Someone asked me about the military-media theme and thought this explanation would be helpful. The idea of theming the camp was Valerie's (graphic design volunteer from last year), we just were too far into the planning to get that going. But she was definitely correct from a marketing and branding perspective.
1. How does this effect camp?
Theming a camp is more a marketing effort to create buzz and interest in a camp to attract sponsors. We compete heavily for their time and money. While San Diego is an attractive destination, it is expensive to fly and stay here.
2. How does a themed camp effect sponsorship?
Sponsors go to camps to recruit developers and to get customers. Giving them the opportunity to promote work they've done in a meaningful way is how they measure value.
For instance, folks that have expressed interest or could be approached in showing up to do workshop, session or panel:
Phase 2: OpenGovernment (military)
Acquia / Greggles: Drupal security (military)
Acquia / Aljazeera (military and media)
Promet: SBA (military in a stretch)
Chapter 3: Economist or Examiner (media)
Qualcomm: product sites (media in a stretch)
Showcasing San Diego companies with media clients:
Achieve
Digitaria
MJD Interactive
Orion Creative
Transparatech
So you get the idea, we can generate star-power speakers and so attract high-dollar potential clients.
3. Why media?
Our largest Drupal shops in San Diego work in this area AND the media capital of the world is in our backyard. Media is defined as publishing, entertainment and tv.
4. Why military?
Walk to any high point in San Diego at look towards the bay and then read this article: http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-West/San-Diego-Economy.html.
Pop quiz: Who is Kratos?
They are a billion dollar defense company in San Diego with a large internal web technology team that does Drupal.
While the government-defense dollar is hard for a single shop to chase because of the paperwork and insider-deal network, as a group we can gain great visibility into this multi-billion dollar giant sitting at our feet. Phase 2 made their name and reputation and money (their new offices are drop-dead amazing) by working with what was in their backyard: government. We should be doing the same, working our backyard of military and media.
5. If it's that hard to break into military work, how is camp going to help?
First, the HOC for $3/person will do a few amazing things for us this year:
Provide $1000 worth of raffle items
Help organize transportation to and from hotel
Use their marketing list to promote our camp
Use their military contracts to promote our camp
Assuming a 400-person camp, a really good value at $1200.
6. Don't we still need a reputable prime to work on their GSA schedule?
Yes. And I am currently working out an arrangement with a Prime contractor to bring Drupal to several areas of the defense industry.
If you have any questions, ping me and let me know. See you on Sunday!
Comments
block quotes
I see that using ul/li would have been better than block quotes. But am afraid to edit, it creates multiple posts that can't be deleted. Next time :)
Susan | Better modules through revenue-share: Crafted, Curated, Contributed
I suppose my question about
I suppose my question about the military/media theme had less to do with what the selected theme was about and more so how that theme was selected by you without any feedback from, or discussion within, the group.
Are you suggesting that Susan
Are you suggesting that Susan made decisions without the input or consideration of the group? If you are, I think that's inaccurate, and unfair, from my experience. If you are not, then I apologize and ask that you clarify your comment.
Susan has discussed this several times that I'm aware of. If you weren't present at those meetings, that's regrettable.
We'd love to have you more involved as you seem to have an interest in how things go. Every meeting that I've been involved in has absolutely been democratic, so I would counter the inference that Susan is single-handedly guiding the theme.
And, from my experience of her very generous involvement, her suggestions and contributions have been with the local Drupal community in mind at all times. In fact, I have come to trust and value her perception of the community overall as she has invested quite a lot of time in getting to know the community and its participants.
I am inspired and incredibly grateful for Susan's contributions. I've seen very few others that have stepped up as actively and vibrantly as she has. Until others do step up, I, for one, will support her contributions vigorously.
Project Management: http://www.sagetree.net
Coaching Services: http://burtlo.info
Let's just vote on Sunday
Going forward I think that if folks have other suggestions for a camp theme they should post them here and we can discuss/vote on Sunday. That's much more productive than debating someone's intentions - which I think we should all assume are the best.
In general I think one of the flaws of the Sand Camp planning last year was that decisions would be made at one meeting and then overridden at another other meeting or elsewhere creating duplicate work and other frustrations. Jonathan is raising the important question about how decisions are made in a structureless organization. I have some thoughts on that myself but they probably aren't best explained in a comment post. I hope we can address that on Sunday.
(PS. To be honest, I hadn't heard of the military theme til it was announced and I feel like I usually have a pretty good idea what's going on.)
@FitPM Lets just make sure
@FitPM
Lets just make sure we're clear about this. I make no assumptions about Susan's intentions or as you put it, "consideration of the group". I'm sure they are the best intentions and not malicious.
I'm grateful for Susan's contributions at the camp last year and to the group in general but I would just like a little more transparency and openness in regards to the planning of the camp.
Specifically, the issue I was bringing up here is that decisions were made on the camp dates and theme without (as far as I can tell) it being discussed in the group.
The first I had heard of any planning for SandCamp was after my post saying I hadn't heard anything as we should start talking about. As far as I can tell, Susan's post after that is when the dates and theme were revealed and when the dialog with the group was started.
Please point me to the posts where those items were discussed, if they exist. I can't seem to find any.
An apology
@jonathanmd,
I apologize for my brusque response to you. I was regrettably cranky that day, and I ask that you forgive my overly direct words at you. In addition, I may have overstated things with regard to how transparent the subject of theming the camp was. For that as well, I apologize; it's very important to me to be clear with my words.
I expect that Sunday's gathering will be a chance for all involved to come to a group decision. Thanks for your participation.
Project Management: http://www.sagetree.net
Coaching Services: http://burtlo.info