DrupalCamp 2011?

Posted by mvc on March 9, 2011 at 6:45am

Hello from Chicago! I just wanted to mention that I talked briefly with webchick here at DrupalCon, and in addition to saying that she missed us, she said she'd love to come back to speak at a DrupalCamp in Montreal. So of course I said, "pick a date!", and she said "anytime in September".

Obviously we need to talk about more than the date and potential keynote speakers (for example, maybe next time we should tell sponsors that they need to pay a month before the camp) but I figured this was as good a starting point for the planning process as any.

Comments

Here are my thoughts: We've

Posted by Ryan Palmer on March 9, 2011 at 6:56am

Here are my thoughts:

We've got cash in the bank. Let's make sponsorship a privilege, and first come, first served. I understand this is how DC Chi worked -- sponsorship was not confirmed until payment was received. I don't want to chase sponsors anymore for payment, and we don't need the money nearly as badly this time around. I want sponsorship to essentially run itself this year. Sponsor relations consumed a great deal of energy and spirit last time around and it would be great to avoid this next time.
quality of the sessions has to improve. We should have no other focus this time around... last camp wasn't spectacular, IMHO
Let's pick a date and book a venue. We have the financial stability to do this now.

+1 on booking getting a date

Posted by mirabuck on March 9, 2011 at 12:44pm

+1 on booking getting a date and venue in line. If we decide to go the McGill route again there are for more options and opportunities affordability open to us if we sort something out over the next few months.

Agreed.

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 11, 2011 at 8:32pm

We can probably start narrowing down our options for venues and book something soon. Lets start a discussion at the next meetup. Getting Angie to speak at the Camp would be awesome.

Meeting

Posted by MisterSpeed on March 11, 2011 at 8:54pm

I'd propose a dedicated planning meeting at 63reasons (with drinks) on April 6th at 7PM so that we can get the ball rolling. Does that work for everyone ? (I'll be in Florida nursing some overwork and recovering my sanity by jumping out of airplanes midway through their flight paths until then.) This way we can keep the meetups for demos and new tech discussions.

Cool I'm there.

Posted by Pinnacle Media on March 11, 2011 at 11:45pm

I think it's a bit early to

Posted by Ryan Palmer on March 14, 2011 at 2:34am

I think it's a bit early to begin meeting for a camp. I won't be able to make this session.

We don't need to get too

Posted by mirabuck on March 30, 2011 at 3:39pm

We don't need to get too carried away, but sorting out a date and a venue this early will make our preparations a heckuva lot easier moving forward.

Sounds good

Posted by Ryan Weal (not verified) on March 14, 2011 at 4:49am

I would like to help with the next Drupal Camp, I missed the last one as I was traveling. In 2009 I attended Drupal Camp Victoria and it was mid/early September. Lots of fun. I think having it early in September can be good "back to school" motivation.

September date for webchick…

Posted by xmacinfo on March 16, 2011 at 12:28am

We should pick a September as soon as possible to make sure webchick will come over and confirm the date.

We also need to check if we want to do a Friday–Saturday event or a Saturday–Sunday event. The former should not be possible at McGill, though, unless they changed their mind.

If we pick the latest week of September, that would give us the 23–24 Sept (Fri–Sat) or 24–25 Sept (Sat–Sun).

Also, the sooner we pick a date, the more choices there should be for quality presentations.

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Having a camp Friday-Saturday

Posted by pixelite on March 18, 2011 at 7:55pm

Having a camp Friday-Saturday would give the camp a different audience (i.e. those who will only come during business hours), which would be nice.

However, having the camp at McGill the last two years has been awesome. I think we should stick to the Saturday-Sunday schedule if that means we can hold the camp at McGill.

We should definitely make time to discuss this at the meetup on March 30th (http://groups.drupal.org/node/130924).

Agreed. We should try to

Posted by Ryan Palmer on March 18, 2011 at 8:00pm

Agreed. We should try to straddle the camp across a Friday/Saturday if at all possible. Plenty of 9-5ers may not be too keen on committing an entire weekend to such training, but done on at least one workday could be much more interesting and an easy sell for employers, IMO.

If we look to McGill

Posted by mirabuck on March 30, 2011 at 3:26pm

If we look to McGill facilities again, a Fri/Sat date may be possible as we book something ASAP.

ASAP meaning today? ☺

Posted by xmacinfo on March 30, 2011 at 3:31pm

@Mirabuck: McGill would be the perfect location! Can you proactively book the place? Even if no formal decision have been made yet?

/* http://www.xmacinfo.com */

ASAP as in within the next

Posted by mirabuck on March 30, 2011 at 3:44pm

ASAP as in within the next month or two. There was some discussion last year, however, of trying to find a French institution to host in 2011 to provide a bit of balance. McGill IT is more than willing to help out again this year, but I'd like to make that we're not standing in the way of other options.

Wiki Page

Posted by mirabuck on April 1, 2011 at 11:55am

I've created a wiki page with sign-up lists for both organizers and potential volunteers. You can find it here at http://groups.drupal.org/node/139054 and pinned to the top of the front page for this group.

Planning meeting soon?

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 2, 2011 at 5:37pm

Given that its already May, should we start planning the Camp soon? At least get a confirmation on the venue and dates so that we can get the ball rolling?

Oui, bien sur!!! I think the

Posted by rodney.farach on May 2, 2011 at 7:50pm

Oui, bien sur!!!
I think the same!!!

Agreed

Posted by mirabuck on May 3, 2011 at 11:26am

A meeting sooner rather than later sounds good to me. Can anyone volunteer to host?

Things look good on the McGill side of thing so far, but I don't yet have any firm dates on offer. We should see progress swiftly after an upcoming May 4th event has passed and we're able to focus more directly on Drupalcamp.

Evolving Web can host

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 3, 2011 at 8:30pm

We'd be happy to host the meeting at our office next Wednesday, May 11 at 6pm. I'll create an event for this.