LA Drupal meetup in Downtown Los Angeles on January 18, 2011

Join us for a meetup at the offices of at Oversee.net on January 18, 2011 in Downtown Los Angeles. There will be several presentations as well as open discussions, job announcements and time for networking.

The meetup begins at 7:30pm but the doors open a little earlier at 7pm for Users Helping Users, which is a chance for members of the community to help and be helped by others with whatever questions and problems they're having with Drupal.

Several of us may be going to a local bar or restaurant for a Drupal After Dark afterward.

This event is free and no RSVP is required. To breeze through security and get free or discounted parking, however, you can sign up by logging in and clicking the Sign up button below.

The first 15 people to sign up will get free parking and anyone who signs up after that can get discounted parking. All who sign up will also have instructions and last-minute details (if there are any) sent to them before the meeting.

Be sure to update your profile with your full name so that a name badge will be ready for you at the front desk. To do this, log in and click My Account → Edit → Personal and fill in the "Real name" field. This is optional, but it makes things much easier for the event organizers and our venue sponsor. In any case, please be prepared to show a valid photo ID at the front desk.

We want your feedback!

During the meetup, we'll be gathered in the #drupal-la IRC channel and all are welcome to join us. The event organizers will also be checking Twitter for feedback and questions that mention @ladrupal or use the #ladrupal hashtag.

Agenda

If you'd like to give a presentation, announce a job position or ask any questions of the group, please come a few minutes early or leave a comment below. If presenting, be sure to bring your laptop (and power and display cables) and whatever else you need.

   Job announcements and open Q&A

Everyone has a problem every now and then and the open Q&A session is a chance for attendees to divine answers from the collective wisdom of the group. This is also an opportunity for local businesses to make job announcements and ask for referrals and recommendations.

   Raffle! Prizes! Collect them all!

We love our sponsors and have several raffle prizes from our sponsors in the Los Angeles area and around the world. If you or your company would like to sponsor a raffle prize at the LA Drupal meetups, please come early or contact the LA Drupal managers at managers at ladrupal.org.

   Presentations

Solomon Rothman of Sitepals will present on Fusion, one of Drupal's most popular theme frameworks, and Skinr. See more in his description of his presentation at http://groups.drupal.org/node/112634#comment-375569

Elon Bar-Evan is visiting us from RightScale and will present on how to use RightScale's cloud management platform to build a complete, scalable infrastructure for high performance Drupal sites. RightScale is also donating a RightScale account that's free for the first 6 months! See RightScale's website at http://www.rightscale.com/products/plans-pricing/ for features and pricing.

   Lightning talks

If there is time left, we can have a few lightning talks, which are 5-10 minute presentations from attendees who would like to share something with the group. If you'd like to give a lightning talk, be sure to come a few minutes early and bring your laptop (and power and display cables) and whatever else you need.

As always, please feel welcome to leave a comment below and let others know what you'd like to present ahead of time.

Location

We're meeting at the offices of Oversee.net in Downtown Los Angeles. Oversee.net owns a large portfolio of online properties, including Moniker, SnapNames, DomainSponsor, AboutAirportParking.com and LowFares.com, to name a few, and is using Drupal extensively for their emerging businesses division.

Oversee.net is hiring a Senior Drupal Developer to join them in Downtown Los Angeles. To learn more about Oversee.net and their open positions, come to the meetup or visit Oversee.net/careers.

Travel

Our venue is easily accessible by bus (see mta.net for bus lines) and by commuter rail (the Red Line connection is Pershing Square and the Blue Line connection is 7th and Wilshire).

Parking

There is almost no on-street parking in the area but free parking is being provided to us by Oversee.net in the A level of the John Hastings Tower at 515 S. Flower St. The parking entrance is a very quick right turn heading underground, immediately after 5th St. To qualify for free parking, you must sign up by logging in and clicking the Sign up button below. Those who sign up will also have instructions and last-minute details (if there are any) sent to them before the meeting.