site set-up

For the Drupal sites I am working on I have a setup using three different stages:

1. R&D site - This one is for both testing contributed modules and my own development.
2. Staging - A virtual copy of the live site to make sure that the things from the R&D site will work. Also used for testing updates/upgrades to core and contributed modules before they go live.
3. Live site - Simply the live public site where all ends up after passing the two above.

I'd like to plan a workshop / code sprint within the next month in Los Angeles. I have a couple ideas on what we could tackle as a group, but am open to suggestions.

I'd like to accomplish two things in this session

1.    Help mentor new developers teaching Drupal best practices and guidance in establishing/enhancing a good Drupal / LAMP development environments.
2.    Create a new module from scratch - OR - fix a contrib module. 

I would like to set-up a Drupal eCommerce website using the latest stable versions. It will be a CD store to start then I'll gradually add modules & functionality to builds a whole vibrant community around this niche Dance market that we serve. I've been in this business going on 29 years and we have some unique things that no one else does. Our customers have been asking for a website for years now, but we just haven't wanted to take the plunge, but we're ready to move this project forward one step at a time.