Long Beach Drupal meetup :: Wed Dec 7th, 2011

Are you in Long Beach or nearby? Do you know Drupal or want to learn more? Come join us for a totally free & fun evening of Drupal sharing, learning, networking, and open source goodness: Wednesday, Dec 7, 2011 at the kickoff of our monthly meetups every first Wednesday of the month in Long Beach.

MEETUP	INFORMATION
Monthly muse:	Contributing to Drupal, plus 2011 end of year party!
When:	Wednesday, Dec 7, 2011 :: 7:00pm - 9:00pm Doors open close to 6p. RSVP for details.
Where:	LA NET 4182 N. Viking Way, Suite 214 Long Beach, CA 90808 Note: Enter main entrance on Viking Way, up the stairs and then to the right.
Venue:	Free Parking, Free Wi-Fi, power, etc. thanks to our generous host: LA Net
Agenda:	Loose yet professional. From the time the doors open until 8pm we'll be contributing to Drupal together. Chatter and collaboration while we contribute is encouraged and some of us might focus on solving problems we're encountering on personal projects. From around 8pm - 9pm ... well, that's still open. Come hang and contribute in the LBC with other local Drupal & tech geeks. Collaborate. Network. Play Patch Bingo or Work on Novice Issues. Come get/give help with GIT, Drush, Drupal, LAMP, and environments. Bring your questions and ideas.
Raffle:	Prizes at meetups with attendance of 15 (or more). If we hit that mark this month, we have coupons from the awesome Drupal training people at www.BuildAModule.com -- with over 500 Drupal specific videos available for streaming, download, or on DVD.
Free Food & Drink:	Provided for anyone that RSVP's. Thanks to our sponsor and local Drupal shop:    media done right

Additional	Details
Presentation:	None. We're focused on a collaborative, organic, and working meetup. Although short 'lightning talk' type presentations are always welcome! (please add a comment)
After hours	After the meetup, it is typical for many of us to venture to a local restaurant or pub for additional Drupal networking and sharing. Cirivellos is right across the street. There are other venues closer to freeways. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment.
Directions

Event Details

Are you interested in giving back to Drupal? Do you want to be more involved with code sprints or Drupal 8 initiatives? How about we prep for a "barn raising" for a local Long Beach non-profit website?

• Want to give back?
• Want to learn how?
• Do you already know how and willing to help teach and collaborate with others?
• Come look over the shoulder of Drupal pro's -- or come work and let people learn from you!
• Or just come and hang with your old-and new friend's in the LBC

Our Host: LA Net

Special thanks to our hosts, LA Net a community-based Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) focused on health disparities reduction in Southern California.

LA Net is providing their office space for our venue, wifi, free parking, and plus its close to lots of good food all walking distance. Come collaborate with us and learn by doing or helping others. This is the first of a series of monthly events to get together and give-back to Drupal. The schedule is loose and I'm open to ideas, but the main idea is to set aside some time and contribute together! It also happens to be one of the the best ways to learn or expand your knowledge of Drupal.

Who Should Come?

Everyone. All Drupal/web skill levels welcome. Designers. Developers. Themers. Architects. Users. This event is free and open to everyone, no RSVP is required, however those who do sign up, will have last-minute details (if there are any) sent to them before the meeting and free food/drink. It's also good to know how many to expect so that we can arrange the office adequately, and for others that may be planning to bring snacks to share. So please sign up by RSVPing at the bottom of this announcement.

What to Bring?

Bring your laptop if you'd like to join the fun. Power strips can be handy. We will have a projector and likely one or two people sharing on the overhead during collaboration or when answering questions. If you have a Mac, be sure to bring your VGA dongle.

As always, feel free to bring your own food or stop by one of the many restaurants within walking distance. The venue holds 10-15 seated comfortably, and more people standing and outside the venue. Also, the venue has three separate rooms which are good for topic-specific break-outs.

We'll also be active in IRC while working on the issue queue. Find us in your IRC client or click here to join in your browser: #Drupal-LA and #Drupal-OC on freenode IRC.

How to Prepare?

Well you really don't have to. We'll teach and learn together. We tend to be pretty laid back, interactive, and open. But maybe you're a bit rusty or still a bit of a novice and just want to feel more comfortable with the Drupal community. Well here's a way to kick start. Every Tuesday eve at 9pm or Wednesday mornings at 9am in IRC #drupal-contribute the Drupal core development team holds Core Office Hours for people with questions that want to get more involved. Go for it!

Share a Lightning Talk!

Lightning talks are five-minute timed talks where you get a chance to share something new or cool related to Drupal or the web. They are often short how-to's, demo's of modules, theme's, websites, or how you built something in Drupal.

Questions, Ideas, or Comments?

If you have a question about the meetup or venue, we'd love to help, just ask! Something you'd like to see? We're always open to new ideas, suggestions and comments!