this is a further outgrowth of http://groups.drupal.org/node/112639#comment-418719 so that people can throw in their two cent.
my two cent:
on the subject of the LA Drupal name. its kinda bogus. Drupal is community. its strength, like other FOSS projects, is involvement by people. doing. (talk is cheap) Chris and I have been working together to organize LA Drupal meetups since - (time warp). we met at DrupalcampLA 2007, he's a chill guy. last year more people volunteered to help us - so now we're all listed as organizers. recently, we reflected on the last nine months, and decided to have a single main meetup per month. i don't think we all decided this was important for the same reason, so the rest is just my opinion.
why one LA Drupal meetup? well from my perspective of last year: there were a bunch of people having meetups in the LA area (benno sebastian, techivist, matt2000, cgrant3d, sg3524, Sknight17, thund3rbox, jgordon, apperceptions, chris charlton, christefano, rainbreaw, plus me). that's awesome! Drupal is vibrant. but, with so many meetups, I believe it leads to a couple problems. the problem I heard about most was which meetup do I go to? the side effect, IMO, is smaller attendance of the larger meetups. neither the westside or downtown meetups had growth in attendance when compared to 2009 -- unlike 2009 to 2008, 2007, or the continued growth of the Drupal community as a whole. smaller meetups means fewer networking opportunity's. also, busier organizers spread thin between many meetups also felt to me like the presentations weren't at the same level month-to-month as in years past.
to me, having a single large meetup per month is vital to the health of LA Drupal. (I personally like smaller, very technical, very fun meetups where evil apple or microsoft workflows are not entertained... but i digress. plus, my interests are not always shared).
so, how to create a better usergroup? there isn't a single answer, right? i believe the only way to address all individual needs is to offer multiple solutions. let the community be organic. kinda drupalish, too, huh?
building on that, implicitly, one of those solutions must therefore be a big main monthly event. so, how do we start growing a main event, again? clarify. remove confusion as to which is "the event." something in the LA Area that everyone knows they can attend if they want a good presentation, good networking, good learning, good fun, maybe some banter, and hopefully some free stuff.
also, implicitly, one of the solutions is multiple meetups. and a small meetup. and that's the beauty of community. do it. i say we should all have meetups. lets share. grow. help each other. have a small event. or a design event. or an xdebug walkthough of Drupal going through each bootstrap phase.
having other small-ish meetups (aka, "non-big LA Drupal meetup") should address "other needs". such as people that don't like large meetups, or those geographically impaired by their bubble, or only want technical, or only want beginner, or designer, or... joomla. ack~! I'm kidding. obviously noone would ever want that. :-P
however, calling all of the meetups LA Drupal meetups, by its nature leads to (at least some level of) confusion. I mean, what if two LA Drupal meetups happen the same week, or day? run by different people? what if two are called "LA Drupal Main meetup" or "Downtown LA Drupal meetup?" hmm. keep in mind SEO and google are important for people to find us.
so, it's not that anyone wants to own the name -- even though LA Drupal is an unincorporated association -- but rather, in my mind we're shooting for clarity in order to better address the overall needs of (the weirdness of 80F in February that is) the Los Angeles metro area. Oh, and this last weekend's weather was an anomaly.
p.s. what about meetups on the west side. why? well, we had to pick. and probably mostly the result of "lazy" or maybe just reminiscing -- where those of us that have been going to LA Drupal meetups for years, still associate the west side as LA Drupal (RMI, Causecast/Mahalo, Causecast 2, SM Library, and now Media Temple). The westside has a lot of tech, web in particular. But more importantly, the westside has had more companies be kind to us. Seriously, if there's a company that wants to throw us a FREE VENUE that can hold 100+ people for a presentation, plus an area for breakout rooms, multiple projectors, wifi, guaranteed location for 1-2 years, free food,,, then hell ya, we're all over it. heck, even without the food. But that's the problem. free venue for lots of geeks. and consistency.
anyway, that's my logic on the la drupal schtuff.
omg,,, I totally rambled. see, talk's cheap. hope to see everyone at the main meetup. :-P tldr;
Comments
LA Drupal growth
Mike, thanks for posting your thoughts. We've tried letting people who attend the meetups know what we are doing and why. Our needs are not simple by far, but they seem so easy (free wifi for 60-100 people, nearby parking, food/drinks, projection, etc.)... it adds up and we're not a small group of people. I'm happy people always appreciate the organization and time that goes into making LA DRUPAL meetups (large and small) worth attending.
I think some perspective can help our members see how our issues and decisions (and direction) are not easy since there is no template we're blessed with to go by. LA DRUPAL is the 3rd largest Drupal user group in the world, right behind Brazil & New York City (and just in front of Washington D.C. and "The Bay Area" aka San Francisco area). So, four of the top five Drupal user groups are large metro areas in the U.S., and the one common thing us all of these regional organizers have in common: We admit some years/months are better or easier than others. There is no manual on how to navigate a user group, we just go on "Do your best as a community and don't forget to teach Drupal," or something like that (totally paraphrased). Nothing stays the same. While nobody should take anything or anyone for granted we still do. People now expect more from LA DRUPAL and we always want that. If we all continue to be involved then we should always have those awesome members who are able to do lightning talks and presentations on the fly. Sponsors and venues also doesn't always last, so keeping those dedicated and help them feel like there is a return will keep them in our pool. These relationships are usually maintained by the organizers but the general members are critical to that trust and relationship, because everything can change and at some point things will change. Honestly, its the job of the group organizers to absorb and reduce the negative any impact any change can have - like a venue moving or closing its doors, or no more pizza (OMG!) or enough raffle prizes, all of this matters because we're asked to keep it going.
Everything always relies on our members being continually involved. Reasons vary from interest to budgets (and the economy) all the way to more personal things like time, family, health. As a long time organizer, and having been involved with many other user groups outside of Drupal, these things always come up. The rock stars come and go. The luminaries often do the same. Quality can fluctuate and that varies usually based on market interest and how large the local community is (especially with businesses). If more people step up offering to do presentations ahead of time then our meetup calendar can be populated up front and allow people to know what to expect in a meetup. I have long hoped to get more presenters lined up but the volunteer pool has shrunk, and there's nothing wrong just varied people's interest or time. It happens. We live with it.
We don't control everything. Nor want to. We're making sure people know what meetups are main focuses of the user group, and in no way are limiting other people from having additional meetups. We're hoping to see more targeted and focused meetups, for example if people are interested in the Downtown meetups becoming more Drupal Developer oriented then with the effort of a few volunteers that can happen. Please continue to have meetups/cafes/study groups/etc., and we'll continue to make LA DRUPAL an A-class group.
(Now I am going to sleep, so I may have left a thought unfinished above. Sorry if that is so.)
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
Rename the Managers, not the Group
It sounds like the name change needs to be for the "LA Drupal Managers" rather than giving the impression that that they somehow "own" the LA Drupal name. Whose name was on the paperwork for LA Drupal to become an "official" unincorporated association? If there is someone, then that person should be on a board of directors for LA Drupal, or something like that. A MAP should be the only thing that restricts the use of the name "LA Drupal." Create a list of cities considered to be part of the LA Area, having contact info for the names of Managers for that city or area.
Why not call yourselves the "LA Drupal Westside Managers" and be done with it? I think that LA Drupal has an organic way of operating. It covers everywhere from Ventura to Riverside and Orange. So why restrict anything to "LA County?" If I'm in Orange, I'd consider attending meetings in either LA or San Deigo. Some people in the LA area are members of a Santa Barbara Drupal group I think, and Boston - oh wait, that's too far :P.
It's not the community itself that's tied to geography, but the people who participate. Some people are managing, some are participating and attending. The Area Managers can be associated with a venue and geography, events can be associated with a venue, and so forth. We need to seek clarity in this debate.
We all have a tremendous appreciation for the LA Drupal Westside Managers. I know there's a list somewhere and I'll thank you in person for your efforts and sweat to expand and improve the Drupal community at large. I would also like to thank the LA Drupal Pasadena Managers and the LA Drupal IE Managers, you know who you are. And thank you to the current or future managers of the other LA Drupal meetups in geographically significant areas.
In the future, I expect we might hear something like, "The LA Drupal Westside Managers have teamed up with the LA Drupal Central Managers for a big LA Drupal event downtown." Or perhaps we may hear "The LA Drupal Westside Managers have plans to meet for a sponsored bbq at the beach with free beer." I think people will be willing to drive to these things.
I'd be in favor of the respective Area Managers to coordinate the dates of the meetups where they would not compete. Some of us are ambitious enough to attend meetings of some kind twice a week, and wouldn't want to miss what might be considered by consensus to be a "Main Meetup," which would likely be organized and hosted by the LA Drupal Westside Managers. Let the LA Drupal Managers (of all locations) decide amongst themselves when to hold meetings on the same day based on size and location. I'd attend a LA Drupal Cafe on the westside (assuming a "Cafe" is typically a small meetup) when it's held on the same day as one in Covina or Simi Valley for example.
All this would be appropriate to post on the ladrupal.org website. If the name splinters, would that beautiful site see an increase or a decrease in traffic do you think? Don't change the name from "LA Drupal" to "LA Drupal - Westside" or anything like that. Leave the LA Drupal entity alone, and identify yourselves as the LA Drupal Westside Managers.
I'd rather not confuse a geographically significant name with the people who are significant in the community. Can we rethink the approach to this debate? The way things have been going, it smacks of politics and leaves a stink in the air. It's the same smell I remember from high school left behind by the cliques.
You want scalability? This is a good example for other large (or small) areas to follow our lead. I now declare myself to be a LA Drupal Santa Monica Manager, and I'm meeting for coffee every week with anyone nearby who's interested. If the naming convention fits, wear it.
fwiw
~ Jeff
shouldn't be a debate, just more volunteering
LA DRUPAL is very organic and isn't limited by city borders - that is how L.A. is on its own. The desire to split LA Drupal Management based on region will only hurt things and cause more confusion/pain/work, and reduce any cohesion we've strived to keep up. Splitting the management team will only split up efforts and meetups causing a negative dip in resources and execution. Besides, GDO doesn't like having multiple groups from the same area. The Bay Area group for example has a few district groups that meetup but none of them fight for the use of "Bay Area Meetup". I mean we're smart people, we should notice the date, time, and venue location for a meetup - not what the name of the meetup is. If they can live well with that understanding why can't we?!? (Besides, hasn't L.A. suffered enough from the West versus East debates of the 90's.)
Our monthly event calendar has been the same for years, so there should not be any moments where people would not know when a meetup was going to take place resulting in them posting a competing meetup. This is exactly the reason we have chosen to stick to a single large main event each month. So members hearing this should feel good knowing they can schedule their meetups any other night (LA DRUPAL has meet on the last Tuesday of each month since 2008).
I would like to hear more from the people organizing meetups. I mean, everyone attending always asks for "more Drupal!" But it's those smaller meetup organizers who put in the time and their name in front of people.
@jsorgen: the example you provide of "I'd attend a Westside cafe meetup even if its on the same day as a Covina/Simi Valley event" underlines why Adobe/Apple doesn't allow regional groups to overlap. The cities you mention area all 30+ miles from each other, so that's not a good representation of what LA DRUPAL is working out. We're literally working to make sure there isn't a meetup on the same day in Culver City, El Segundo, Pasadena, Downtown L.A., or North Hollywood. Those cities are places that have Drupal meetups and there will be others interested in Drupal as time goes on. Fragmentation causes more work and confusion. Large tech companies have been managing user group issues like these for over 20 years and since they have a lot more money than Drupal or I, I'm going to take a cue from them from things they learned from experience.
I think the reason this "stinks of politics" is because changes like these are new for Drupal and its community and decisions like these are not easy or organic. Its called growing pains. I remember people freaking out about the name "Drupal" being trademarked or even re-designed. What I see in this community is changes are really, really painful. So let's not make it political. Just do what you need to do but know that the more "LA DRUPAL X" groups that pop up, ignoring leadership requests and guidelines, only dilutes the work others put in (or have put in) - causes more confusion - and ultimately gives the impression that we're not a professional networking group but more of a hacker/hobbyist group hoping to make a dollar by building web sites. That's not what LA DRUPAL is by far.
@jsorgen (again): If you have the desire to really call yourself the "LA Drupal Santa Monica Manager" then know you're opening a can of worms and would set a bad example for the others to go by. At the very least you'll add to the mess (of confusion). The right move would be either getting more involved with our current meetups (which we beg people to do all the time) or issue your event nodes as desired and enjoy giving back.
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
Self governing groups
I just wanted to chime in with some thoughts that come to mind. I've been watching this unfold, and am incredibly grateful for everyone's contribution -- the governance is up to (all of) us.
In my experience in other situations, especially one where I became part of a long-standing organization, I had to reel in my personal expectations that things would simply happen because I thought they were good ideas. While I don't think anyone is necessarily guilty of that, the takeaway for me was to apply patience liberally.
I think we can all agree that we're not looking for a singular leader or leading group, so we're coming to a group conscience of what to do, and that will simply take time to ensure that everyone is heard and considered. That being said, I think we can also see the value of iterative change, so while we might nail it the first time, chances are we'll make changes over time.
I guess I'm responding to the "stink of politics" comment. I haven't seen anyone try to force any issue on anyone else. So, I encourage everyone to just stay calm, share thoughts openly, and reason things out with each other. If decisions are made that end up not working, it'll be clear to all involved. The fact that we're engaged in this together is the big win.
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well said
well said
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
I'd argue this isn't as much
I'd argue this isn't as much of a change, as undoing the change of how we let things happen last year.
and also to clarify schedule, in nov & dec we tend to move the meetup
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
I may or may not have support
I may or may not have support for the ideas I wrote in the post above. However, from what I've read in this thread, I agree with more than what I disagree with. I am satisfied that my voice was heard, whether I'm alone in it or not.
Please keep in mind that the first time I ever heard about any changes going on was in a thread regarding the Feb 15 meetup in Downtown LA at Oversee, in Christefano's reply here: http://groups.drupal.org/node/112639#comment-410649
So pardon me for trying to unify the LA Drupal community after hearing that even a Downtown LA venue would not technically be authorized to use the term "LA Drupal." If Downtown Los Angeles could not label its events with "LA Drupal," what then should it use? It sounded like changes needed to be made to the volume of work LA Managers were putting in, which is wise, but would not by itself justify stopping the use of "LA Drupal" for all meetups but the one in Culver City, just because that is the "one" they voted to reduce them to.
The post specifically split LA Drupal in a way that directly contradicts what @Chris said in his last post above, which I frankly am in agreement with:
What Chris said provides clarity to any confusion I had before.
LA Drupal is a strong community, and people are smart. I'm not expecting any changes to occur without deliberation. I believe this will make solid sense when this all shakes out, and people in the community will recognize what's going on in the end.
I agree it makes sense to have separate groups, ie. Simi, IE, LA, San Diego. I too am interested in keeping the attendance up. In no way am I about to cut into the consistency and strength of what already exists. I think LA Drupal is only getting stronger, and I've seen that happen in the last four months alone.
There is a post that's
There is a post that's discussing the wording of the poll that will be created later on GDO:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/128914
Founder
http://www.larks.la
Robot Coordinator
http://droplabs.net
Organizer, Dragonslayer
http://drupal.la &n
Lee, I'm going to have to ask
Lee, I'm going to have to ask that any consideration for an unofficial poll about official group policies/decisions be presented to the organization team prior to anything being posted. We will take it from here. Thank you.
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
I dont agree we have any sort
I dont agree we have any sort of power to stop anyone from posting whatever they want. if Lee want's to post, she's free to do it.
HOWEVER, I argue web polls are intended to be fun. more importantly, there is nothing scientific about them. you can't actually learn what a community wants or much else from them without a random statistic sample - and drupal polls can't provide you such a sample. its statistics 101.
that said, IMO posting this type of poll could only lead to dissention and hurt feelings. fun stuff. :-/
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
Chris, that thread, which
Chris, that thread, which you've called a 'Rogue Node' (in the comments), is simply about the wording for the poll. Separating out the discussion from the actual wording on votes has worked very well in other organizations I've been involved with, and it's something that I feel I can actually contribute here. I don't see how I'm being inflammatory or dangerous to you or others.
I'm surprised that you would not want to find out what the community wants. What goes into the wording will be a reflection of what goes on in this thread, and people can add to or take away from the wording of the choices that goes into the poll. Separating out these two things adds clarity. If people take their time, and are careful, the results are generally good.
Founder
http://www.larks.la
Robot Coordinator
http://droplabs.net
Organizer, Dragonslayer
http://drupal.la &n
Group Organizers + Size of LA = Challenge
Lot's of good ideas here - branding, meet up's, sigs and more.
Kudos to the LA Drupal community leaders that have and are navigating this for the membership, those that can make and importantly those that cannot.
As you all know, posting's like email lack the full range of human communication many find it helpful to be very kind and give benefit of doubt as much as possible.
What's in a name?
I'm a little confused because this discussion seems to be much ado about nothing.
Can someone tell me what the problem would be with just saying the (currently Culver City) westside LA Drupal meeting is the MAIN LA DRUPAL meeting? On the other hand if somebody in El Segundo wants to host a Drupal meet-up, wouldn't it make sense to do it under the infrastructure (and namespace) of LA Drupal? Or if 5 people want to get together and talk about UberCart in Santa Monica, wouldn't we WANT to encourage that under LA Drupal?
I would hope in both of those instances above, organizers would refer visitors to the MAIN LA DRUPAL meeting. I sincerely doubt organizers of these other meetings could do a better, sustained job then I have seen Chris, Mike, Christifano and Rain put up over the last couple of years. But they may be able to offer convenience or focus that a large meeting cannot. Even with overlapping days, I think we should assume people can decide for themselves whether they want to attend the MAIN meeting or a closer smaller, maybe more focused, meeting.
If the last Tuesday of the month is branded as the MAIN LA DRUPAL meeting then the answer for a newbie about "which meeting should I go to" will become self-evident.
As I see it, the members,
As I see it, the members, managers and other volunteers and organizers of the Drupal user group(s) in and around Los Angeles are just trying to figure out what "LA Drupal" is exactly, what the group "managers" prefer (and how to best announce these things) and what other members and organizers can and cannot do if they want the support of the group managers.
I think confusion is inevitable so long as LA Drupal doesn't have a coherent identity or even a mission statement. LA Drupal has grown organically for years under the guidance of a handful of group managers, but with the explosion of growth we've seen in the last 12 months (doubling in membership numbers, doubling in meetups, sprints and conferences, etc.) it seems to me that the existing power structure is either too small or too limited in scope to sustain future growth. More on that in a minute.
Just as with other open source communities, Drupal user groups are event-driven. We live and breathe and grow by our meetups, so to try to make things clear I updated the LA Drupal glossary to better describe what meetups are as far as LA Drupal is concerned:
Does this sum it up? I'm just trying to get this straight. Since the glossary is a wiki page, anyone can go ahead and edit it to make it more accurate.
But what is LA Drupal, exactly?
To be honest, I personally don't care. My preference is to go with #2 but my fear is that public perception is that LA Drupal is leaning toward #3 with a little bit of #4 sprinkled in for good measure. I'd just really like to see something positive come out of all this.
I haven't commented on any of this with my point of view until now in part because I've had work to do, a life to live, food trucks to chase and the occasional meetup to go to. I also resisted because I think we're all in this for the fun of it and making new relationships, developing our skills, increasing business opportunities, etc. and I didn't want to add to the noise.
Some, however, have called for a vote to restructure the group, come to a community decision about what "LA Drupal" refers to, or otherwise elect more people to management positions. The genie is out of the bottle, so to speak, and I want to acknowledge that. We have really creative, passionate and strong-willed people in our community and we can either go forward together or blow up and scatter apart. I don't think anyone wants the latter. I sure don't.
Let's all relax, have fun and enjoy the success that LA Drupal has had up to this point. I don't think the casual LA Drupal member even realizes how good things have been compared to other user groups and even in LA Drupal in past years. We succeeded and demand has outgrown supply!
Feedback from Pasadena- The
Feedback from Pasadena-
The Pasadena Meetup has some amazing individuals and hosts some brilliant presentations. Our following has increased to the point where we had to find a bigger venue. Which we now have :) People are attracted to the presentations, the community/people attending, the venue, etc. Not the name. If confusion is a concern then I'm all for the change. We currently have no sponsors so we are unaffected there.
LA Managers have no intention of getting rid of other meetups. Even though the wording can be a little misleading. Pasadena will still have the pedal to the metal. Christefano has put in a lot of time and continues to do so to make the Pasadena event what it is! I can't thank him enough. This event would also not be possible for the people that attend and the presenters that present. None of this will go away because we removed "LA Drupal" from the meetup title.
The only difference in opinion I have, which could be a new discussion, is the direction in which the LA Drupal Meetup is headed. Since the purpose of the LA Drupal Meetup is to clear up some of the confusion, I see it pulling in more people that are new to Drupal. Which is a great thing. If this theory proves to be true, the presentations at the LA Drupal Meetup shouldn't deviate too far from general Drupal presentations. In my opinion, it makes more sense to hold specific/advanced presentations (CDNs, FAPI, Git, server configurations) at other meetups(DTLA, OT Pas, IE, SB, etc). Which attendees at the LA Drupal Meetup will trickle into. We have scared away more people than we realize. Maybe I'm reiterating what everyone else was thinking but I thought I read a difference in opinion in one of the e-mails.
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IMO
IMO, I'd like to see a group fragmented more by knowledge level rather than geography. If there was an 'advanced' or developer-specific group, I'd show up for it regardless of whether it was in Santa Monica or Ontario. I totally understand the point of the overall/general Drupal group, and helping new folks learn about Drupal is great. But time being as limited as it is, I found that I was not getting a lot of personal value out of attending the general LA meetings so I stopped coming. I'm still contributing here, on d.org, and via IRC - but a 3 hour commitment of time that would otherwise be spent working on Drupal is tough unless I can get some solid personal value out of the experience.
Please don't take this as criticism as it's not - I absolutely appreciate what you guys are doing, and for free. Just chiming in on something that would be of interest to me. An advanced group, specific to development, high performance, etc. Maybe something like this already exists and I just don't know about it.
I'd be up for knowledge
I'd be up for knowledge level-segmented meetups too. There are so many workflow and productivity tricks out there (Capistrano...Chef...various scripts...the list goes on) that I just don't know about, but I'd love to hear about them.
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LA Drupal doesn't need to be fragmented
LA Drupal doesn't need to be fragmented at all. To that end, what I'd like is for people to feel confident that they can step up as leaders in their own community and know they'll be supported by their peers.
Anyway, I took your comment to heart and there's now a regular, monthly High Performance Drupal meetup in the community calendar. It kicks off on April 28th. Hope to see you there!
The gist of this appears to
The gist of this appears to be an attempt to not dilute the LA Drupal name, reduce confusion about which meet up one 'should' attend, and generally lay some Drupal community boundaries over use of the LA Drupal name.
One thing that I'd like to throw into these considerations is the simple reality of LA travel time and evening gridlock. I'd love to attend the Pasadena meet ups - but its travel time to and from robs a minimum of 2 hours from my day. I've attended a few Santa Monica Drupal meet ups, and traveling to and from them eats 3 hours of my day.
Net result: unless any meet ups, of any kind - Drupal or my other interests - are within a 30-40 minutes of where I'm at around 5pm, I am not attending.
Travel time and grid lock is LA is serious, and needs to be a consideration.
That said, what is a meet up anyway other than people of a shared interest meeting? Perhaps "Drupal LA Meetup" become the generic term, with a "Pasadena/Santa Monica/Downtown/... Local" sub-title to clarify the locality of the meet up. I do not feel that the Culver City meet up should have any "official" designation as the "official monthly Drupal LA Meet Up". That's sorta silly. A meet up is just people of a shared interest meeting. It's not like we make any decisions that will affect Drupal as a whole, even just within LA. We're builders, designers, and problem solvers meeting to support one another.
Besides, there is nothing to stop anyone from declaring a "Drupal LA Meetup" anywhere and anytime. What is the LA Drupal community able to do if some rogue individual just decides to have their own "Drupal LA Meet Up"? Nothing. Unless you want to get legal. Who has time and money for that?!?!?!
Someone just pointed out to
Someone just pointed out to me today that this part of the original post describes our space at Droplabs pretty well:
The only thing mentioned here that we don't have right now is space for 100+ people. We can accommodate 100+ people but only if we use our main room (which had 65 at the Drupal meetup in January), the lounge and our 15-person conference room at the same time. We do have access to a second lounge, though, that can bring our capacity to 200+ people.
In fairness, the original post was written just a few days before we signed the lease at Droplabs is March, 2011. We've been going strong ever since we opened to the public in May, 2011. Oh, and we're free and don't throw everyone out at 9pm.
cool. and you're all over
cool. and you're all over it. great! but whats the square footage of the main room? like 20' x 30'?
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
Mezzanine and performance space at Droplabs
The main room, or "the lab" as we call it, is around 25' x 30' and obviously won't hold 100+ people. Not even close. That's why we have a second lounge that more than triples our capacity. I don't know the exact square footage but my guess is around 1200 sq. ft. or more.
It's technically called "the mezzanine" and was designed by the person who designed the Edison. Here's a picture of what it looked like before it was finished late last year:
If we reserve the performance space on the ground floor (that is, if we buy out the entire space to ensure that bands aren't practicing nearby or film crews aren't building out sets), we'd have the mezzanine for quiet events and have the performance space, which has an additional 6000 sq. ft.
While this wasn't mentioned
While this wasn't mentioned in your description as desirable, we also have a kitchen (with gas!) and a firepit.
And we've been blessed by a Star Trek castmember.
;-)
Founder
http://www.larks.la
Robot Coordinator
http://droplabs.net
Organizer, Dragonslayer
http://drupal.la &n