Posted by jhedstrom on August 9, 2011 at 6:29pm
This was previously posted to the Portland group, but figured I'd post it here as well.
The Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit (October 14-16) site is live and ready for registrations and session proposals.
Space is limited, so register today.
The tentative deadline for session proposals is September 8, at which point session voting will be opened.
Comments
Please support a local Eugene Session !
http://pnwdrupalsummit.org/sessions/how-really-prevent-drupal-and-progra... - I discussed this with the group, and there was some interest. If you want to learn how to be healthy and program Drupal even better, this is a session for you! Please lend your votes :D
UPDATE regarding my experience with session submission, beware.
UPDATE: I might not attend due to a philosophical disagreement with a presenter having to pay to present. The organization(s) behind the summit feel as though it is a "privilege" to present, and through my thousands of hours of community service/free-event creation in the Native American and Drupal Communities, I have found the truth to be quite opposite: its a privilege to have someone present and share their wisdom and knowledge and they should be supported, given an honorarium (if deemed appropriate), given housing and fed. I feel as though there is a very corporate feel to this, on their website there are numerous corporate sponsors, including Aquia, accounting for at least $2,500 in obvious revenue, without any public disclosure of where the funds are going. I also asked them to waive the price, and they would not and would not discuss it. I feel like this is opposed to open source ways in general (i.e. give first). The PNW Summit Team (or the one person I was allowed to speak with from a prominent Portland Drupal firm) feels as though it would be too time consuming to address this issue in the upcoming 30 days, and did offer to speak about it next year. I did not find that acceptable. There was no "give and take" or 50/50 split offered, even for hardship concerns. I said that I could only afford to come to present for free if I knew I was presenting in advance, and they offered to save me a ticket. I was wondering if I could be chosen as a presenter and then have no tickets be available, so thus I couldn't come? hmmm. Additionally, they said it was the precedence that all Drupal events like this are paid for, and I find that to be a common tactic large corporate organizations use to avoid discussing real issues, "its always been this way, etc. etc.". I have been involved in events for years, and the fact of the matter is that you only have to charge presenters to come if you do very little to no upfront work in terms of fundraising or support. They might mention that I did not volunteer, however if I was slated to be a presenter and share my experience, is that not volunteering to serve the community itself? Just thought others would like to know. If you vote for my event and make it prominent and needed, the PNW Summit "team" might consider giving some options to the community to present, and re-think the stuck up attitude that it is a "privilege to present".
Summit = Love
My two cents:
These Drupal Summits take a lot of time and effort by the organizers and that time is donated. I've participated in the past and despite the what may be perceived on the outside they are completely a labor of love. Beyond the donated time, there are also things with a real cost: AV, location, etc. These cannot and should not be donated. With that in mind, there is a registration fee for anyone who wants to attend and the fee this year happens to be $50. Making exceptions to this fee not only involves additional cost in terms of programming by the volunteers (who are already going above and beyond to set this event up for the community), but also invites "gaming the system" by proposing to speak, when really all people want to do is attend.
In the big scheme of things $50 for a professional development event of this caliber is an incredible value. If it doesn't make sense for anyone individually, they don't need to attend.
I for one, really appreciate the effort and time that has been put in by the people working on this project and I will be encouraging members from my team to attend and speak at the event no matter what.