked. Jacobs have been kind enough to provide their facilities for free, but the numbers must justify their kindness.
The first social meeting is planned tentatively for June 10 2010 at the Bloomsbury. This is awaiting booking confirmation. See BEPN.co.uk for updates.
Once again, welcome to the BEPN website, please consult the site for future information.
______________________________________________________________
April 29 2010
At the Pro Lounge of Jacobs Photo Video & Digital
on New Oxford Street
Danny Green, Kenn Jordan and Patrick Nairne
Apologies: John Christopher and Julius Pottinger
Wireless transferring of files is now possible for system users of almost all makes. This is possible through Eye-Fi products. A demonstration against Canon and Nikon systems is planned for the next meeting.
A group insurance policy requires a formal group to be established. We are some way off that at the moment, so a group insurance policy is not possible right now. Members wishing to loan equipment to each other will need to ensure the member to whom they are loaning the equipment to, is carrying adequate and appropriate insurance cover.
Danny came up with a really great suggestion. We could schedule a social meet in between the formal last Thursday meeting. This could introduce new members to the group with a more relaxed setting.
Lisa Newton of Boogles Ltd is an experienced book keeping company director who is willing to share vital knowledge on business financial management to the group. This can only be viable with around 15 to 20 members.
The group needs a forum-based website to simplify the process of communication. Kenn will be working on this so we can begin communicating for the next meeting.
The meeting time is restrictive for members for whom photography is a part-time job alongside their main income job. This may not be possible though due to the time constraints imposed by the meeting venue and the impact this would have on the full-time photographers.
It is important for members to consider using other networking environments to expand their business opportunities. The group should also consider bringing event organisers on board as group members.
Next meeting scheduled for May 27 2010
