Hey, everyone! Since the feedback from the February meetup has been very positive, I was thinking that we could get together for a similar event on Wednesday, March 26th from 7-9pm at Affinity Lab in Adams Morgan.
We will likely continue in the standard format with a series of 5-minute "lightning" presentations by anyone who has something to show off to the group, and give time for the group to ask questions and interact with each other. A projector and wi-fi will be provided so you can easily use your laptop to access things online and show them to the group.
We are planning on starting at 7pm (and ending around 9pm), which should give everyone a chance to arrive from work. The address is 2451 18th St NW, and the entrance is to the right of The Diner. Push the buzzer for Affinity Lab when you arrive.
The nearest metro to Adams Morgan is the Woodley Park stop on the Red line, however keep in mind there is a 10-15 minute walk from there to the lab. There is also a bunch of buses that can drop you off right at 18th and Columbia from places like Metro Center, Dupont Circle, and the Ust Corridor, so check the Metro bus map before heading out.
Since the lab is not a restaurant or bar, we will be purchasing drinks and snacks ahead of time, which seemed to work well last time around. For this meetup I am thinking of getting it catered by Java Green, which deliciously provided food for another event that I recently attended.
We are again looking for sponsors to help cover the cost of food and drink. Please contact me if you or your organization are willing to chip in and support the meetup.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Mike
Comments
+1 for Java Green
They have great food, do great catering, lots of organic and veggie options, and are a local business run by lovely people.
Double the Meetups in March
Hey Mike,
Looks like we're going to have double the Drupal meetups this month - Development Seed and Citi have been working on setting up the usual monthly meetup for March for a couple weeks now, and Eric will be posting the final details later today. We're going to be bringing it back to Be Bar, where we had the January meetup, so food and drink will be readily available. I know a lot of people have said they like having the meetups at a bar, and we'll of course have the projector going so we can show off all we've been working on.
Let's talk more about these down the road so we don't cross paths like this.
Bonnie
Double Trouble!
Sorry I didn't check with you guys! I just assumed that since it nearly a week into March that there were no plans on the table. I wanted to post my event invitation sooner, but it I had to check with the lab folks about which day would be best to host the meetup.
It doesn't seem like we would need or want to have two meetups this month. Perhaps we should open the question up to the group, and go with whichever venue people think would be more convenient for them.
Does anyone have any thoughts?
+1 for Affinity Lab
Not to be a kill-joy or anything, but I'd personally rather it not be at a bar for the sake of being able to hear what's being said. I'm coming for Drupal, not for beer.
Just my two cents' worth...
+ another one for Affinity Lab
Last month's meetup @ Affinity was the best I've attended. Enough space, good projector, and beer to boot! Although I can't say I've been to every meeting we've had at a bar, on the whole I have found it difficult to concentrate in those venues, great as they are for kicking back and socializing. Perhaps we could have 2 monthly events serving these two different purposes: Drupal Meetup and Drupal Happy Hour!
+ 1 for both AL and BeBar
Double the meetings = double the pleasure.
The Affinity Lab meeting was excellent. Another BeBar meet sounds great as well.
It would be great if we could hook into BeBar's projector system next time, which would make it much easier to see what's going on. The last time things were a bit blurry and dark. (Couldn't be my advancing age... no.... :)
Cheers.
Affinity this month?
I'm cool with both but I have to say that I am more inclined to make the trip down to the city if I'm not going to a bar. Affinity Labs sounds like a great venue and I'd be willing to toss some money in the pot.
Lullabot loves you
Learn Drupal online at Drupalize.me
Why not rotate?
Finding a balance between the two seems like the best option to me. There seems to be a desire for both from the community, so let's aim to meet that. I suggest that we switch off between one month having the typical monthly meetup at a bar with lightening round presentations like we've had in the past, and then the next month have it in a more hands on venue like Affinity Labs where more training can happen. We can try these out for a few months and see how it goes.
Mike, we've been organizing the meetups for awhile now and really appreciate you jumping in to help. Hopefully the result will be more Drupal meetups : ) Let's talk before any planning happens for the next one so we don't duplicate efforts. Our number is 202-250-3633.
And yes, we're talking to Be Bar about letting us hook into their projectors and have a completely separate space so we can turn the music off and just go : )
If you have any suggestions at all for the meetups, please let us know. It's great to have so many people helping to improve them.
Will be there. I heard that
Will be there. I heard that last time's meetup was more hands on - I would love to see how this can work out and I am also ready to help out if need be.
In regards to meetup spot 'bar': the meetups in places like the science club (a bar in DC) in the past clearly didn't work out perfectly. I think we all agree that we need a spot where we have internet, a good projector or screen, and where we can actually understand each other.
Nevertheless, I think it's important to get the casual atmosphere + quick talking rounds to a) lower the threshold for new people and b) spark the conversation.
For the DrupalCon Debrief at the BeBar we've got the extra room (holds 60 people) with a screen this time - this will allow us to have a meeting where we can all see, hear and speak to each other :)
Like Bonnie I've got the impression that there are different notions of what a drupal meetup should do and we are getting to a size where we could actually satisfy them by getting creative about our formats.
Let's get over this planning blip fast and start a discussion about branding out how to improve things in the future.
I am looking forward to March 18 DrupalCon Debrief and March 26 Drupal Meetup - double fun!
Alex
http://www.twitter.com/lxbarth
btw, dorkbot is on tuesday
btw, dorkbot is on tuesday and doesn't collide with this event on wednesday: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/453360/ http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotdc/
http://www.twitter.com/lxbarth
dorkbot was moved
Dorkbot was originally scheduled for Tuesday so I didn't think there would be a conflict. Then apparently those folks had a scheduling problem with their room, so they moved the event to Wed. It looks like people are going to have to choose between the two. Hopefully, there isn't that huge of an overlap between Dorkbot and Drupal.
I got pretty turned around on this, too
But as it turns out the Dorkbot meeting is on Tuesday, and Drupal's on Wednesday -- so hopefully I'll see some of you at both.
Posted on upcoming:
Posted on upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/454847/?ps=5
I am trying to keep upcoming up to date because it has the potential of being a great spot for keeping everybody up to date and coordinating dates (not just within the DC drupal community). Unfortunately it is a little under used at the moment. But that can change. Chicken and egg, right?
Cheers,
Alex
http://www.twitter.com/lxbarth
I will be there...
I'll be in DC for the week and will be missing my Berkeley Drupal Group on Thursday, so the timing is perfect! Looking forward to meeting you all on Wednesday.
Kristin
Rather Bummed
After advocating a bit for this meetup at Affinity Lab, it turns out I won't be able to make it, which leaves me rather bummed, since I couldn't make last week's debrief, either. It would be great if someone could take some notes or otherwise post links to any presentation material. Hopefully, I'll catch you all next month.
Reminder About Tonight
Hey, guys! This is a quick reminder about tonights DC Drupal Meetup from 7 to 9pm at Affinity Lab (2451 18th St NW) in Adams Morgan.
We are likely going to stick with the show-and-tell format that worked so well last time. Perhaps you can all start thinking now about something that you might be able to share with the group. It can just be something that you are working on, and need not be anything big or super important. Preferably though, it can be explained/demonstrated in about 5 minutes or less. Bring your laptops if you wish, there will be open wi-fi and a projector.
In addition to technical demonstrations, it also might be nice to have a short discussion about tips and best practices for writing web development proposals (or requests for proposals) that involve Drupal. I personally have been trying to figure out the best way to explain to potential clients how Drupal works in general, and specifically how it is hard to draw a line between standard and custom features (since every module needs some level of setup or customization). So if anyone has any experiences or questions, bring them along!
Also, Eric Gunderson and I are probably going to be chatting about how we want to organize the DC Drupal Meetups (and Sitdowns?) for the next month and beyond, so if you have any ideas or would like to contribute to the effort, you should probably try and talk with one of us tonight (or send an email if you can't make it).
And finally, I am going to take care of reserving the space, bringing beer, and picking up food from Java Green so we have some drinks and snacks for the event. Since people seemed willing to chip in to cover their share of the fun last time, I am going to put out the donation jar again tonight rather than worry about hunting down official sponsors. If people could pitch in $10 (though it can be more or less depending on your liquidity and generosity) it would be great, however you shouldn't feel like you are obligated to pay anything to attend one of our meetups.
See you tonight!
+1 for 5 minute format
+1 for the 5 minute format. It keeps things interesting for everybody and time at the end to catch up with people who've talked about something that you'd like to know more about.
Mike, thanks for your efforts organizing this.
I'll see you guys tonight.
http://www.twitter.com/lxbarth
New to Drupal...should I come?
I have never used Drupal before, but I would like to learn it for an upcoming client engagement. Should I come to this event, or will this be over my head? Thanks.
http://jordan.teamhirsch.com/
Certainly
I believe that I attended the first DC Drupal meetup right after I started working on my first Drupal site, and it seems to have worked well for me!
Thanks!
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I just double-checked my calendar and I actually can't make it! But I would love to attend one of these soon. Thanks again.
http://jordan.teamhirsch.com/
Ugh, I can't make it
I am waaay behind on projects this week and I have got to start getting my taxes together or I'm going to freak out soon so unfortunately I can't take the time for the haul to the city tonight. I wish I lived closer so that it wasn't such a haul and I could pop in more easily. ah well. :-(
@tfish77: we have folks will all levels of experience and the meetups are very informal and talk about a lot of different things in the Drupal world. If you are new coming to a meetup is the perfect thing to do. :-)
Lullabot loves you
Learn Drupal online at Drupalize.me
That was great. Here are
That was great. Here are some pictures from last night:
http://www.twitter.com/lxbarth
DC tech events
I'd like to draw your attention to a discussion that is going on in the DC Tech community on how to coordinate events. I think the issue is not just important because there could be better coordination, but also because we should strive for making DC a more attractive place for web people (coders and strategists alike).
Do we lack cohesion? (more coordination of tech events in DC)
http://eastcoastblogging.com/2008/03/21/do-we-lack-cohesion
Good overview over existing tech events (graphed!)
http://rossnotes.com/content/on-cohesion-and-attempts-narrowly-define-wh...
(DC tech events calendar http://dctechevents.com/ )
http://www.twitter.com/lxbarth
Terrific meetup - photos
Thanks once again to Mike and all who participated for a great meetup. IMO, food from Java Green was a smashing success. It was great to see new and familiar faces and get new voices into the mix - I learned stuff!
Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyl/sets/72157604281654727/