Posted by jpw1116 on April 29, 2012 at 10:04pm
The attached PDF contains the full contents of:
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TOP TEN PRELIMINARY NEEDS TO CONSIDER for 2012 Camp
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TYPICAL ROLES
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RESOURCES TO CONSULT
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SAMPLE PLANNING SESSION
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GENERAL CATEGORIES TO PLAN
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LEARNED-THE-HARD-WAY
Print it out and we can discuss here. Thanks!
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Preliminary DrupalCamp WNY 2012 planning outline. . . . (input is welcome).pdf | 19.71 KB |
Comments
Okay, I guess I'll kick off the discussion. . . .
No Drupal Community Cultivation Grant cycles seem to be active at present: https://association.drupal.org/grants
Their generosity toward last year's camp was a boon, but we may need to get creative to replace that chunk of change (beyond traditional sponsors). Last year's grant helped waive admission fees for the first batch of signups, plus allowed for travel expenses to bring in a keynote speaker.
What does anyone think of Kickstarter?
Stay tuned. . . .
I'm no Kreskin, but something tells me there may be good news for the prospect of funding to help a fall '12 camp. . . .
Don't forget to raise your hand if you have input for 2012 camp planning. We will be having more discussions before long.
I wasn't kidding. . . .
The Drupal Association has posted the 2012 Community Cultivation Grants through Q3. Application is on a rolling basis.
https://association.drupal.org/grants
This could be useful if the WNY regions (plural, since we encompass more than a couple of cities and universities) devise something innovative and fund-worthy. I've heard that a Drupal road show has been in place elsewhere, and maybe the 2012 event could morph into a leaner, newer form.
Ideas?
Kickstarter's not a bad idea...
...except that since Kickstarters have a set deadline on them you'll need buy-in from people to meet that deadline, which means your promotion to drive people to the kickstarter page itself will need to be quite active (and soon). Not sure if that's going to be putting the cart before the horse or not, but you may need to promote the event before you actually have any certainty that the funding goals will be met.
Then shy of KS or relying on another grant. . . .
What about finding a higher-ed "sponsor"?
I know other groups hold their camps at colleges/universities. That helps with the early promotion you mention, plus it takes care of venue cost (a large slice of the budget) . . . at the expense of certain onsite freedoms, like free beer. Hotels are an alternative, and offer a professional atmosphere to business attendees, but then we're back to cost with a capital $ being a problem unless you request a big admission price. Both models depend on the scale of attendance predicted.
We've also had a potential corporate host mentioned (in Rochester). That is one more factor to consider. Like the others, it requires planning, and in your words, soon.
That's why even before a cart or horse, now is the time for WNYDUG members to step up and become planners. What should our filter be? Say, four commits to form a prelim planning team by May 15?
Choose a position and claim it here. If not, it implies that a fall camp may not be in the picture after all. Sample roles are right there in the PDF.
This shouldn't be our constraint.
RIT would be the obvious
RIT would be the obvious candidate as a .edu sponsor in Rochester, but I think Fisher is also a potential candidate. Nick's a Fisher alum, he might possibly have ideas of who to contact there or whether it's a good idea. For RIT, I would start with the Barcamp folks and see who they suggest talking with. Monroe Community College & SUNY Brockport might also be worth looking at. Brockport parking is poor, though.
I'm leery of signing up for organizational help at this point because I've got a lot going on this summer, with a sick family member & a few other things. But I got a ton out of it last year, and would be willing to figure out something to propose as a talk. It would be something simple, though.
Education sponsor
RIT would be great, but not sure that we have any connections there. The Barcamp folks didn't seem terribly interested last we spoke.
As for Fisher, I'll check with my old professors there. Last I heard however, the computer science program wasn't doing great and you know how that goes. Programs with less interest have less pull at the college.
I've also been trying to find a suitable venue in Batavia, but that's easier said than done. The only place I have left to check is the local college. Trying to work a connection through one of my interns to see if I can talk to the right people there.
WebOzy: the web services company
About Me
Thanks guys. Keep the ideas flowing. . . .
For inspiration, take a look at Ohio's parallel effort. This will be their second annual camp too: http://groups.drupal.org/node/229728
First step
I read, then re-read, the preliminary planning pdf (thanks for that John). I really think that the first thing that we need is a location and point man/woman. It seems to me that a lot of the other planning, sponsors, etc. will be heavily based on location. Since we're all a bit spread out, it'll be important to have 1 or 2 people in the area hitting the streets and knocking on the appropriate doors.
I'd love to do this in Batavia. My business partner and I are already trolling the community for liveBatavia.com. We have several hotels, restaurants, etc. The only real issue is venue. :( After looking at that doc, is an educational institution even suitable? My concern is the insurance stuff and everything. Not sure what the necessities are there.
So the real question here is who is willing to step up for this?
Other points I just wanted to bring up (not as important but worth considering):
Hotel rates would be much lower for a weekday conference. Not sure how that balances out with people's availability, but worth considering.
Having a Drupal rockstar would be great, but is it worth the cost? I noticed that quite a few people at the last Drupalcamp were rather green, so the Drupal rockstar status was probably completely lost on them. May want to focus on just having really good presentations from local talent.
Along the same lines as kickstarter, could we possibly have pledges from prospective attendees? I know that I wouldn't mind tossing in registration fee ahead of time.
If we're serious about putting this together, should we have bi-weekly meetings to start shaking out who leads what and get our act together?
On a personal note I LOVED the little blue plastic Drupal tags from the last camp. It's still sitting happily on my suitcase. :)
WebOzy: the web services company
About Me
Drupalcamp
Hi,
I'm new to all this Drupal stuff so I attended the NC Charlotte Drupalcamp and training this past weekend. What I really loved was that it was not just the camp but a full day of training with Doug Vann. I actually spoke to him after the camp and asked him if he would ever consider coming up to Buffalo and he said he would. Maybe if you included some training days into the camp it would attract more people (especially us newbies lol). The training cost $149 for just the one day, and the camp was free, but you could sponsor them for as little as $50. For that you received a free shirt and some promotional shout outs. It was a really great week end and would love to see something similar to come to buffalo. If there is anything I can help assist in let me know.
Affirmative. . . .
Thank you for the input on the NC camp; Doug Vann is legendary and yes, his name has cropped up in the past as a desirable speaker to recruit. Since this is a do-ocracy here, you've already shown the initiative it takes to get the ball rolling. This is how it's done!
It's too bad that a "critical mass" of potential camp planners hasn't yet emerged locally in WNY (we need more than a couple of folks). That's why it seems less and less promising to swing a 2012 reprise of last fall's success. Of course, we haven't heard all of your ideas yet. . . .
The normal monthly WNY Drupal User Group "hangout" on Google+ is slated to happen the last Wed. of the month at 7:30 p.m.--details will be posted before too long but expect the topic to dwell on the the state of our Drupal community in WNY. You may have seen that Cornell U. just gained traction with a new g.d.o group of their own.
Your energy is welcome at any time. Let's get talking to see where things stand for viability, funding and the like. If not for '12, then '13 for sure. Thank you again.
-John W.
Training
I would also be interested in offering training at the camp. I have started a Drupal Training company Six Mile Tech. I will be holding training in associate with the Capital Camp, the NYC Camp next month in NYC and Philly(non-camp related) in August. I would love to do one closer to home.
I also would be willing to make it a lower cost training and to try to help promote the camp. Maybe we could have some of the ticket price to towards supporting the main camp day.
Core developer
Thank you. . . .
I caught this just now and appreciate the offer. It sounds ideal.
Let's see if any other planning volunteers discover this thread and step up. Otherwise it seems more viable for '13, as I've been starting to post. . . .
UPDATE: No activity in over a month--shelving 2012 for now
It's a fact that mid-July is here without unanimous interest in planning a fall camp.
If anyone is willing to pick up the torch and run with it, that would be great . . . but short of a core group of planners emerging maybe it's time to scale back expectations.
We will keep our consistent monthly meeting schedule, of course. Thanks for any participation in that and good luck with your work outside of WNYDUG.