We had a good turnout for the December 2nd Meetup indicating that people in the area have quite a bit of interest in Drupal. A huge thank you to Addy for taking the bull by the horns and getting everyone together and setting up the location. The group that attended spanned the range from those being generally curious to those who make a living from developing web solutions on the Drupal platform.
There was definitely a strong interest in having a more regular DC-Meetup. To accommodate everyone’s varied schedules, commuting situations, and interest levels I propose that we schedule a standing meeting every month with the option to have an additional session every other month. Additionally, I suggest that the standing monthly meeting be a structured session so that people can predetermine when a particular topic has more value to their personal situation. The conversations during the December 2nd meeting support that these two ideas can contribute to the DC group sharing ideas, techniques, and information on a regular basis.
I have offered to be the point person for scheduling and coordinating the next few sessions. I am interested in other feedback and suggestions though to make sure that we can appeal to more than just a few people with the above arrangements.
Post your thoughts and let’s get this train moving.
Comments
...things to consider in your feedback...
While no one is expected to answer all of the below questions, here's some food for thought as you share your feedback.
I would have opened up a poll but it doesn't work for this set of questions:
A. Should a meeting be scheduled on a twice-monthly, monthly, or quarterly basis?
B. If every meeting were scheduled such that it would be Metro-accessible would you be opposed to moving the meeting around the VA/DC/MD area?
C. If we are not able to find a free location where we can conduct a regular meeting undisturbed, what range of contribution (per person) might you be comfortable with?
a. “only interested in attending free sessions”
b. $0.01 - $5.00
c. $5.01 - $10.00
d. $10.01 - $20.00
D. If a monthly meeting were scheduled would you ever be interested in presenting a topic on technique, design, performance, platform integration, etc.?
E. Do you have any additional criteria that should be taken into account for scheduling or conducting a regular meeting?
David Deas
Marketing and Technical Dude
Greg's List - DC
david@gregslistdc.com
Yes, presentations ... yes, a place to meet
Was glad to meet the local Drupal believers at the coffee house.
As a pre-newbie who understands HTML but nothing about databases or PHP, I'd welcome presentations about projects -- those created by members themselves and those instructive projects elsewhere and new modules that the presenter would analyze from a distance. Another example would be Addison's talk about Drupal 6, or a general chat about key modules such as Views, or issues such as free/paid content.
If members want to meet again in the Silver Spring area on a weekend, I can offer our office in Takoma Park, 2 blocks from Metro. We have a table that seats 6 to 8, plus 10 chairs in reserve, and a kitchen, microwave, coffee maker and wired Internet connection.
Steve Behrens
Editor, Current.org
Takoma Park, MD
Steve Behrens
Editor, Current.org
Takoma Park, MD
Excellent Meeting!
I was shocked and awed (indeed) not only by the # of attendees but by their open and generous nature. Thanks to all who were willing to help some of us limping behind the pack.
In future meetings, it would be great to do something that looks like exercises or projects. (Yes, that sounds like something a nube would request, doesn't it? Ah, well....)
I would be happy to pay dues or whatever. $10 a session doesn't sound unreasonable but I could be persuaded to pay more as necessary and prudent. As many meetings as possible are good, and anyplace within reasonable public transportation is also more than acceptable.
Thanks to all for showing up and for the enthusiastic participation. It was fun seeing some of the back-end of the Sony site, no?
Charlie, toujours surpris
Yes, bartender... I'll have a tall glass of Drupal over ice...
Whoops. Sorry about that. I should have been clearer in that last message.
I was not hinting at dues but instead was suggesting that one possible alternative is for attendees to help in securing a spot (where we can meet) by splitting the cost of renting a low-cost location; a place where we can meet undisturbed and potentially set up an overhead projector. I'll put together a good list and share it soon.
I, too liked the part of the last session where we took a look "under the hood" of the Sony site. I walked away very inspired.
~ David
David Deas
Marketing and Technical Dude
Greg's List - DC
david@gregslistdc.com
Ah, the dues bit. That was
Ah, the dues bit.
That was an alternative to pay-as-you-go. Would not want to see 20 people agree to pay $5, have somebody plunk down $100 for a venue, then have 5 actually show up.
What happened to trust, Charles? Oh, the humanity.
(Of course, the drupal bar scenario changes so many things, doesn't it?)
c
it all sounds good
Hey everyone,
I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make it to the meetup last weekend. I think it's great that so many people are interested in getting together! Here's my two cents:
-Margaux
Grand Junction Design, LLC
www.grandjunctiondesign.com
Kudos!
I was pretty excited that so many people showed up last week and everyone seemed very enthusiastic. I had a blast! Big thanks to Dave for volunteering to get the ball rolling on this in terms of regular meetups. I'm very willing to help and do presentations when I am in town for meetups but my bandwidhth for running things is pretty low right now.
In terms of the questions at hand:
A. Monthly is definitely a good time. I am game for more than monthly meetups but don't know how often I can attend.
B. I think moving the meetups around would be very cool since we have so many people coming from so many places. It is definitely more work in terms of planning but maybe if we rotated between 3 places every three months that could make it "standard" but still accessible to folks from all around.
C. I'm totally down with chipping in cashola. $10 seems very reasonable to me.
D. I'm more than willing to do presentations when I'm around.
E. I am really flexible in terms of circumstances as long as we have internet. Having food and drink available in some way is something that would be really nice to have.
Learn Drupal online at Drupalize.me
I'm good if we need to chip
I'm good if we need to chip in money to secure a location..
If this necessitates pre-payment to the meeting organizer via paypal before the meeting, I'm in for it as well!
Sorry I missed it!
I would love regular meeting times, and monthly seems about right. And although I would prefer DC / SS / TP locations that were metro accessible, if I knew when they were being held, I guess I could adjust when they were in other parts of MD or in VA. My biggest issue has been hearing about the meetups. I often only hear about after the fact or just a few days before they happen -- so a regular time would help me immensely.
I could contribute $5 to $10 to help defray site costs, but I wonder if that becomes defacto dues for the folks who show up. I guess it depends on how much the site costs, and what happens with any overage.
Although I have several sites up and running, I am not sure if I have done anything that merits a presentation from me, although I would love to see meaningful presentations by others.
What I would love is someone telling me that there is a simpler way to do such and such. Or being able to ask, "How do I ...." to folks who could brainstorm some possible solutions. I am not talking completely noobie questions, but there are so many ways to do just about anything, and I would truly love knowing the pros and cons before I commit to a solution.
Great discussion
Katrina
www.ambereyes.net
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www.ambereyes.net
Count me in
I've been wanting to jump into one of these for a while now.
Here's my preferences.
- Monthly would be good
maybe a rotation of 2 - 4 meeting spots would be good. I'm from VA - so MD/DC spots would be harder for me to get to - but it sounds like there are a lot of MD/DC people. Rotating might be a good way to help out people who are further away
$10 would be a doable contribution to help us secure spots
sure I could do some presentations - one semi-newbie to others :)
Hopefully we can get something worked out!
Steve T.
Weeknights?
I'd love to attend, but Sundays don't work for me, and Saturdays are almost unworkable as well.
Anyone else up for meeting up on weeknights?
As with others -- monthly, rotation of spots, $10 location fee is fine, I'd be happy to present.
weeknights are good too
In general I am slightly in favor of weeknights too. Weekends are possible but generally present a bigger challenge.
Still happy to pay, discuss, etc. :)
-Margaux
Grand Junction Design, LLC
www.grandjunctiondesign.com
Grand Junction Design, LLC
www.grandjunctiondesign.com
I like working sessions
I like working sessions where something is presented formally, in an organized manner. Having an agenda and a 1hr question free for all at the end..
A projector would be nice. Bringing a monitor helps (ahem.... Addi...) but a projector would be ideal.
A presentation of Drupal 6
Quick demos of live sites based on Drupal (15mins each) - pros, cons, modules used, architecture
Theming in Drupal 5/6
How to contribute to Drupal core/modules
Joe
I am relatively new to
I am relatively new to Drupal and I live in Northern VA. I believe these meet ups are very beneficial. I don't mind contributing $10 (or more) and I don't mind paying at the time of RSVP. Changing the location periodically would be beneficial as well.
I believe we should setup 4
I believe we should setup 4 sessions per month with 2 weekend sessions and 2 week day sessions on alternating weeks. Weeks 1 and 3 could be week day meetups, and weeks 2 and 4 could be weekend meetups.
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Ron Williams