LessWrong Hamburg First Meetup Notes: Starting small

Review of our LessWrong Hamburg First Meetup:

I arrived early and the location was somewhat crowded and the reserved table in the back had been replaced by a center table—but I managed to switch for a better one.

Then I put up some books and a sign and was quickly greated by the first LWer.

We started with smalltalk, finding common background quickly.

I had brought some books from the LW reading list I had in my collection and surprise: Half of them were recognized and the remaining quickly started a discussion (the Kahneman I later lent to C.F.).

Some friends trickled in and after some introduction we played Wits and Wagers and then Pandemic (without biasing because the game was new to most).

Summary: The Meetup was a success for me. We introduced some friends to LW ideas and we enjoyed a lively discussion not without controversy. I adapted to the Meetup format easily.

One idea I had was a Meetup Diary which I used to plan the Meetup and take notes in. I think it still beats digital for things like quick notes and diagrams. I had it handy to check our schedule, draw Bayes diagrams and write down a telephone number. I plan to have it around and maybe lend it to later Meetup organizers.

Outlook for the next Meetup: We planned it for Friday 21th in company offices somewhere in Hamburg, Altona (thanks to F.R. who will confirm the location later with a separate Post).

Topics will be then

Procrastination (I committed to read up and present some techniques in exchange for C.F. committing to use beeminder).
More discussion of LW topics, most likely: effective altruism
I will bring books and games again.

More Meetups will likely follow roughly every fourtnight and alternating Friday and weekends.