Posted by HiredGuns on October 19, 2010 at 4:55pm
Just wondering when you would like to get together, where you want this to take place, and what you people want to talk about?
First Meeting
Just wondering when you would like to get together, where you want this to take place, and what you people want to talk about?
Comments
Getting Together
Hey, Reed, thanks for organizing this. My schedule is largely open, so I'd like to see what other people suggest in terms of dates and times. Monday evenings are out, and that's about the only thing that's really critical.
As for where, we are looking at the entirety of Vancouver Island here, hey? Obviously something not too far from Nanaimo would work best for me, but I'll do my best to accommodate the needs of others.
Emphasis on Mid-Island
We're trying to keep the region to the mid-Vancouver Island area, from Cowichan up. I know this is a large area, but there is already a group in Victoria that is too difficult to regularly attend. Because Nanaimo is the largest community in the mid-Island area, I propose that these be the meeting area for events and whatnot, but I am open to alternatives if the group dictates.
Branding with passion. Hired Guns Creative
That works for me.
Nanaimo is obviously very convenient to me, but I am also willing to try to attend some meetings in other parts of the region from time-to-time for the convenience of other members.
Sounds Interesting
Just getting started so this might be of interest to me. Located in Chemainus so anywhere near would be nice.
Got Married In Chemainus
Good to see other Drupalers on the Island. Yeah, Nanaimo is not too far from Chemainus. We're in the South End anyways.
Branding with passion. Hired Guns Creative
How to Join
It was immediately obvious to me, but you have to click "Join" in the top-right of the side bar in order to actually join this group.
Meet up
Hey all,
Good to see the interest. I am in Nanaimo too, so would be happy to meet in the area.
Any dates in mind yet? Thursdays (or Sat) work best for me.
Cheers,
Janice
?
is this group different in any way to the existing Vancouver Island group?
http://groups.drupal.org/node/250
Chris Jeffery
Drupal Instructor
Q College
College
1.250.298.5059
1.800.215.6702
cjeffery@qcollege.ca
www.QCollege.ca
604-771 Vernon Ave.
Victoria, B.C. V8X 5A7
Canada
hey
Chris Boag just walked by and wanted to say hi to everyone :)
Chris Jeffery
Drupal Instructor
Q College
College
1.250.298.5059
1.800.215.6702
cjeffery@qcollege.ca
www.QCollege.ca
604-771 Vernon Ave.
Victoria, B.C. V8X 5A7
Canada
Too many groups!
Yo all
There are now THREE Vancouver Island Groups - which is silly
This is the main one - http://groups.drupal.org/node/250
There is this random one that I have asked the organizer over and over to close - http://groups.drupal.org/vancouver-island
AND now there is one more :(
Would you please rename this one as NANAIMO
OR delete it and join the original Vancouver Island Group?
It is super confusing for the user AND the posting people will spam all THREE groups -- which is super annoying for all.
:) Please help!
ALSO -- if anyone does want to come to the Victoria DUG - feel free to sign up here to stay in touch: http://www.meetup.com/Victoria-Drupal-User-Group/
Thanks and Happy Friday!
Anne
Vancouver Island Drupal Groups
It appears from looking at the "original Vancouver Island Group" that it would more accurately be called the "Victoria DUG". In fact, in one post, you do call it precisely that. It looks like it's just a Victoria group that is prepared to welcome people from all over the island. That's nice, but that's 3 hours of driving for me, so it really doesn't serve my needs. I think Reed is right. There is room for another group. We should organize the names a little better. I'd start by calling your group the Victoria or South-Island Group. Unlike you, I don't think we have enough of a base in Nanaimo to run a group off one city.
What's in a name?
This is great, here we have an opportunity to practice what we preach regarding continuous improvement and usability! :)
I agree that the group naming situation is unnecessarily confusing. Sadly, this is part of living on Vancouver Island. Having lived in both Victoria and now Nanaimo for extended periods, I find that people all over the Island are equally attached to their identity as "islanders". I suspect people in Comox and Campbell River feel the same. When it comes to naming ourselves then in the worldwide context of the Drupal community, we all want to put "Van ISLAND" out there. Choosing between Victoria and Van Island or Nanaimo and Van Island, I think there's also the slight desire to include the "Vancouver" part in order to borrow a little from the city's wider fame.
But here's the thing. Only islanders care about this! People who are oblivious to our quirky naming and geography probably see "Vancouver Island" and either completely miss the "Island" and think it's just "Vancouver" or they're just mildly confused by it. Either way, no good...
Even people who are from here and "get it", still have to make a choice between two groups: one in Victoria and one in Nanaimo. It's not helpful to them if either of the groups is named "Vancouver Island."
I understand the goal of choosing an inclusive name, but I think it comes at too great a cost. Clarity is much more valuable.
I think the best solution is to rename both groups to the cities they are in.
Nanaimo is too limiting
I was going to name the group the mid-Island group or something along those lines, but it was not clear enough. Nanaimo is also too small to support a group. I know there are people in Duncan, Chemainus, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, Lantsville, Parksville, Courtenay, Comox, Port Alberni, and further North and West on the Island who would be willing to participate.
I could change it to the Mid Vancouver Island DUG?
Branding with passion. Hired Guns Creative
That works too
Multiple groups with the same name could be confusing to some, so changing this one to Mid or Central or something like that makes sense. I also noticed the "original" group is Victoria focused and well supported, but is too far for some of us to get to on a regular basis.
I think having a group for those of us on this side of the Malahat is not only desirable but will be a source of support and offer great networking opportunities.
I look forward to more.
Cheers ~ Janice
Description
The problem with "mid-island" or something like that is that it's unclear to anyone outside of the area.
Just a thought... You could use the group description to make it clear that people from other communities are more than welcome.
Count me in!
Whatever it ends up getting called, or wherever it takes place. I'm there!
Same goes for the Victoria and Vancouver groups. They've got a lot of good stuff going on, and we could learn from them as we grow this new group.
Speaking of which.. I just realized that I'm confused by the difference between a group on groups.drupal.org and an actual live group that meets somewhere. As Anne pointed out, there are now 3 Vancouver Island groups on g.d.o. and (soon) 2 meet-ups. Again, in the interests of usability and clarity and all that... Shouldn't we have just one g.d.o. thingy? Both meet-ups (ideally, named according to where they take place!) can post their news there, no?
One group or more?
I'm not closed to the suggestion if it would be welcome by the existing group. I'm a little unsure on the pros and cons because I'm new to Drupal groups. What are we able to bring to them and they to us?
Throwing the Gauntlet Down
Well, I think e.zeedub has a very good point that is has more to do with us being Islanders and fighting over the name than about confusion from people over the group names.
With that, I make this proposal as group founder: if the group centred in Victoria agrees to rename its group the Victoria DUG, I will happily change ours to the Nanaimo DUG. This will also help foster the growth of other groups on the Island, should they choose to self-organize.
What say you?
Branding with passion. Hired Guns Creative
Victoria DUG Group Name Change
I would LOVE to change our group name to Victoria DUG - but since I am not the organizer I am unable :( I did send a message to the organizer in hopes of him helping out. I will let you all know what I hear. :) I also poked the other VI Group about closing the thread (for the 5-6th time -- LOL)
Happy Monday VI Drupalistas
Takeover process
If a group maintainer is not responsive just post saying you're going to take over the group and why - after 2 weeks you can be appointed the manager and do the right things with the group :) From the about page there is a takeover process.
@HiredGuns - would be great if you could appoint 2 or 3 other co-managers for this new group. As Annabella has shown, having one person in charge can lead to problems down the road.
In general, my sense is that it's better to have one group that is inclusive of an entire region. In Denver/Boulder we have one group even though the physical meetings only have about 20% crossover members.
If that doesn't feel appropriate to you, I suggest that you create a group with a short title (Nanaimo, Victoria, etc.) and then be sure to include the names of the surrounding cities/regions that should be included in your group. That way when someone is looking (either on google or via the search here on this site) they will still find you.
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greggles, thanks for your
greggles, thanks for your input. I've joined Reed (HiredGuns) to assist with organizing this group.
Re: Having one group inclusive of the an entire region. It appears you are implying that Denver-Boulder runs separate events in Denver and Boulder. Is that correct? Denver-Boulder is about half the distance of Victoria to Nanaimo , so we would get very little physical cross-over -- well less than 20%. There is also a stretch of high-accident road called the Malahat Drive between Victoria and Nanaimo which is not safe at all times of winter and may discourage it.
Your approach seems solid to me -- better to have a few large groups that have more resources than many small ones; but I'm not sure if it would work well with our geography. I'd like to hear from more people here about what they think. I'm not really sure, but I lean towards the feeling that it wouldn't work so well in our specific case.
If we are to continue as "Nanaimo", whereabouts would you propose we include those other town names? On the about page?
Good Compromise
This seems like a good compromise. Thanks for your contributions on this everyone, especially e.zeedub. Hopefully we can get this completely resolved and then move on to the good stuff!
Getting back on track
Well, so far we've been through an argument over the name and then derailed. There's interest here, so let's get back on track with setting up an initial meeting. We need a date, time, and place; and Reed asked for topics. Well, the first topic seems to me to be as simple as meeting each other, getting introduced, and talking about our interest in Drupal: what are we using it for or interested in doing with it. Other topics would be fine, but that's enough to start with.
My schedule is flexible enough that I can do pretty much any time provided I have 24 hours notice. The times that are consistent badly for me and which I can't generally reschedule are
Now, that doesn't amount to much of a proposal, so I imagine I could throw out a few specific points in time for your consideration. What do people think of Saturday @ 2 PM or Thursday @ 7 PM? It occurs to me that a weekend afternoon or weekday evening might work best for folks.
As for venues, we should get a sense of who would be likely to attend. If we're small enough, a local business, such as a coffee shop, might be happy to host us in exchange for our business. Those locations also have free WiFi.
Thoughts?
I'm interested in meeting up
I'm interested in meeting up with some fellow Drupal users. I live in Duncan, so going to Victoria or Nanaimo is equally a pain, but that is what happens when you want a more laid back sort of life and live in Duncan (for those that never turn off the highway, you don't know what you are missing).
I propose an evening during the week, weekends are a no go for me. Hopefully this snow goes away soon and driving isn't an issue.
--
KellyHays.ca
Meetings in Nanaimo & Outside of It
I really would like to support Drupal users within a 75 Km radius of Nanaimo. That'd be from Qualicum Bay to Duncan. In order to support this, I think we should look for an 80/20 split. That'd be eight meetings in Nanaimo, one in Duncan, and one in Qualicum Beach or Parksville per each 10 meeting cycle. I realize this would inconvenience people in Nanaimo, but it seems to me that it'd broaden our reach and provide convenience for dedicated members up and down the island.
Obviously, meeting north of Nanaimo would only make sense if we can confirm at least one member from that direction. We definitely have some south of Nanaimo.
Thoughts on this proposal?
Meetings
Sounds OK to me.
Art
Where & When
I think where must come first. Considering our current size would probably involve under a dozen, venue size shouldn't be a concern. Seems a coffee shop with free WiFi could be a good fit. Good for them and outselves.
When, well, does a weekday evening work well for all? I should be good in general, but Wed. might be out.
And the what: I'm down for introductions, discussion of our particular interest in Drupal, and perhaps a presentation on Drupal 7, expected transition concerns, near term readiness for production use, etc.; put another way: when can I get in on d7 goodness?
When and where
I am available most evenings except Mondays. I am new to this platform but have a need to learn it quickly. Check out my Drupal 7 site at http://www.artztudio.com
This is a work in progress as the releases come and I learn how to use it all.
Art
Monday Evenings
Monday isn't ideal, but I think I can make it work.
Date
Many weekday evening except Mondays as I have a commitment every Monday evening.
Art
I'm an idiot
Sorry, I misread you, ajsoles. I thought you were asking for Mondays. Well, that's a relief. I didn't actually want to do Mondays anyway. :) How about Wednesday evenings?
Date
Thursday would be much better for me unless the Wednesdays were the first three of the month. (Production days for the Chemainus Valley Courier can fall on either of the last two Wednesdays of the month). I am not sure what frequency these meetings would occur. Probably monthly? As for the place I am fairly open.
Art
Days & Frequency
Thursday evenings suit me. Frequency is another issue we need to settle. I definitely think monthly would be a good place to start. The second Thursday each month, perhaps? That'd make a schedule like this:
Dec 9th
Jan 13th
Feb 10th
This is only a proposal. Looking for feedback on this.
Where & When
I think where must come first. Considering our current size would probably involve under a dozen, venue size shouldn't be a concern. Seems a coffee shop with free WiFi could be a good fit. Good for them and outselves.
When, well, does a weekday evening work well for all? I should be good in general, but Wed. might be out.
And the what: I'm down for introductions, discussion of our particular interest in Drupal, and perhaps a presentation on Drupal 7, expected transition concerns, near term readiness for production use, etc.; put another way: when can I get in on d7 goodness?
Thursdays work for me. I can
Thursdays work for me. I can also pick up people on my way as I am in Duncan driving north.
--
KellyHays.ca
Thursdays work for me too
Apologies for disappearing Accretor. I have yet to work g.d.o. into my regular routine. Thanks for all that you and HiredGuns have done.
I'd really like to see a monthly meeting take off. Are there plans to try again for January?
January Meeting
No worries, e.zeedub. It happens to us all. Looking at my schedule, I am booked for January 27th, but open on the 6th, 13th, and 20th. The 6th or the 20th are preferable for me. If there are no objections, we can standardize for the third Thursday of each month, which would start on the 20th.
If that works for people, we also need to look at a venue, topics, and format. I have thoughts on these things, but I think the discussion will be more organized and easier to follow if we keep these matters in separate discussions rather than having one giant topic.
Works for me
Third Thursday of the month is great for me, 7pm right?
Where are we meeting? I don't know Nanaimo very well, directions, or a google maps enable address works best for me.
See you guys in a couple of days.
--
KellyHays.ca