DrupalCamp Twin Cities Brain Dump

This is a space for DrupalCamp Twin Cities organizers and volunteers to record your "behind the scenes" impressions of how things ran. Starting off with two headings - what worked, and what didn't work. Please add your observations under these headings, and feel free to create more categories as you see fit.

What worked

• Facilities - classrooms were large enough to accommodate people, the layout of the space was good, built-in A/V equipment worked very well. Didn't hear about a single session being disrupted due to a technical failure.
• Power strips everywhere. Didn't hear any complaints from attendees being unable to plug in their laptops.
• Signage looked professional and was well placed. People didn't seem to have any problems finding their sessions.
• Food - plenty of it. Attendees were well fed and caffeinated!
• WiFi was rock-solid.
• Finances - we had good amounts of money and were able to spend it pretty wisely (I believe) and keep some of it for future events.
• Quality of sessions - we had a lot of great sessions.
• Training beforehand was really great and very appreciated and a definite draw
• Usability Testing gave another good reason for people to attend and support from around the country - which also contributed to overall quality and quantity of sessions
• Lots of great sponsors
• Worked well to have that back office to store stuff overnight and within a reasonable distance for setup. Also, a couple of trolleys housed here would be very handy to help move stuff to and from the storage area and picking up items from vehicles.

What didn't needs work

• Food:
  • Not enough seating during lunch. This was a known issue, there were hopes that people would want to eat outside, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. People were sitting on the floors and eating due to the lack of table space.
  • Saturday's lunch was delivered over 1 hour late, forcing us to shift the afternoon schedule back. I don't know what the problem was, but IMHO a foremost requirement of a catering service is that they deliver on time.
  • We needed stronger knives for bagels and cream cheese - the ones we had tended to break
  • We need to buy pre-sliced bagels
  • We need a vegan option (not just veggie), as well as gluten-free
  • Check that the salad dressings are also vegan/veggie/gluten-free.
  • More coolers for storing food
  • Some people asked for whole wheat and sesame bagels
  • We need at least four lines for the lunch tables
  • The tubs for pop & water were too large to handle.
  • Need smaller containes to keep the cream/half-and-half on ice
  • Shipping needs of sponsors - we didn't anticipate / facilitate people shipping materials to/from the camp
  • People took too long choosing their sandwich, slowing down the line - maybe fewer choices next time. (Jer: rather than fewer choices, we just need well labeled choices and to make sure if we have 5 varieties, that each line has access to all 5 so we don't need to split people to the left or right. The Saturday lunch line went extremely fast!)
• Sponsor tables:
  • They may not have been well distributed enough. We didn't create a plan for their layout and no one knew where to setup tables when we were getting started. Future Camps should take into account that sponsors like visitors, and people will congregate near food, drinks, registration, seating, etc.
  • Bronze sponsors fourth or later to grab a table were relegated to remote locations that received very little traffic. Windowless hallway felt unused and unfriendly for the few sponsors using it.
  • Perhaps Platinum sponsors should be near the Registration desk to benefit from the greater traffic and visibility.
• No T-Shirts - not a big deal, but still would have been nice
• Communications w/ speakers, trainees, etc. were occasionally a bit slow - we were sending at least some pre-camp messages in response to having heard the same question several times. Would be nice to do a better job anticipating those needs and being out with messaging just a bit sooner.
• Should have had the session schedule for the entire camp available on the registration desk.
• Should have printed out the volunteer schedule and put on the registration desk
• We need to arrange for a cart or dolly to move things on
• Make sure it's clear to folks registered for a training session that they should bring a laptop (if applicable)
• Make sure that dates, times and costs are clearly & prominently labeled on the site
• Chairs in classrooms were uncomfortable

• Did anyone see an issue between name of the camp (Drupalcamp Twin Cities) and URL (2011.tcdrupal.org)?

• Website:

  • Some confusion with signup online (e.g.- multiple signup buttons on a page)
  • Hard to find some info after it moved off the front page (e.g.- MPR gala)
  • Process to sign up, pre-conference training and full conference, sponsors and sign up - confusing?

• Registration Desk:
  • Became the focal point of attendee’s inquiries. Balloons helped identify the desk as important.
  • Felt a little cramped at times, especially during heavy periods of registration. Perhaps 2 desks next time. 3 staff during rush hours. 1 desk for badge pick-up with the other being overflow and having stickers, info sheets, and T-shirts.
  • Check off process. I person finds badge for attendee hands it off to another staff member who logs the name and gives badge to attendee.
  • Needed to be staffed at all times with at least 1 person. Staff left valuables behind the desk, so should be an official personnel only area.
  • Require a policy for onsite registrations. 10 people per day?
  • Need lots of extra badges and badge holders for onsite registrations. There were a considerable number of lost/left at home badges.
  • Plenty of extra Sponsor, Speaker, Staff and Volunteer ribbons
  • A cash box with more "official" paper receipts for money received. Onsite registration etc. $100 emergency cash?
  • 2 laptops? One for staff use to check Website etc., and one outward facing for schedule lookup (photos uploaded from camp?).
  • A tote bin with useful items that people could check-out (and return) would have been helpful:
  Clear tape
  Duct tape
  2-sided tape
  Scissors
  Box cutter
  Sharpies for writing signs
  Assorted pens
  Writing paper

• Volunteer issues:

  • Need enough volunteers to cover various duties throughout the day. Staff the Registration desk all day, put stuff up, and take stuff down. Take part in scheduled cleaning sweeps throughout the day.
  • Does there need to be enough non-Drupal volunteers, so that those of us interested in going to sessions, keynotes, can attend?