Main Monthly LA DRUPAL Meetup: presentations, coders lounge and more - Aug 14th, 2012 at Santa Monica Public Library

Join us Tuesday, August 14th, 2012 at the Santa Monica Public Library (main branch). Every month we have experts guide our local community, it's always a spectacular lineup of topics and presentations centered around Drupal. Plus we help users answer questions, and resolve issues with solutions surrounding planning, supporting, and developing with Drupal.

Mark your calendars for the second Tuesday of each month as "LA DRUPAL DAY"!

Room1: 7pm-9pm (sharp!) - doors open at 6p

• Main presentation: Drupalcamp LA case study
• Lightning Talks: (5min ea) Open Floor. Come share something cool, new, and Drupalie! (post a comment to lock in your spot now)
• The first to arrive will receive a free copy of the Drupal specific magazine: Drupal Watchdog -- normally $12/issue!
• Plus, Job announcements, Networking, Wi-fi and raffle prizes, including various Drupal books, DVD's, and subscriptions!

Room2: 6pm-9pm

Open Q&A, Users-Helping-Users, Lightning Talk Prep: Come learn or teach how to work on Drupal core & contrib issues, a.k.a., give back! Work on your project and collaborate with others. Users Helping Users - bring up a question to the crowd and see how they can help you overcome your latest Drupal roadblock. The coder lounge is our time to come together and work and share ideas.

Afterwards, we can go to the Drupal afterdark and network with folks from the main presentation room.

When: Tuesday, August 14th, 2012 from 6:00-9:00pm (repeats every second Tuesday night of the month)

Where: Santa Monica Public Library (main branch; in the in the multi-purpose room)
601 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401 - Map

Plus the event is FREE!!!!

(except nominal parking fee if you park at the library)

AGENDA:

6pm-7pm

• LA DRUPAL Users Helping Users - Bring your laptop and Drupal questions, or contribute to an issue in the queue
• Lightning Talk prep - need help getting a lightning talk together, show up to the pre-meetup lab and we can help!
• Early Networking - looking to chat with folks before the meetup begins, this is your chance.

7pm-9pm

• News & Announcements
• Job announcements
• Main presentation
• Lightning Talks (5min ea): Open Floor. Come share something cool, new, and Drupalie! (post a comment to lock in your spot now)
• Users Helping Users - bring up a question to the crowd and see how they can help you overcome your latest Drupal roadblock.
• Coders Lounge & Open Contrib Lab
• Raffle prizes & Giveaways
• Networking - bring your business cards

9pm-Late

Drupal After Dark - hang with the community for a drink or bite to eat, after the meetup.

After hours ("Drupal After Dark"): After the meetup, it is typical for many of us to meet at a local restaurant or pub for additional Drupal networking. We will be networking at Ole King's Head British Pub in view of the Santa Monica Pier, enjoying ocean air and warm atmosphere.

Ole King's Head British Pub
116 Santa Monica Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Telephone: (310) 451-1402
http://www.yeoldekingshead.com

For any changes to our agenda for the evening, stay tuned to this meetup announcement or click the Sign up button below to be notified when the agenda has been updated.

Lightning Talks

We have time as well for lightning talks, which are 5-10 minute presentations from attendees who would like to share something with the group. If you'd like to give a lightning talk, be sure to come a few minutes early and bring your laptop (and power and display cables) and whatever else you need.

If you'd like to give a lightning talk, presentation, announce a job position or ask any questions of the group, please leave a comment below and plan to come a few minutes early.

Join us online remotely / We want your feedback!

During the meetup, we'll be gathered in the #drupal-la chat channel (IRC) or our live Google+ Hangout (Video), and all are welcome to join us. The event organizers will also check Twitter for feedback and questions that mention @ladrupal or use the #ladrupal hashtag.

Coders Lounge & Open Contrib Lab

Returning this year is our Coders Lounge + Lab; a second room dedicated to Drupal coding & contributing - perfect for learning new code hands-on, meet with Drupal mentors & a study group, co-work on a Drupal contrib project/issue, share a new hook, or follow along with your laptop (expect short training sessions).

Users Helping Users and open Q&A

The general meetup begins at 7:00pm but the doors open a little earlier at 6pm for Users Helping Users, which is a chance for members of the community to help and be helped by others with whatever questions and problems they're having with Drupal. Please note that while Users Helping Users is not designed to be a replacement for bonafide consulting from a Drupal professional that there are plenty of Drupal experts and professionals who attend our meetups and sometimes they need help, too!

As always, please feel welcome to leave a comment below and let others know what you'd like to present ahead of time.

Job announcements

At the beginning of each meetup LA DRUPAL provides an opportunity for local businesses to make job announcements and ask for referrals and recommendations.

Raffle! Prizes! Collect them all!

We love our sponsors and have several raffle prizes from our sponsors in the Los Angeles area and around the world. If you or your company would like to sponsor a raffle prize at the LA Drupal meetups, please come early or contact the LA Drupal managers.

Breakout Groups

As we've occasionally done, we'll split up into groups (sometimes called BoFs, or birds of a feather) and each group can jump into a particular topic that's set at the beginning of the meetup. The topics for these BoFs so far have ranged from high performance websites, Features-driven development, PCI compliance and general "getting started" discussions.

What to bring

Bring a co-worker, maybe your laptop or tablet, but definitely bring your business cards for networking. We do a lot of networking!

About LA Drupal

LA Drupal is Southern California's largest hub for all things Drupal, and is one of the world's largest regional Drupal user groups. We host a monthly meeting on the second Tuesday of every month. LA Drupal also produces the annual DrupalCamp LA conference, one of the largest independent annual Drupal training events world-wide since 2007, and host to Drupal Design Camp LA a traveling design-oriented conference.

There are also other member led social gatherings and meetups throughout the southland. Visit http://groups.drupal.org/la for more details.

Attending LA Drupal events is one of the best ways to meet and talk with other Drupaleros and we encourage you to attend meetings and special events regularly. Whether it's about finding solutions to problems you've been having, sharing something you've learned or just meeting interesting like-minded people, the LA Drupal events are an essential resource for Drupal professionals and hobbyists alike.

If you aren't already part of LA Drupal, it's easy to become a member (read below) and find events announced at http://groups.drupal.org/la/events

How to become a member of LA Drupal

LA Drupal has over 1,000 members, the official ways to become a member is by joining the LA Drupal group here: http://groups.drupal.org/la

1. First, create an account at Drupal.org, which is the "master" site of groups.drupal.org.

2. Once you have your Drupal.org account and have logged in, go to the LA Drupal home page at http://groups.drupal.org/la

3. Finally, click the Join link found in the right sidebar. You'll be a member of LA Drupal after confirming your membership.

As a member of the LA Drupal community, you can participate in discussions, sign up & RSVP for events, post job announcements, vote, and send direct messages to people (via the "contact" tab on their profiles), and more.

LA Drupal welcomes you!