Proposal for a Drupal Camp San Diego in early 2009

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Posted by kscheirer on November 12, 2008 at 8:27pm
Last updated by christefano on Sat, 2010-07-24 00:50

Introduction
Several of us have been talking (well, actually Karl has been doing most of the talking) about hosting a Drupal Camp in San Diego. It's a fun town, there's a lot of Drupalites in and around the downtown area, and it's only 100 miles striking distance from Los Angeles. The LA DUG folks can come too!

So here's what we propose. Let's get a small contingent of dedicated organizers and see if we can make this happen. Karl has full support from Achieve Internet, Andrew Root will be the Conference Coordinator, and we can even tap the skillz of Beck for production planning and sponsorships. Sound like a plan?

If you like this idea, post a comment under this thread and tell us! This page is a wiki, so I'm sure it'll be edited and revised and changed quite a few times in the coming month as we begin to prep for this event. We'll try to mark new sections in green so you can tell what's new from the last time you read it. Yeah, we're so advanced and cool that we're thinking about you. And your overtaxed brains.

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Joel Farris           Karl Scheirer             Andrew Root                    Beck Farris          Brenda Boggs
Web Architect         Achieve Internet          Conference Coordinator         Event Sales          Acquia, Inc.


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            (The wiki page begins here. Edit away!)
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A camp is a one to two day event that focuses on many aspects of Drupal in one location. Its focus is knowledge sharing amongst the community. Essentially, you’re getting the community together to do some community training. The term "Camp" comes from Barcamp, like an informal non-conference that happens at a bar. It’s not fancy. Camps are basic. They take a bit of organizing, but in general it’s pretty easy to run a camp.

DATES

Do we want to try a Friday/Saturday camp, or Saturday/Sunday?
Target weekends are

January 16-18
January 23-25
Superbowl weekend
Feb 6-8
Feb 13-15

any sooner and its too close to the holidays, any later and its too close to Drupalcon.

VENUE

There are a few hotels downtown that might be able to accommodate us, and this is the slow season for corporate conferences.

There's a good possibility that something on the UCSD campuses might be available in January. We're checking on it, but if you have any suggestions for a venue that can hold up to 100 people and has AV equipment in at least two rooms, please let us know.

A lot of the non-metro area folks have mentioned that proximity to public transit would be very helpful. If the venue could be connected to Amtrak, the Coaster, light rail, etc, we make it a lot easier for folks to attend. A school/university connection is excellent as well - good chance of getting a free venue with wireless, and they're enthusiastic about hosting a tech conference. Other things to consider are parking, and the availability of food nearby.

SESSION TOPICS + SCHEDULE

Theming
Development
Scaling
How to sell Drupal
Views 2 (We can do 3 or 4 hours worth of sessions on views, intro, filters/exposed filters, arguments, attachments, theming, etc)
ImageField/ImageCache, connected to the Views 2 sessions above
Panels 2
Context: Using the context module to set active menu items
Build a non-profit website - I saw this done at DrupalCamp Chicago and not only was it a good way to give back to the community it was a good way to help educate new Drupal developers
\#\#\# ADD MORE TOPICS YOU'D LIKE TO SEE \#\#\#

REGISTRATION COSTS

Initially, we were thinking of $20 per person to register for the event. This is mostly to make sure that people who register really show up. There's nothing worse than having a head count of 100 people who say they'd love to attend, and then wake up on Saturday morning and don't really *feel* like driving anywhere.
It would also mean we'd need a lot less sponsorship money in order to to make this happen, and will have shirts and food for the event. I'd suggest making exceptions for students who want to attend - the fee shouldn't actually prevent anyone from attending. Other opinions?

BUDGET + MATERIALS

We're thinking $1,000,000 should cover the free stickers, right? Truthfully, we don't have a projected budget pulled together yet. Come on, we only thought this thing up a few days ago! But please tell us, what do you think would be a valuable thing to factor into the materials budget? Free scarves? Drupal Tattoos? Balloon Rides?

The budget picture will become a lot clearer once we have a venue. Hopefully the space will be donated, we will still need to account for wireless access, AV equipment, t-shirts, and then a big variable is food. If there's something nearby we can reduce costs here, but if not, it can be expensive to feed 100 people 4 meals.

Comments

Sounds like Drupal weekend

Posted by Chris Charlton on November 12, 2008 at 10:54pm

I should be able to attend the first day, and depending on the dates I'd see if I can stay over for the second day... because "the night time is the right time."

LA Drupal is willing to help promote this event to our local members. My suggestion would be to give me the $1,000,000 and I'll bring stickers. :P

In terms of cost, and Crystal will say this always, you need power strips, duct tape, and extension cords (unless they're power strip extension cords all-in-one). A lunch time, time for people to get to the next room yet get a minute to ask questions; LA did 45 minute sessions with 15 minutes traveling time to change rooms, or decide to stay in a room. I think our three tracks was great, but I felt we could have been just fine with even two tracks... so a rule is always don't overextend what you can promise and do. Breakfast, snack, and lunch are usually provided or everyone is on their own, which many are used to.

Parking hopefully would be available.

I think the $20 registration makes sense and is fair for a weekend of community training/sharing.

I myself, am willing to sponsor some. Hit me up about that directly please.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Excellent idea!

Posted by christophweber on November 13, 2008 at 12:51am

I love the idea of a local DrupalCamp and will help with anything you need.
+1 to everything Chris mentioned.

Given that it is the first time in San Diego, maybe a Friday late afternoon/evening and Saturday all day format makes sense. No preference re. dates.

--
Christoph Weber

drupalcamp SD?!?! cross post!!!

Posted by mike stewart on November 13, 2008 at 2:35am

This needs to be cross posted!!! for sure gdo/LA, gdo/southern-california & gdo/Bay-Area. Might even hit Las Vegas & Phoenix.

This idea sounds way fun, but I'd have difficulty making both days too. That said, I vote for either of last two weekends in Jan. Superbowl is Feb 1. something to consider. fwiw - I've heard Fri/Sat have surprisingly good turnouts. I think I could do either.

Venue: would be nice if walking distance - or easy transfer from a Train Station - or a bunch of us in LA might need to do some serious carpooling.

$20 shouldn't keep anyone away if they walk away with a new tshirt and some food in their tummy. sounds cheaper than a weekend drinking & $1 tacos with dorm buddies.

--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }

cross-posted to other socal

Posted by kscheirer on November 13, 2008 at 6:15am

cross-posted to other socal groups, bay area and vegas to see if they're interested :)

Good idea

Posted by starbow on November 13, 2008 at 5:19pm

Thanks for the cross-post. I know there are lots of people up in the Bay Area who would relish an excuse to trek down to San Diego in Jan/Feb and talkabout Drupal. If you can find a venue bigger than 100 folk, you should do it. BADCamp had more that 100 registrants in the first 48 hours.
Also, we do 1 hour session with 15 minutes between, but I am starting to think that 45/15 might be better.

Hell. yes. I'd be more than

Posted by brenda003 on November 13, 2008 at 4:26pm

Heck. yeah.

I'd be more than happy to volunteer some time. Let's figure out what needs to be done to make this happen?

I'll come and help.

Posted by redhatmatt on November 13, 2008 at 6:59pm

Would like to get a roster and list of tasks at our next San Diego meeting.

whats next?

Posted by kscheirer on November 14, 2008 at 4:21am

wow, a lot of great interest so far, and yay for volunteers! :) Do we start assigning tasks to people? What's the next step we need to take to make this happen?

Well, honestly I think your

Posted by brenda003 on November 14, 2008 at 4:49am

Well, honestly I think your less than 100 people thing is going to be blown out of the water.

So what do we need? A venue, a website, sponsors... Is anyone in contact w/ Crystal to mind meld her? I'm sure the Berkeley people have good tips, too!

.

Posted by senpai on November 14, 2008 at 5:45am

I talk to Crystal daily. I should show her this thread. It'll scare her.

And yeah, we should totally talk to the BadCamp gang. Tao, you out there? Give us some hints.
______________________________
Senpai ~ Want a better WorkHabit? ~

Joel Farris | my 'certified to rock' score
Transparatech
http://transparatech.com
619.717.2805

Let's keep things simple.

Posted by brenda003 on November 14, 2008 at 4:34pm

Let's keep things simple. This is our first camp and it doesn't need to be major. I don't personally agree with the registration fee. While it may seem to be a good strategy for both raising money and making sure the people who register are going, in the end a lot of the people who didn't show up the 2nd day of both DrupalCampLA and BADCamp were people where $20 means nothing to. Instead it may filter out those who are just getting started into Drupal, or those who have heard of Drupal and would hit up a free event but don't want to spend $20 on something they aren't yet sure about. Instead, I think we can come up with a list of our absolute MUST HAVES and then some nice to haves, and if people/companies want to sponsor those, great.

I spoke with Kieran as he has a lot of experience going to all sorts of Drupalcamps, and keeping it simple sounds like it's key.

All we really need is a venue, some sponsorships, and some great presentations and speakers. The coffee, food, and other logistics would be nice, but I suggest we not get caught up in making things overly complicated at this point.

One of the biggest things we need right now is to get the word out. Make a site, open session proposals, pick a date.

I think I like the idea of a Friday/Saturday, since it targets two different sorts of groups.

I'd be happy to help put a website together, unless someone else is interested is doing so.

We need a website

Posted by senpai on November 14, 2008 at 4:58pm

Yes Brenda, we need to build a website for this. Now, in the interests of coding smart, has anyone got a pre-built Drupal conference website that you'd just like to install for us? No? Come on, how many conference websites have been built thus far? And not one of them is re-usable?

Ok, here's what I'm thinking. Chris Bryant, are you out there? Let's talk about a Pattern for this site. We'll need three to four people to build this site effectively, and I don't want to put a whole lot of planning into it in advance or else it'll get bogged down in 'talk' instead of action. So let's just take action

______________________________
Senpai ~ Want a better WorkHabit? ~

Joel Farris | my 'certified to rock' score
Transparatech
http://transparatech.com
619.717.2805

Good thinking. The BADcamp

Posted by brenda003 on November 17, 2008 at 6:23pm

Good thinking. The BADcamp site was awesome, maybe we could get a copy of it and work from there. poke poke Otherwise, I don't think throwing a site together is really that much work, plus I'm itching to do some development.

dmitri is the person to talk

Posted by starbow on November 18, 2008 at 6:48pm

dmitri is the person to talk to about this years badcamp site. There is a conference installation profile, but I have yet to heard of anyone successfully using it for a drupalcamp.
My thought on the camp website is to do one if it sounds like fun and/or you want to show off, but you can probably get away with doing all the public stuff with a wiki page or g.d.o group, and all the private stuff with some shared google docs.

I'm surprised there's not a

Posted by john.arroyo on November 17, 2008 at 7:47pm

I'm surprised there's not a conference or camp theme. maybe building a default site or theme for future reuse could be one of the topics of Camp SD.

John Arroyo | www.remixin.com | www.johnarroyo.com

John Arroyo | www.arroyolabs.com | www.johnarroyo.com

I really like this idea!

Posted by brenda003 on November 18, 2008 at 3:09pm

I really like this idea!

Cost and venue

Posted by rhuber on November 14, 2008 at 11:24pm

Hi Brenda,

I'm really torn on the idea of charging for the event. After attending the camp in Chicago I just feel that the environment was just so much better than LA. Nothing against the LA camp, it was fantastic, however in Chicago we didn't have to roam the streets to find a cup of coffee or expense crappy food. Now I personally have a tendency to have way too much fun at the after hours party, so a good cup of coffee is extremely important.

I also believe from a pure business approach adding a monetary value to the events gives it credibility. My thought is someone at Sony, Qualcomm or even UCSD will be more likely to convince their bosses that taking off Friday to attend this event is worthwhile if we charge. My fear is that if we don't show value to the non-Drupal folks they won't take the event serious.

The other side of the coin of course is how do we even accept payment and who deals with the food and drinks? If we charge than we have to have someone at the door making sure people paid. We don't have an non profit or event organization set up so someone is going to have to deal with the tax issues. These issues make it complex and I agree with you there may not be anyone with the desire to tackle these challenges.

I think the first order of business is locking down a location and date. I have been working on finding a location however I am not sure if anyone else is also looking into locations. The folks at UCSD are supposed to get back to me next week and I am trying to find something downtown to keep the train in play.

This is a lot of work, however we have some good people on the team and lots of experience.

My $0.02

Ron Huber
President
Achieve Internet
www.achieveinternet.com
800-618-8777

Ron, I'm not horribly

Posted by brenda003 on November 17, 2008 at 6:21pm

Ron, I'm not horribly partial either way, it just seems a bit more complicated to charge. And also being our first event, I like the idea of keeping things simple. I won't go against consensus, though. If we want a registration fee, sounds fine to me.

Would accepting payment be much different than accepting sponsorships?

Anyway, I agree. First order of business is location and date. Location may depend on dates, too. Looking forward to hearing what the UCSD folks say. Otherwise, maybe we could feel out the same place Barcamp or other local camps are held.

I keep going back and forth

Posted by starbow on November 18, 2008 at 6:51pm

I keep going back and forth on the nominal fee idea. If you go with it, I will be really interested in your experience of the fuss vs benefits.

Any news on the venue?

Posted by brenda003 on November 25, 2008 at 11:45pm

Any news on the venue?

Getting close to a venue

Posted by rhuber on November 26, 2008 at 2:59am

Hi All,

I am in discussion with UCSD for the venue. Our plans were delayed when we expanded the forecast from 80 people to 200. The smaller crowd was handled at the department level, the bigger audience needs the college approval.

I will hopefully have good news early next week.

Thanks,

Ron Huber
President
Achieve Internet
www.achieveinternet.com
800-618-8777

Cool! Sounds good!

Posted by senpai on November 26, 2008 at 3:02am

Let us know as soon as you can, and we'll add it to the list of possible venues.

Does UCSD need any monies?
______________________________
Senpai ~ Want a better WorkHabit? ~

Joel Farris | my 'certified to rock' score
Transparatech
http://transparatech.com
619.717.2805

UCSD More than a possibility.

Posted by rhuber on November 26, 2008 at 5:24pm

Hi Joel,

We are definitely in at UCSD, we are just trying to determine if we can get the bigger venue. The smaller location was free and we are waiting for cost on the bigger venue.

So yes, put it on the list.

UCSD Extension has been very supportive and is even thinking of sponsoring the event.

Ron Huber
President
Achieve Internet
www.achieveinternet.com
800-618-8777

UCSD Extension contacts

Posted by christophweber on November 26, 2008 at 5:31pm

Let me know if you need more contacts at UCSD Extension. I have two friends there.

--
Christoph Weber

Great Idea

Posted by john.arroyo on November 17, 2008 at 7:45pm

I think this is a really good idea, I'd be availble for one if not two days. My preferred weekend is January 23-25, but some of the others work as well. Friday/Saturday sounds better than Sat/Sun.

I've been looking for an excuse to visit SD.

John Arroyo | www.remixin.com | www.johnarroyo.com

John Arroyo | www.arroyolabs.com | www.johnarroyo.com

Let's do it, there are more

Posted by BlakeLucchesi on November 18, 2008 at 6:26pm

Let's do it, there are more than enough people in the area to get this going and there is always new content to present everyone with. Additionally, if we need to raise money to put on the event something like $20 a person is extremely reasonable for the amount of value that these events bring. I'd much rather have some food available to snack on at the event as apposed to having to walk around campus per say to find things.

Though there are many

Posted by Gman on November 18, 2008 at 7:51pm

Though there are many business types that attend Drupal camps, the camps still have much the feel of a non-profit enterprise. One dynamic I have experienced with non-profit events is that a nominal fee actually forces people to really consider if they are going to show up, where for a free event folks may sign up and then not show up since they have no downside for not showing up.

Charging a small fee thus has the great benefit of making your attendance projections much more accurate, as well as helping finance the little things like food and drink.

Starbow and the Bay Area Drupal camp organizers did an excellent job coming up with food that was provided by the sponsors, but I am sure the effort was more to coordinate the sponsors bringing food/coffee than if someone just bought it all with a set budget.

Just another opinion.

----------
Drupal Blog
Dog Parks via Drupal

Drupal Blog
Dog Parks via Drupal

Hey guys, come vote in the

Posted by brenda003 on November 19, 2008 at 6:05pm

Hey guys, come vote in the poll Senpai set up for the dates. http://groups.drupal.org/node/16897

the fee

Posted by kscheirer on November 19, 2008 at 9:22pm

I like the idea, if we can work out the logistics so its not a big hassle. The recent Chicago camp charged a small fee, hopefully we will be getting some details from them soon about how it worked out and how they did it.

The amount of a fee - could be $10 or $20. I think $5 is too low, people would feel free not to show up again :) and more then $20 seems steep. A free T-shirt could be included - I'm doubtful that we could get all the shirts donated like they managed at BADCamp.

We could set an attendance cap - this would also encourage people to actually show. I don't think anyone would actually want to prevent someone else from attending.

The fee could be waived in case of students or anyone else who asks. Especially at a university setting we want to encourage people to come and learn.

$12 now, $24 in the last

Posted by highermath on November 22, 2008 at 9:24pm

$12 now, $24 in the last week.

Cary

good idea with split prices but

Posted by Chris Charlton on December 11, 2008 at 5:44pm

Good idea, Cary, with the split prices depending on registration. The prices Cary suggests are nice, and more than reasonable - I would think though to reduce the need of providing change (single bills) that maybe a $15-20-25 fee should be easier on those accepting the money prior and day of the event.

Maybe $15 pre-register, $20 last week registration, and $25 at the door? If the last week and at-the-door fee was the same, like $20 then no change would really be needed unless people were paying with 100 dollar bills. Again, these are just ideas.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Charge

Posted by druroot on November 25, 2008 at 9:59am

I think we should charge around $20. I'll setup a paypal account, along with a budget proposal and handle all the financial logistics, but I really think this will help us put on a much better event. I'll try to get these logistics handled by the end of next week. Any stark objections?

-A

With logistics done, no objections whatsoever

Posted by christophweber on November 25, 2008 at 4:40pm

Thanks Andrew, that settles it in my opinion.

I agree with the comment above that the fee should increase for late registrations. Come to think of it, we should also let people register onsite (for those last minute types), but then charge more, e.g. $30 to $40.

--
Christoph Weber

Brain Dump of my experience from DCLA

Posted by Froggacuda on November 25, 2008 at 9:58pm

Having run around for two days at DCLA for WorkHabit, here's a brain dump of random info, mostly for Karl and Joel; feel free to move this to another, more targeted discussion if necessary.

1) Tech Stuff:

extension cords -- get these around Xmas time when Target etc. has their Xmas stuff out; they have 20' cords with a three way split at the end for $10 apiece; get lots and lots -- I was doling out connectors and extra splitters and stuff like candy at DCLA
power strips -- same thing, Target en mass purchases around Xmas make for low, low prices
duct tape -- it has a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe of Drupal together; taping down cords is an OSHA issue as well as a safety issue
PA systems -- can be rented on the cheap; I may be able to provide my own as a donation if necessary -- Joel, let's take this offline
Projectors -- possibly rented; Karl, please query RHJ to see if Achieve can provide one -- this may be obsoleted by the college being able to provide that type of equipment if the killer classrooms are available, along with the PA systems; if not provided, remember that you need a projector, a screen, and something to put the projector on, which could be as simple as a chair
Question: is WorkHabit going to film and post the presentations again? This is an awesome idea, but would need some additional tech planning
VGA extension cables and DVI to VGA converters -- for connecting to the projector over (potentially) long distances; check www.geeks.com, which is in Oceanside and has decent quality gear for reasonable prices
Plastic, lidded containers in which to store all of the stuff (extension cords, duct tape, etc.) for the NEXT SDDC!
I strongly suggest figuring out the voice amplification issue ahead of time, if necessary, and insuring that the equipment is tested and ready to go on the days of the event
BATTERIES -- almost as important as duct tape; that would be AA, AAA, and 9 volt

2) General Planning:

T-Shirts / Stickers / other stuffs must be ordered at least 2 weeks in advance to get decent prices; factor this into any logo contests, etc -- you'll back into the deadlines to pull this together successfully are rapidly approaching
Mini-code sprint for conference / BADcamp website template / install profile? just a thought
DCLA got a lot of traffic at the projected-on-the-wall schedule of events, and this reduced paper handouts and provided a pretty cool watercooler area
CCGs "chill room" was another good idea that should be factored into the planning; this would require ANOTHER room or area on top of the presentation rooms
Think through a low-impact, high self-service workflow for receiving participants and getting them a comprehensive package of information for the event to reduce the overhead of people having to hand-hold
Easels and whiteboards to provide job postings, wireless access code, lost and found, general information, personal ads (j/k)
Ron (above) is right: venue first, because that will determine a lot of related stuff: food availability, local hotel (and transportation to and from the event), and where you can negotiate for a block of rooms for pre-registered people at a discount -- the timing is certainly out of season for San Diego, so there should be a good shot of obtaining good pricing if you can negotiate in bulk -- Senpai is the grand mastah of such things
"Snacks" are probably best handled by a Costco purchase of granola bars, sodas, and other grazing items, and would obviate the need for people to have to leave the venue if (shocker) somehow you missed the lunch break
Think about the "workflow" in organization; although you may be taking 100 people and dividing that by 2 for 50 people per room to get your capacity, what about the opening presentation / keynote (if you are going to consider one) where EVERYONE wants to be in the same room?

3) Questions and other random stuff:

Contact Harry Slaughter and see if Platt College is a possible venue; last I heard the meetups were being held there
Although it books up fast, check the Scottish Rite Center in Mission Valley for another potential venue
Brenda's note to KEEP IT SIMPLE is crucial to success -- please keep this in mind as the event develops; this is the thrust of the self-service at arrival and the development of a website to disseminate information
Remember that the excitement of a Drupal Camp in SD should bleed over to the local SD meetups; be prepared to take action on the generated enthusiasm

Of course, the most important question that I have is this: where is the AFTERPARTY?

BTW, I came across this thread through LinkedIn, where it has also been posted, and I shared this out on Facebook for what its worth.

drupalcamp san diego website is live

Posted by mike stewart on December 3, 2008 at 10:06pm

In case you missed it - the drupalcamp san diego website is live

http://drupalsd.com/

--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }

When is the schedule going

Posted by john.arroyo on January 20, 2009 at 9:52pm

When is the schedule going to be announced? I can't make both days, but may be able to make one. I'm trying to see what days have what presentations.

thanks,

John Arroyo | www.remixin.com | www.johnarroyo.com

John Arroyo | www.arroyolabs.com | www.johnarroyo.com

The schedule is shaping up

Posted by christophweber on January 22, 2009 at 12:40am

The schedule is shaping up now. Nothing cast in stone yet, especially not the Design+Development track.
However, we should have a a decent draft schedule by Thu pm, and a final version by Fri evening.
Keep your browser on http://sandcamp.org/sessions/schedule

--
Christoph Weber
http://dialogconsulting.biz

--
Christoph Weber

I love the two logo designs from DesignDog!

Posted by Chris Charlton on December 31, 2008 at 11:41pm

Wow! LA Drupal member Simon (DesignDog) really stepped up to the S.D. drupal camp logo contest. Check out his award quality entries at http://drupalsd.com/logos. Vote for the one(s) you like.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Proposal for a Drupal Camp San Diego in early 2009

DATES

VENUE

SESSION TOPICS + SCHEDULE

REGISTRATION COSTS

BUDGET + MATERIALS

SPONSORS

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