Albuquerque Drupal Meetup - Planning thread

Posted by tjcook on July 28, 2008 at 4:55pm

The proposed date for Albuquerque's first Drupal meetup is Saturday, September 13th, 2008, from 6:00 - 8:00pm

Proposed locations

Both of these locations are big enough to hold 10 people and have free wifi, with the UNM SUB (#2) being free and more spacious

Flying Star Downtown
University of New Mexico Student Union Building

Proposed Agenda:

This is the proposed agenda for the first session. If you wish to add to or recommend a change to this agenda, just reply in the comment thread :)

Quick Introductions: Who are you and what brought you here?
Drupal and you: Talk about your Drupal experience level, other technologies you use, your specialty
Drupal 6 and Drupal 7: Talk about where the Drupal project is right now and where it's headed, and the implications it has for developers and designers.

Introduce yourself here, share your ideas heading into the meetup, ask questions, and give input!

Comments

Hi TJ, Thanks for setting

Posted by kwgossett on July 28, 2008 at 6:24pm

Hi TJ,
Thanks for setting this up. I'd be interested in monthly meetings, preferably at a computer lab, as I dont have a laptop.

If there's enough interest, I can ask Wesst Corp (www.wesst.org) if we can use their computer lab, conference room and/or projection equipment. PNM also has a rather large computer lab - but it would be harder to work with them. Given that Wesst helps small businesses, this kind of training may be helpful to their clients who are wanting to build their own websites.

I want to make sure this makes sense logistically. Clearly we wouldnt be able to build a site on the local machine, download or enable modules, themes, etc. In my case, however, I could download modules to a jump drive, log into my hosting account and do most things from there.

Its important to me that we keep their lab as maintenance free as possible.

Comments, questions, ROFLs, LMAOs, etc encouraged.

kelly

Dr. Goose! No ordinary genius

Let's pursue this

Posted by tjcook on July 28, 2008 at 6:40pm

Kelly, I love the idea. Certainly public places can be a bit awkward, especially as our meetups grow in size. Can you provide me with the name and number of who I should talk to about an arrangement? Also, what kind of size would the lab support there, and are there any limitations that we'll need to abide by to use the facility? I think it would be a win-win for WESST and Drupal in Abq as Drupal is a great platform for small businesses to do robust things (as you already know :)).

Let me know in private message about contact info, or if you'd like to talk with them directly on our behalf.

T.J. Cook
HiDef Web Solutions, LLC.
www.hidefweb.com

Agreed

Posted by azinicus on July 28, 2008 at 7:33pm

Yeah, as casual the coffeeshop thing is we will probably have a more productive time in an office space or conference room. A couple of folks we met up in the Colorado Drupal Camp suggested some spaces up in Rio Rancho as well. The university might or might not be keen to us meeting in their spaces without some kind of compensation. I will check into that.

continuing ed

Posted by azinicus on July 28, 2008 at 7:35pm

well I found some rates from continuing education that run from $95 up per 1-4 hour blocks (for non-profits). That's not excessively horrible, but free is best.

UNM Space

Posted by bluciano4 on July 28, 2008 at 8:14pm

I know of a great multi-media space that the university has. Kind of like what Drupal Camp Colorado used. It's on the corner of University and Central. I don't remember the exact name, but I think the university loves when people to use it.

Timing

Posted by nadavoid on July 29, 2008 at 11:36pm

I really like the timing of the meetup: Saturday evening. The reason is that I would be driving 4 hours each way (from Amarillo), and this way I would not have to take any time off work, to do this, umm, work-related thing.

A two hour meetup might end up being sort of short. Especially if it turns into some collaborative problem-solving. Anyone interested in a longer meeting? If so, do we start earlier? end later? eat in the middle? make it an afternoon thing (like 1-5)? How long is the optimal time? (of course including breaks. There's no way I'm concentrating for 4 hours straight.)

Meetups vs. training or code sprints

Posted by tjcook on August 5, 2008 at 9:46pm

Hey nadavoid :)

Meetups typically are about getting together more informally to discuss trends or specific Drupal issues requested by attendees. Code sprints are a great development-specific way to hammer out some solutions or a module, etc, but meetups try to get together lots of different knowledge and skill levels to help promote Drupal in general.

All that to say I agree that a 2-hour meeting probably wouldn't be worth your four hour drive. We could toy with the idea of Video Skyping you into the meetup. What do you think?

T.J. Cook
HiDef Web Solutions, LLC.
www.hidefweb.com

video skype sounds

Posted by nadavoid on August 5, 2008 at 10:38pm

video skype sounds interesting. let's consider that when the time gets closer. thanks for the suggestion.