DrupalChix Presents: Ladies First! The Party before the Party

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techgirlgeek's picture
Start: 
2012-03-20 19:30 - 20:00 America/Denver
Organizers: 
Event type: 
DrupalCon

Hello Drupalchix,

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join me, and other Drupalchix from across the community, for the Party before the Party at DrupalCon Denver.

We have received special permission to enter the DrupalCon party venue 30 minutes before the rest of the community for a no-host opportunity to get together. Our Party before the Party runs from 7:30 - 8:00 pm. You do have to have a ticket to the party, which you can purchase at the DrupalCon web site: http://denver2012.drupal.org/register.

To learn more about the party, please go to: http://denver2012.drupal.org/party.

RSVP'ing to this event page is not required to join the Party Before the Party, but it will help us keep an eye out for you.

I hope you can join us,

Karyn Cassio
(Techgirlgeek)

UPDATE 3/16/2012: The DrupalChix Ladies First party will be held in the upstairs bar at the City Hall Night Club. You will be directed at the front door when they check your wrist bands. It is a cash bar. There will also be appetizers available for us to enjoy.

Comments

With about a month and a half

techgirlgeek's picture

With about a month and a half until Drupalcon Denver, thought I'd give this thread a little bump. Hoping for the biggest drupalchix "round up" to date! :)

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Thank you!

dianamontalion's picture

This is a great idea, thank you for setting it up :-)

My pleasure. Looking forward

techgirlgeek's picture

My pleasure. Looking forward to meeting all of you.

wish i could meet you ladies.

lenichols's picture

wish i could meet you ladies. I will only be there 18th-20th due to work obligations. wont make it to the party! Have fun and don't party to hard.

Less than two weeks to go.

techgirlgeek's picture

Less than two weeks to go. Looking forward to meeting all you wonderful drupalchix and having a beer with you. :D

Drupalcon newbie

maggielanoue's picture

I am looking forward to meeting you all. I will be around on Monday early p.m. and would be interested in a BoF on that day especially. Not sure how we will find out about those.
the one Wednesday at 1 pm is a perfect time though. I have that one in my plan.

Also not sure where people go out to eat or protocol on having some meals with people if you don't know them. I am just heading out their own my own. I have a class about Drupal back in Michigan and hope to give a report of some things I am learning. Part of it will just be how to show up and meet people. I appreciate any advice you have to give.

I'm a big chicken about

mollyavalon's picture

I'm a big chicken about meeting people, but have learned that everyone else is too. So now when I go to a conference I try hard to introduce myself even when every fiber of my being is telling me to go back to my hotel room and hide under the covers. It works. Try it on Monday evening at the whatever-you-call-that-welcome-party.

Ask people what they do with Drupal, and you will get a wide range of answers, and more talking than you'd expect.

Last year lunch was provided, so it was easy to meet people. There you were, sitting next to someone, both of you with plates sliding off your knees. Something to talk about. This year I don't think we're getting lunch, but one idea would be to go out, find some sort of takeout, and bring it back to the convention center. Sit next to someone. Start talking. I suspect people will be very interested in the program you're in.

This is my third Drupalcon. The things I'm going to try to do are a) go to more BOFs and b) go to more things I don't know doodly-squat about and c) meet more people. Before I went to my first one, I got the advice not to spend too much time in presentations, but instead to connect with people and go to BOFs. I didn't take that advice and was kinda lonely, although I learned a tidal wave of stuff.

There will be a lot of BOFs, and the list has already started: http://denver2012.drupal.org/bofs

I'll keep an eye out for you and say hi.

Yes, Lunch is provided

techgirlgeek's picture

Molly ...

re: lunch, yes, lunch is provided each day. :D

See you there.

Thank you

emily4247's picture

Thanks for your advice.
I went to DrupalCon last year but I'm like you - everything inside me is telling me to hide in my hotel room. I'm not always shy, just when I'm in a sea of thousands of strangers. This year I'll be at least trying to following your advice. I'm going with two co-workers and I don't know if they're planning on attending the party so I wasnt sure I'd go, but with the Drupal-girls thing I think I will :)

totally agree with mollyavalon

greggles's picture

I had the benefit that my first conference was sunnyvale with 200 people which is more manageable, but I strongly agree with mollyavalon and encourage people to just say:

"So what do you do with Drupal?"

Back then and even now I say it to the people next to me whenever I sit down before a session, in the line at lunch, in the line at the bathroom, wherever. The conversations vary from short to long, but I've met a lot of great friends by starting with that question.

And maybe you'll want to head

redrotty's picture

And maybe you'll want to head out for lunch with your new acquaintances, right? Plenty of great food to be had downtown.

What to do at my first DrupalCon?

sydneyDK's picture

Molly, thanks for the advice about attending the BoF's. I've been to conferences before, but this will be my first DrupalCon. Any more advice from our senior 'hens' is appreciated. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Darn, wish you had been at

greta_drupal's picture

Darn, wish you had been at the Atlanta DrupalCamp in October (my first one). I'd really like to participate in the Drupalchix group sometime. (Especially since I am in a Drupal desert state.) If only I could do so virtually!

Great that you ladies are organizing these get togethers.

This is a wonderful idea.

irunflower's picture

This is a wonderful idea. It's my first DrupalCon, so I'm a bit nervous. I am excited to meet you all! :)

Yep, same here - this will be

alimac's picture

Yep, same here - this will be my first DrupalCon, I started using Drupal about 6 months ago and it's become a kind of full-time (pre)occupation. I've been flying solo during various cons last year and while I'm OK with that, I think it would be nice to meet people, too! :)

My first one as well. I won't

TheLioness22's picture

My first one as well. I won't be able to make the party, but I'm hoping to stop by during the BoF and meet some of you all!

Great Idea

topazzz's picture

My first DrupalCon as well. Looking forward to meeting everyone!

So we are supposed to meet at

emily4247's picture

So we are supposed to meet at the nightclub at 7:30?

Looks like it. If you look

redrotty's picture

Looks like it. If you look at the start of the thread:
"We have received special permission to enter the DrupalCon party venue 30 minutes before the rest of the community for a no-host opportunity to get together. Our Party before the Party runs from 7:30 - 8:00 pm."
Looking forward to it!

Yep! Meet at the night club!

techgirlgeek's picture

Yep! Meet at the night club!

Welcome, first-timers and shy folks! :)

webchick's picture

Hi there! :) Can't wait to meet you all!

The tagline on the Drupal.org home page is "Come for the software, stay for the community" and at DrupalCon that really comes out. Please don't feel shy to come up and talk to people, even the "rockstars." :) Everyone is incredibly down to earth and super friendly. :D

My main bit of advice for newcomers would be do not do the rookie mistake of looking at all the great sessions at http://denver2012.drupal.org/program/schedule and packing your calendar full of sessions in every single time slot. a) you will be completely exhausted by day 1.5, and b) sessions are mostly "talking at you" and so it's hard to meet people there. (It is, however, a great place to hide and soak up knowledge if the crowd is too much for you :))

Make sure to leave some holes in your schedule to take in some BoFs, take in some Core Conversations, stop by the coder lounge/sprints on Friday, and (most importantly) wander around the "hallway track"! :) As you walk around DrupalCon, you're likely to overhear interesting snippets of conversation or passionate arguments about some topic or another; feel free to join in and ask how you can help. :)

The latter stuff is where you get to meet the actual people behind the project, all talking together on interesting and fun topics. Don't take in a DrupalCon without meeting the community! :D

Secondly, if you're new to the community, The Drupal Community: Where Are We Going and How to Get Involved? would be good as an intro to how things work (disclaimer: this is my session; feel free to watch it on video if there is something more interesting you'd like to see at the same time. :D)

And finally, on the sprint day, there is going to be a Core Office Hours sprint dedicated to getting newcomers up to speed on how to contribute to Drupal core. There's lots of things to do, whether you're a coder or not, and you're guaranteed to learn a ton and interact with some really smart folks. :)

Hope that helps! See you next week!!

Thanks so much for this! I'm

Elisha Medeiros's picture

Thanks so much for this! I'm not a developer, but work with a design and technology company that uses Drupal. This will be my first DrupalCon and your message has been helpful in helping me identify where I could be spending my time outside of booth duty. :)

I look forward to meeting you all!

WOW

slsonnier's picture

I'm rather new and won't be able to attend this year. The enthusiasm and interest is really encouraging me to get more involved and attend the next conference.

Thanks!

I second everything webchick

lisarex's picture

I second everything webchick has said. This will be my 5th DrupalCon and I made all those rookie mistakes.

You can make friends in BoFs. Don't see a BoF that interests you? Add your own! You can make a lot of friends in BoFs :)

Remember, sessions are (usually) recorded, but BoFs are not.

==================================
http://about.me/lisarex

cost to park at convention center?

maggielanoue's picture

this is not quite related to the party but in a way it is. I just figured out City Hall is a club venue and not "Cty Hall" per se. Duh. I see it's quite a long ways from where I am staying. My brother, who is a NOAA meteorologist and speaks on big storms all over the world, is flying out of denver right when I am flying in. I am hoping to borrow his car. Does it cost to park at the convention center? by the hour? is there a discount we can get from being at Drupalcon? I don't know how that all works. would sure be handy for getting back to the airport, and to the party, and to my room at the grand hyatt. esp if I am out late and I am not with a group. so glad this drupalchix party is here to bounce questions off of. thank you. is there a drupalchix private facebook group by any chance?

parking

redrotty's picture

OK, I may have accidentally deleted my first post attempt (one of those days...)

As others have mentioned, the walk between the Convention Center and City Hall isn't really that bad. I work (and park) about half a block from the club and plan to walk back and forth to the convention center every day. I'm giving myself 10-15 minutes.

However, I totally get the whole not wanting to walk around a strange town after dark bit, so if you don't have a group to walk back to your hotel with and prefer to drive here are the parking options close to City Hall:
a) Parking meters. They're about $1/hr, but I believe the meters along Broadway, Lincoln and 12th at least are free after 6pm (though I hesitate to guarantee because they recently changed out many parking meters and now they don't say what the times are on all of them). Anyway, they're popular so they do tend to go fast in the evenings.
b) Cultural Complex garage (12th and Broadway, entrance on 12th, west of Broadway). $1/hr during the day, $8 max. Night rate after 4pm of $3. Closes at midnight.
c) Parking garage north of the History Colorado Center (entrance on Broadway between 12th and 13th). $7/day, might be cheaper in the evening. Parking can be limited by events going on at History Colorado.
d) open lots south of 12th and west of Broadway - $5/day, regardless of time of day.
d) Free on-street parking. If you don't mind walking a couple blocks either east of Lincoln or west of Broadway there is free on the street parking to be had. But sometimes it takes patient hunting.

Those are just a few of the options. Hope it helps!

Parking costs

timmvt's picture

There is parking around the convention center but it does cost money which varies on the distance to the convention center (i.e. uncovered parking 3 blocks away is $7 per day). The lots usually charge by the hour AND by the day. The convention center itself offers parking $12 per day (I think). I didn't see anything about discounted parking.

The hotel you mentioned is only 4 blocks away so you may not want to cause yourself undue aggravation by driving on convention days. More importantly, the Denver Auto Show starts Mar 21 at the convention center so there will be some overlap (and extra stress).

You'll spend less on a cab

urbanbricks's picture

You'll definitely spend less on a cab back and forth to venues like City Hall than you will on daily parking, hourly parking, metered parking...and to @timmvt's point, downtown parking is going to be a pain to navigate with multiple events at the Convention Center (and lot prices tend to spike). You can figure around $10 grabbing a cab from your hotel to City Hall and back (it's really just a few blocks south of downtown Denver's 16th Street Mall), Express Shuttle back to the airport is around $20 per head, and everything else downtown is well within walking distance, plus there's a free shuttle that stops along every block of 16th St. IMO, if you're not planning on traveling out of downtown you're better off on foot!

Hope that helps :)

Party Location inside City Hall Night Club

techgirlgeek's picture

Apparently the update to the original post doesn't prompt an email. My apologies if this is duplicate information:

Location Update 3/16/2012: The DrupalChix Ladies First party will be held in the upstairs bar at the City Hall Night Club. You will be directed at the front door when they check your wrist bands. It is a cash bar. There will also be appetizers available for us to enjoy.

TechGirlGeek

Excited about my first

DSquaredB's picture

Excited about my first DrupalCon and getting to meet people I have only read about. :)

If anyone is concerned about getting around alone in Denver, I'm sure there will be enough of us heading out that we can share the walk or ride. Maybe we can use g.d.o to connect if you don't want to go it alone (or maybe those who have gone before know a better way to connect). One way or another, 3000 people provide ample connections!

DSquaredB
Danita Bowman

Don't forget pedicabs :)

timmvt's picture

There are lots of pedicabs around to take locally, especially in the evenings and at night. :)

The max they should charge is $2.00 per block (some will say that + "whatever you think is fair.")

Thanks for setting this up

leslieg's picture

This is my first DrupalCon. I am new to Drupal and exited about all it has to offer and the impressive community behind it. I am looking forward to meeting all of you.

map for drupalcon

maggielanoue's picture

I did a search on twitter for #drupalcon and saw @steveparks posted a really nice map showing the main spots around Drupalcon Denver here: http://t.co/ymHNEBGa
wish i had a smart phone and a way to see if any of you drupal chix wanted company for a meal. I am staying at Grand Hyatt and only til Thursday. I am in a drupal class in Michigan called "Shifting Code" to retrain underemployed techies to learn Drupal. It would be great if any Drupal chix could give tips on Omega theme or something at our BoF. Or maybe we could start another BoF for Dummies to get tips on specific things? Anyway if/when I get my presentation done, Wed nite, I will tweet about it. will include the #drupalcon tag on twitter. My twitter name is michmag. Oh - I will be taking photos with a monopod so you will know who i am!

IRC

Michelle's picture

If you will have a laptop with you, hop on IRC in #drupalcon to find people.

IRC noob

maggielanoue's picture

thanx michelle for telling me about IRC. I googled it, got here: http://webchat.freenode.net/ apparently I am logged in. I see a list of names. what to do next?

.

Michelle's picture

Did you join #drupalcon? I'm seeing this a couple hours later so maybe missed you.

how to join?

maggielanoue's picture

I found a page about IRC by googling. do I put #drupalcon into the channels on the signon page? I am a bit clueless. Thanks for replying. Hope to meet you and other drupalchix there. I will be the person taking photos with a monopod. That is a tripod with only one leg!
coming into denver today from michigan. I hope to do a slideshow presentation for my class in michigan called Shifting Code. It is for retraining IT professionals into Drupal!

that was it

maggielanoue's picture

well I tried putting #drupalcon on that page and it did say I joined. I still just see a page with some names and not much more. this will be fun to learn! I can tell my class about some of the tips i learned at least..
Now I am seeing some chatting on the page - sounds like it is about drupalcon - interesting!

.

Michelle's picture

Glad you found it. :)

I'm wishing I had brought my monopod. I was going to bring that and my tripod but my mom said they had a tripod so I decided to pack lighter. Unfortunately, their tripod is 20+ years old, seriously showing its age (and cheapness), and not really worth the hassle for most shots. I tried for a while but finally gave up and went hand held. I'm sure I'll use it again if I do some night shots but, otherwise, I think I'm just gonna end up cranking up the ISO a bit. :(

Heh... Ok, I've taken this thread completely off topic. Maybe we need a Drupal photography group. ;)

Michelle

Photography and packing lighter!

mel-miller's picture

I was a newspaper photographer for about 10 years. I hated lugging all of that gear around (but it was nice to have it when needed). So when I stopped shooting professionally, I went to the other extreme and sold off most of my professional gear.

Now, when I travel, I carry a very small consumer-level SLR and a few prime lenses. For this particular trip I swapped out one of the primes for a 17-40mm and also brought a few clamps. Superclamps are awesome and remove the need for a tripod, as long as there is something to clamp to. They are heavyish, but very compact in size. Personally, I've never really seen the need for a monopod unless using a fixed 300mm or longer. Maybe now with SLRs shooting video you tend to see them more with short lenses.

Camera support

Michelle's picture

I usually use the monopod for shooting in low light in places where a tripod is inconvenient. I also tend to bracket for HDR and like having the support to minimize camera movement. I try to use a tripod whenever possible but sometimes a monopod is just handier. I haven't heard of Superclamps. Will have to check that out.

Michelle

Congrats and more tips

fureigh's picture

Sounds like you have it figured out by now. Congratulations on joining IRC!

For more tips, check out https://drupal.org/irc, especially the links at the bottom of the page.

fureigh.com
fureigh on twitter and g.d.o.

Dinner???

topazzz's picture

Does anyone want to meet for a bite today (Monday)? The opening reception starts @6...

Dinner? - still looking for someone?

ICF's picture

If you are still interested let me know! I'm heading over towards the conference center now..so I will be in that area.

Sure

topazzz's picture

Heading there myself in 10 min. Should we meet. Somewhere specific?

I'm going to try to make it!

heyitspython's picture

I'm going to try to make it! I'm meeting up with a family member around the same time, but hopefully I can push that back a bit!

party before the party ride over there...

maggielanoue's picture

anyone taking a cab to the party @ city hall and want to share the ride?

Thank you to all the

techgirlgeek's picture

Thank you to all the DrupalChix that made this event so incredibly successful. We are amazing!

YOU are amazing!!

kappaluppa's picture

You, my dear, did a wonderful job!!! Thanks for giving so much - not only to the community in general, but for also being a champion for the DrupalChix as well!!

Yay! TechGirlGeek!!!

K