What about a DrupalCamp New England?

Posted by nikkiana on March 21, 2008 at 10:59pm

Feeling a little bit of a post-Drupalcon lull and mulling over travel plans to next weekend's DrupalCampNYC4, I found myself wishing that there was something a little bit closer to home to look forward to going to occasionally.

In case anyone isn't already familiar... DrupalCamp is based on the BarCamp format which is an impromptu participant led free conference, usually one or two days long. At the beginning of the day, attendees sign up for sessions they'd like to lead and/or make suggestions of a session they'd like to see so that someone else can take the lead. Discussion and attendant participation encouraged. The event is to be free (usually you can find companies to sponsor whatever expenses are involved, like pizza for lunch) Lots of coding, lots of learning and lots of socializing inevitably takes place.

I figured it would be a question worth posing to all of the groups in the New England area... Would having a DrupalCamp somewhere in our area be something that we'd like to see happen? If so, where in the greater New England area would we be willing to travel to? (It would be my personal assumption that Boston would probably be most central....)

Comments

Go Boston!

Posted by ebrittwebb on March 22, 2008 at 2:48am

Sounds like a great idea. I'd love to see us hold one in the Metro Boston area every 1-3 months. Perhaps on a Friday or Saturday?

I could probably arrange to host one every so often at the Newton Public Schools, where I do volunteer strategic planning.

Erik Britt-Webb
drupal@ebrittwebb.com

DrupalCamp Boston

Posted by christefano on March 22, 2008 at 5:09am

New York is part of New England and has its own DrupalCamp. How about having a DrupalCamp Boston?

Actually, New York is NOT a

Posted by nikkiana on March 22, 2008 at 5:54am

Actually, New York is NOT a part of New England. New England is Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Hence why I'm suggesting one somewhere in New England, probably Boston because that's the major city in the area but I wanted to leave it open in case there was more interest elsewhere in the general area.

oops

Posted by christefano on March 23, 2008 at 12:46am

I'm not originally from the area and was misinformed. Quite. Any Yankees or Giants fans in the audience? *ducks*

Having been on the New England Thruway in the Bronx didn't help either.

Not Boston

Posted by rhelwig (not verified) on March 22, 2008 at 12:29pm

If it is in Boston, I know I won't be attending. I can't stand big cities and bad governments.

I'd suggest Manchester as the best location. Maybe the seacoast, like Portsmouth or Hampton.

Just throwing it out there

Posted by usonian on March 22, 2008 at 12:51pm

Portland would be fun too - not as central to the other states as Boston, Manchester, or Portsmouth, but it's a cool town.

Northampton, MA might be more convenient to folks from VT, CT, and RI (and eastern upstate NY, for that matter) - it's pretty well situated right at the intersection of the Mass Pike and route 91.

Seconded!

Posted by drywall on March 22, 2008 at 1:38pm

I'd also selfishly vote for Northampton, but really given that most New Englanders live in the Boston area (I consider southwest Connecticut part of the New York area, despite it officially being New England) I think it's more fair to do it there.

Maybe we compromise and do it in Worchester?

Not Hippies

Posted by jpramas on March 22, 2008 at 2:52pm

If it's in the sticks, I know I won't be attending. I can't stand hippies and bad restaurants. (Even though I look like a hippie. . .)

Editor/Publisher
Open Media Boston
www.openmediaboston.org

Editor/Publisher
Open Media Boston
http://www.openmediaboston.org

100% Hippie free CMS

Posted by chipk on March 22, 2008 at 5:09pm

Can we work "100% Hippie free CMS" into the Drupal re-branding effort? ;-)

Northampton is probably less hippie-influenced than you might think. And compared to Cambridge? Please!

As for "sticks" and "bad restaurants", them's just fightin' words!! No fair comparing a foodie mecca like Boston with a small town like Northampton! In fact, Northampton (combined w/Amherst) is a kind of food destination in the area. Obviously, nothing approaching Boston or NYC for great, cheap food, but definitely some good offerings.

All that said - I'd rather leave Northampton for a conference in Boston anyway! Maybe we could get space from B.U. and center things around cheap eats in Allston?

Allston Rock City is the

Posted by andreashaugstrup on March 23, 2008 at 12:52am

Allston Rock City is the place to eat, for sure!

Summer Ski Areas...

Posted by lee vodra on March 22, 2008 at 2:55pm

Hi There -

Some ski areas rent out their places very cheaply in the off season. While there would be more cost involved than pizza, it would be very pretty and we could probably get a sponsor for the expense. We could do hiking when we're not coding. We could probably find a place with hot tubs...Otherwise, Boston would be my choice.

Throwing the thought out there...

Since I live in Brighton, MA

Posted by andreashaugstrup on March 22, 2008 at 4:00pm

Since I live in Brighton, MA and don't have a driver's license or a car my vote goes for the Boston area as well.

Worcester, Manchester, Boston all good locations

Posted by mlncn on March 24, 2008 at 1:22pm

I think Worcester, Manchester, and Boston are all good locations, even Amherst/Northampton is decently serviced by Peter Pan Buslines. A bus from Boston's South Station to Manchester is $11 one way and only an hour if not during rush hour (schedule). Worcester, of course, is serviced by the commuter rail from Boston. I like the suggestion of Manchester as the best New England DrupalCamp location.

It really comes down to where can we get a nice university to give us rooms with tons of wifi?

Agaric is helping sponsor DrupalCampNYC4 on March 29th and 30th (Dan Hakimzadeh will be attending) and we'd love to participate in one near us. (Natick, Massachusetts, is mainly where we are, but I'll take hippie sticks and urban bad government over the crushing spiritual death of the suburbs any day ;-)

^{benjamin, Agaric Design Collective}

^{benjamin, agaric}

Boston College may be an option

Posted by ebrittwebb on March 24, 2008 at 1:45pm

In addition to my comment about having access to facilities at Newton Public Schools, I/we also have some Drupal connections at Boston College (also in Newton). We could probably get access to some facilities there. BC is the last stop on the Green B-line of the "T".

Erik Britt-Webb
drupal@ebrittwebb.com

Hippies Ride Together!

Posted by ethanw on March 24, 2008 at 2:29pm

Depending on the status of the hippy-ban (which may disqualify more of us than we might like admit), a DrupalCamp in a pretty place that's a bit outside of the city could be REALLY nice. Perhaps we could organize some ride-sharing from the city (I'm also car-less) to make it easier for those of us concentrated in the Metro area.

Wherever it's held, it's a great idea. What are the next steps toward making it happen?

No Hippie Ban. . .

Posted by jpramas on March 25, 2008 at 6:15am

I was just foolin' about with my earlier hippie-related comment--as I felt my fair city was being ill-used in an earlier comment. Although I always think Boston is an ideal place for a regional event (except for folks coming from Skowhegan and points north), I think some of the other suggestions are also swell. It's just important such events be sited in transportation hubs where there are good facilities available to make sure that everyone who wants to get there can do so relatively easily.

Toodles,

Jason
Editor/Publisher
Open Media Boston
www.openmediaboston.org

Editor/Publisher
Open Media Boston
http://www.openmediaboston.org

100% Hippie powered CMS

Posted by chipk on March 25, 2008 at 8:53pm

Same here, of course. Hippie roots run deep - had a Nehru jacket when I was 8!

Um, how about at Acquia?

Posted by batsonjay on April 1, 2008 at 1:44am

We have lots of office space, and we're nowhere near fully staffed, so we have tons of empty cubes, a big conference room, a couple of video projectors, (less whiteboard space than desired between now and mid-May (or so)), and would be more than happy to host. And do so regularly.

And, of course, we have a vested interest in Drupal's success... ;-)

Now, of course, we're located in Andover, which is nowhere near as fun-sounding as Cambridge or NoHo. But maybe there's a few other benefits we can offer. (And, oh - there's a commuter rail station in Andover. Granted it's about a mile away from the office, but I suspect we can handle people who train out.)

When did you have in mind?

(Credit to Barry Jaspan, who asked first asked internally whether we should volunteer for this.)

DrupalCamp New England in Andover gets my vote

Posted by susan macphee on April 3, 2008 at 4:10pm

I think having DrupalCamp New England in Andover MA at Acquia makes sense. Very central with generous space and hosts.

www.macpheedesign.com

Nobody agree too quickly

Posted by mlncn on April 3, 2008 at 6:51pm

We have to pretend we're not thrilled Acquia is offering space, and hold out for more.

I want vegan snacks. And, um... a pony!

^{benjamin, Agaric Design Collective}

^{benjamin, agaric}

No pony, but...

Posted by bjaspan on April 3, 2008 at 8:55pm

Well, we do have really good snacks. No pony, alas, but we do have a Wii (you may have met this Wii at the Drupalcon party at Felt). Will that suffice? :-)

Host it and they will come

Posted by arthurf on April 4, 2008 at 12:47pm

While Andover is a bit of a haul for me, I think that in the interest of getting things rolling, let's make a plan that is easy to execute first (ie: if Acquia is willing to host, that makes lots of stuff easy) and then we can have break out at the session for where to host the next one that gives people from the northern hinterlands some parity. (I'd argue for Vermont as there is no better place in the world in the summer, but I know that doesn't meet everybody's needs-- the hippy comments not with standing).

How would people feel about May 17&18? Too soon? June 7&8th?

@batsonjay precamp rides? I'll bring my bike :)

http://24b6.net

Advance planning ...

Posted by sooz on April 4, 2008 at 3:14pm

Giving yourselves at least two months for planning would be good. Speaking of planning, I'd be happy to help. (I was the event planner who worked at the recent Drupalcon Boston.) And like someone else mentioned, Barcamp Boston is most likely going to be May 17-18 in Cambridge.

I'm in favor

Posted by bdimaggio on April 4, 2008 at 1:57pm

...but I'd put in a request for any weekend other than 5/17-18, since I'm out of town then.

BarCamp Boston

Posted by jeckman@drupal.org on April 4, 2008 at 2:59pm

There's also discussion going on[1] about having BarCamp Boston III the weekend of May 17-18 - it'd be great if the two (BarCamp Boston III and DrupalCamp New England I) were on different weekends.

[1] In the Yahoo! group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/barcampboston/

BarCamp Date?

Posted by MattVBO on May 6, 2008 at 5:27pm

I'm very interested in both BarCamp Manchester and DrupalCamp New England. If the BarCamp date does get set - it'd be nice to get it in the wiki: http://www.barcampmanchester.org/

In a bigger long term

Posted by nikkiana on April 7, 2008 at 7:39pm

In a bigger long term picture of things sense, I'd like to see DrupalCamp possibly rotate between different areas of New England.... That way, not one group of people is necessarily shouldering the burden of hosting the event every time it occurs, nor is necessarily one group being forced to travel further than others, and if someone doesn't like big cities they're not totally neglected (and likewise if someone doesn't like hippies ;)). But, we should probably focus on the the first one before we start thinking of the future.

I think that Acquia's office in Andover is likely the best (and easiest) choice for the first go around. And I know I personally would accept Sooz's assistance in helping organize because she's totally awesome, and while I may have ideas.... I'm admittedly not always the best at organizing things. ;)

Jacob Redding has started writing up a really nice and helpful DrupalCamp Organizing Guide.

I'm leaning towards thinking that a one day event might be a better choice for us, seeing as our camp is probably more likely to be pulling from areas that might be more than an hour drive.

Based on my experiences with DrupalCampNYC, we're likely to need sponsorship to pay for breakfast and lunch... and maybe (but not necessarily) drinks/dinner. It might be fun to have sponsorship for t-shirts, but that's obviously not a necessity either.

Attempting to organize some ridesharing is probably a good idea for our group. If we decide on Acquia for our first Camp, those of us not from Boston aren't going to have the benefit of public transit, but I'm sure we can try to arrange things so not everyone has to drive the entire way.

Hotel space in Andover

Posted by lee vodra on April 9, 2008 at 1:39am

Found a list of hotels in the area at the Phillips Academy at Andover website:
http://www.andover.edu/about_andover/inns.htm

BTW, their graduation will be the weekend of June 6-8 and I would assume that hotel space would be a challenge then.

It's only a 45 minute drive to Boston and I'm sure we could arrange a couch-share for anyone who needs.

Following weekend?

Posted by arthurf on April 12, 2008 at 3:06pm

Any thoughts about the following weekend?

http://24b6.net

Who can lead this?

Posted by moshe weitzman on April 18, 2008 at 11:42am

This is sounding great. To make this happen, someone needs to step up and become lead organizer. You won't have to do all that much work since the venue is pretty much decided (Andover) and Sooz has volunteered to help with venue and logistics. But we need a date and a rough agenda and a headcount and so on.

There is now nice documentation for how to host a Drupalcamp and other events.

So, who volunteers?

I guess I can take on this

Posted by nikkiana on April 22, 2008 at 12:57am

I guess I can take on this role, if there aren't any objections.

Willing to lend a hand

Posted by arthurf on April 23, 2008 at 10:14pm

I can't devote a ton of time, but I'd be happy to be backup on this.

http://24b6.net

seattle did a 2 day camp our

Posted by GregoryHeller on April 23, 2008 at 8:15pm

seattle did a 2 day camp our first year, and a one day our second year, this year we are moving back to a 2 day. I would suggest that if you hope to draw people form more than an hour or two away that you do a 2 day camp and that way folks can make the most of their travel time. Personally, i am probably not going to drive 4 or more hours for maybe 6 hours of sessions, but i certainly would for 10 to 14 hours of sessions.

http://www.CivicActions.com
http://www.GregoryHeller.com

http://GregoryHeller.com

Wondering...

Posted by mroswell on May 21, 2008 at 8:29pm

Did this happen already? Or is it yet to come?

Still hoping for

Posted by ebrittwebb on May 25, 2008 at 2:54am

As far as I know, DrupalCamp New England has not happened yet. Last I heard, nikkiana offered to become lead organizer, but nothing more since then.

Erik Britt-Webb
drupal@ebrittwebb.com

Sorry about that! Life

Posted by nikkiana on May 31, 2008 at 4:58am

Sorry about that! Life momentarily got in the way and I got distracted. Whoops! Date poll forthcoming...

any news on this?

Posted by wdennen on July 16, 2008 at 3:07pm

Would love to see it in New England!

Unfortunately, I've gotten

Posted by nikkiana on August 10, 2008 at 8:02pm

Unfortunately, I've gotten massively busy so planning this feeling a little bit out of my range at the moment, so I feel I need to pass the hat... I'd love to see this happen. Any takers?

Also interested

Posted by bostondave on August 25, 2008 at 2:12am

If this ever gets underway.

Also interested

Posted by maufunct on August 25, 2008 at 6:14pm

Western mass.

Reviving the topic..

Posted by pcoste on December 23, 2009 at 4:42am

Any chance this can happen early 2010?

Seconded! I'd be very

Posted by pazzypunk on December 23, 2009 at 3:41pm

Seconded! I'd be very interested in one.

Anything new?

Posted by jburnard on February 25, 2010 at 2:53pm

I'm very interested in something in New England as well.

Planning a mini DrupalCampNH for newbies

Posted by miche on February 25, 2010 at 3:19pm

Hello all! The NH user group is currently planning a 1-day seminar for newbies to take place this spring. Once we get the experience planning a 1-day event, we have high hopes for next summer for a full event. Depending on the success of the mini-camp, there were discussions about holding a BarCamp (unconference about anything geeky), an AdobeCamp (with featured well-known speakers), and a DrupalCamp (traditional community votes for sessions) concurrently for a full weekend at a NH University. We do believe that dorms rooms would be available too! Follow @drupalcampnh to get the latest details!

Michelle Lauer
michellelauer.com

DrupalCampNH for newbies

Posted by pixel67 on May 8, 2011 at 4:26pm

Keep me posted, I live on the border of MA & NH and would like to come to the newbie camp :)

oh man, just noticed these posts were made a while ago, I guess I missed out lol

Drupal Groups in Boston

Posted by pixel67 on May 8, 2011 at 2:23am

Hi all,

Just stating out with Drupal and wanted to say hi :)
Looking to learn more about Drupal and Drupal meetups !

-Cheers

DrupalCamp NH 2011

Posted by himerus on May 8, 2011 at 4:29pm

We have also started our planning on DrupalCamp NH 2011 which is "likely" to be in September of 2011.

Jake Strawn (@himerus)
ThemeGeeks | Development Geeks
Omega - 960.gs

Boston

Posted by nancydru on May 8, 2011 at 4:03am

http://groups.drupal.org/design-drupal

Nancy Dru

Design-Drupal

Posted by pixel67 on May 8, 2011 at 3:59pm

Thanks for the link Nancy, I just joined the group and look forward to participating :)

Monthly too

Posted by nancydru on May 8, 2011 at 5:58pm

We also have a monthly meetup at MIT: http://groups.drupal.org/node/144039

Nancy Dru

Thanks Nancy, I am excited to

Posted by pixel67 on May 8, 2011 at 7:35pm

Thanks Nancy, I am excited to start building with Drupal, was always intimidated by all the talk about steep learning curve,
so far so good with Drupal 7 :)

Thank you

No learning curve

Posted by nancydru on May 8, 2011 at 8:05pm

There is no learning curve with Drupal, only a fear curve. Sounds like you might be lowering that. The computer is just a high-speed moron; you're in charge. Go for it!

Nancy Dru

-Cheers

What about a DrupalCamp New England?

Comments

Group organizers

Group categories

More Specifically

New groups

Group notifications