The general Downtown Los Angeles Drupal meetup is on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at Sensis Agency in Downtown Los Angeles. Those interested in attending this meetup remotely are welcome to join us via WebEx.
At this meetup, we're having our usual news and announcements, raffle prizes, lightning talks (which are short, bite-sized presentations) and featured presentations. In previous months, we've had presentations on Responsive Web Design by SDG&E, integrating Drupal and Redmine (a popular ticketing system), a behind-the-scenes look at BuildaModule.com, and a DrupalCamp planning meeting.
What topics would you like to see a presentations on at this meetup? Post in the comments below!
Drupal Happy Hour
Join us between 5:30-7pm for happy hour at Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant (one floor above Sensis). Takami serves the highest quality Sushi, Robata and Japanese-influenced entrees and boasts unparalleled views of the LA area with outdoor patio dining. Happy hour at Takami is between 4-7pm and their phone number is 213-236-9600.
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Our venue and drinks sponsor is Sensis (@SensisAgency), a cross-cultural advertising agency with digital at its core. We got our start building websites and have expanded into a full service advertising agency, helping our clients take advantage of the fundamental changes taking place in the marketing world.
Our parking, video conferencing and raffle prize sponsor for this event is Exaltation of Larks, a Drupal strategy, consulting, development and training company with a team of Drupal experts in Los Angeles. We create fun websites, mobile apps, virtual worlds and e-commerce sites. Follow us at @LarksLA to learn more about our Drupal services and upcoming trainings.
This event is being organized with help from Droplabs (@Droplabs), a collaborative Drupal event and coworking space in Downtown Los Angeles. We're quickly gaining a reputation for being the only coworking space around with a with a low-cost business model: come work here and use our tables, chairs, WiFi and conference room with a low, daily or monthly membership fee and only pay more for the extras, such as 24/7 access, equipment rental and a locker for your belongings.
Drupal After Dark
Even if you can't make it to happy hour or the meetup, you're welcome to join us afterward for a Drupal After Dark. After we wrap up the meeting and clean up, a group of us will go to a nearby restaurant or pub. Stay tuned to the comments below for suggestions for a Drupal After Dark location.
Agenda
After happy hour at Takami, we'll start our meeting at Sensis at 7pm. Our meetups follow a basic format and start off with Drupal news and announcements, local job announcements, raffle prizes and full-length presentations.
As always, we'll also have community Q&A, during which time anyone in attendance can ask questions, divine answers from the crowd and give brief, 5-10 minute-long presentations known as lightning talks. We'll finish off the night with more networking and a Drupal After Dark at 9:00pm.
For any changes to our agenda for the evening, stay tuned to this meetup announcement or click the Sign up button below (or both!) to be notified when the agenda has been updated.
5:30pm
Happy Hour at Takami
Projector and Tables / Chairs Setup
6:55pm
Start of WebEx Meeting
7:00pm
News and Upcoming Events, including:
• Drupal Travelers Program
• Drupal Job Fair
• Drupal Coworking Friday
• Interesting events listed at http://groups.drupal.org/events
Breakout Sessions
Users Helping Users (continued)
8:00pm
Raffle Prizes!
Lightning Talks
Featured Presentations
9:00pm
Wrap-up, Clean-up and Close-up
Drupal After Dark and more networking
Join us on WebEx and Twitter!
The featured presentations at this meetup will be broadcasted via WebEx, courtesy of Exaltation of Larks. WebEx works in your browser, whether you use Linux, Windows or Mac OS X.
To join the meeting, use the following URL and password:
URL: https://meetings.webex.com/collabs/#/meetings/detail?uuid=I8OTLG7GFL2P8PNMGU7PIT3OFU-2J4J
password: uu828emk
You can also receive the meeting URL and password by email by clicking the Sign up button below (a Drupal.org account is required).
During the meetup, several of the event organizers will also be monitoring Twitter for feedback and questions that mention @DowntownDrupal.
Breakout Sessions
We have several spaces available for breakout sessions. This is an open, multi-track format where we break into groups and discuss a variety of topics. Each breakout session is led by a volunteer who picks the topic, picks the space and can optionally report back to the larger group in the form of an announcement or lightning talk.
This is also an opportunity for Users Helping Users, which is a participant-driven format where members of the community give and receive help with whatever questions and problems they're having with Drupal.
Please note that while Users Helping Users is not designed to be a replacement for bona fide consulting from a Drupal professional that there are plenty of Drupal experts and professionals who attend our meetups and sometimes they need help, too!
Featured Presentations
At this meetup, we're having our usual news and announcements, raffle prizes, lightning talks (which are short, bite-sized presentations) and featured presentations. In previous months, we've had presentations on Responsive Web Design by SDG&E, integrating Drupal and Redmine (a popular ticketing system), a behind-the-scenes look at BuildaModule.com, and a DrupalCamp planning meeting.
What topics would you like to see a presentations on at this meetup? Post in the comments below!
Raffle prizes! Collect them all! Must be present to win!
Raffle prizes at this meetup have been provided by Exaltation of Larks. Our raffle prizes often include discount codes, magazines, DVDs, books, and free seats to professional Drupal trainings. We are always grateful to our sponsors for their continued support.
If you have any items you'd like to donate to the raffle, please contact any of the organizers at the meetup. Thank you!
Location and Directions
Sensis
811 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 2050
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Public Transportation
Our venue is 100 feet away from the 7th Street / Metro Red Line Center Station. For information about bus routes, see http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/bus_overview/images/802.pdf
7th Street / Metro Center Station
660 South Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-922-6000
http://www.metro.net
Parking
Anyone who carpools and parks at United Valet Parking, Inc. (757 South Flower St.) will receive complimentary $5 parking courtesy of our parking sponsor, Exaltation of Larks.
- United Valet Parking, Inc. (757 South Flower St.; 213-622-0137)
Both parking locations are within a 3 minute walk of our venue and have a $5 evening rate if arriving after 4pm.
Street parking is $5 per hour from 8am-8pm Pacific. There are ample parking lots and garages in the immediate area. For additional parking locations, see http://en.parkopedia.com/parking/815_west_7th_street_los_angeles_ca_90017/
About Downtown Los Angeles Drupal
The Downtown Los Angeles Drupal group regularly meets in and around Downtown Los Angeles, California. We organize a large number of weekly and monthly events on various Drupal topics, including the general Downtown Los Angeles Drupal meetup that has been meeting regularly each month since early 2010.
The Downtown area is the most active area for Drupal in the Greater Los Angeles Area and has seen hundreds of Drupal events, including job fairs, meetups and workshops, study group meetings, conferences about design and theming, paid trainings, FREE tutoring sessions from Drupal professionals and barn raisings to benefit non-profits and members of our community here in and around Downtown Los Angeles.
Attending Drupal events in and around Downtown Los Angeles is one of the best ways to meet and talk with other Drupaleros and we encourage you to attend as many meetings and special events as you'd like. Whether it's to find solutions to problems you've been having, sharing something you've learned or just meeting interesting like-minded people, the Downtown Los Angeles Drupal events are an essential resource for Drupal professionals and hobbyists alike.
If you aren't already a member of Downtown Los Angeles Drupal, it's easy to join our community. Our community calendar is on our "Events" tab on our home page at http://groups.drupal.org/dtla
The Downtown Los Angeles Drupal group proudly participates in the California Drupal Travelers Program and can host businesses and community members who are visiting the area. Inquire within by contacting any of the Downtown Los Angeles Drupal organizers.
Comments
Thanks to a recent Groupon
Thanks to a recent Groupon deal, Exaltation of Larks is happy to sponsor the Drupal Happy Hour prior to this meetup. Come one, come all!
Happy hour is 5:30-7pm. Details are at http://groups.drupal.org/node/276448#drupal-happy-hour
Founder
http://www.larks.la
Robot Coordinator
http://droplabs.net
Organizer, Dragonslayer
http://drupal.la &n
Larks is also offering a paid
Larks is also offering a paid training on Drupal Commerce down at SANDCamp (the San Diego Drupal Camp) on January 25th, and I'll be happy to talk about it and raffle off a seat.
Another seat for a kickass
Another seat for a kickass training? Once again, thank you to the Larks crew for giving away such a valuable prize!
I recall you guys mentioning (the last time you gave away a seat to a paid training) that "winners must be present to win." Is this the case again? I'm asking this in an effort to avoid any confusion from our participants who can only attend remotely.
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Thanks, Miguel! The standard
Thanks, Miguel!
The standard "must be present to win" policy makes sense with physical items like books, magazines, DVDs, etc., but you're right that we've been doing it like that for… forever — much longer than we've been video conferencing our meetups and presentations.
Our raffle prizes non-tangibles now, too, like coupon codes, software licenses, etc.
As an organizer, I'm happy to defer to how raffle sponsors and donors wish to decide how their prizes are raffled off. What do you think, fellow organizers?
I like the idea of opening it
I like the idea of opening it up to remote attendees but there are a few problems that can possibly come with it also. If it's a physical good, then it might require mailing the (t-shirt, book, dvd, etc.) so that incurs not only additional costs to the group but also adds a logistical overhead in terms of having to assign someone to complete that task. On the plus side, however, it would be a nice way to reward folks who are either not near us geographically or can't attend because they're sick, busy or couldn't leave the office early enough.
I also think it's a nice thing to provide our attendees who do make the effort & are able to come out & not only learn & socialize but also contribute. It's a community, after all. The software rocks but the community's about the people. So as you can see, there's good things & other things to ponder.
What I'd suggest would be physical goods to be available only to in-person attendees but have other cool giveaways that aren't physically-tangible like product discounts, a free month of Buildamodule.com, etc., be open to include our remote attendees. I know we might not always have both types of giveaways on-hand but I think it's both a good way to encourage in-person attendance as well as (potentially) grow our remote attendance.
I'm not on the fence, I just prefer inclusivity wherever possible. To the benefit of all. What do other organizers think?
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Oh one last thing. While
Oh one last thing. While we've never had this issue come up before, there might be a raffle prize given to us by a book publisher, online training site, etc. where they might have a very specific way that they want it given away. Again, never come across this, just thinking aloud for future consideration. I liken it to the wealthy benefactor who donates something to charity & has very specific instructions on how to disseminate the gift.
I'm sure I'm over-thinking it but, hey, while we're discussing it might as well throw it all out there. ;)
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
I think you just nailed it
I think you just nailed it with this comment:
Oftentimes I'm both an event organizer and raffle prize sponsor, so I'm fairly partial to my current approach. That said, balancing the preferences and volunteer time of the event organizers and the needs and desires of the raffle sponsors. With enough communication, this works itself out pretty easily.
I think our recommended guidelines about sponsorship and raffle prizes should eventually go into our user group's governance wiki:
http://groups.drupal.org/downtown-los-angeles/governance
My thoughts on this topic come largely from my experience helping organize a DrupalCamp a few years ago. All the raffle prizes that year (including software licenses worth quite a bit of money) "disappeared". Put simply, that DrupalCamp lost a lot of credibility in my eyes and I don't volunteer my time helping organize that event any longer.
Ironically, when doing a
Ironically, when doing a Google search right now I pasted my clipboard contents into the search box and pasted in my previous comment by mistake (I always get a backup of my comments before hitting the submit button). Bruce Schneier's article about Liars and Outliers was the top search result!
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/12/liars_and_outli_1.html
For anyone who hasn't heard of the book, it's about how trust works and breaks down in communities, organizations, etc., around the world.
That's very generous of the
That's very generous of the Larks crew! Thank you Lee! You guys rock!
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Two people have mentioned to
Two people have mentioned to me that they didn't know about the happy hour because it wasn't in the calendar. I've added a separate event:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/277238
The meetup this evening that follows the happy hour is still scheduled from 7-9pm.
I'd like to add to the agenda
I'd like to add to the agenda a brief discussion of the upcoming Drupal Job Fair and Drupal Jobs Summit. These are both on Monday, January 28th, and are on the community calendar:
http://groups.drupal.org/downtown-los-angeles/events
On the lighter side of things, I can give a brief presentation on several recent modules and projects that have really made my work easier. If anyone's interested, this can be shaped into a panel discussion.
Does anyone have any requests or suggestions for topics?
Too many meetings to choose from on Tuesday
Thanks for signing me up for this. Under normal circumstances I would be there, but a few weeks back I promised my friends at the PHP group that I would go to the Zend talk at Coloft the same evening . . . and I have a JQuery meetup to attend the following night. Everything seems to clustered around the first three days of this week for some reason. There is a Wordpress meeting Tuesday evening at Klever Dog that I will also be missing. So I will catch you guys next time, I guess.
It was great to see you at
It was great to see you at the mentored Drupal training featuring BuildAModule.com on Friday. Thanks for posting a review of BuildAModule.com on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it.
https://peterkosenko.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/build-a-module/
Do let us know if you end up going to the meetup at Kleverdog! They run a great coworking space and the WordPress meetup they're hosting is featuring one of our own, Joe Chellman. He's a great guy and an accomplished Drupal developer, too.