DrupalCamp 2014 Ideas

This past weekend I attended my first DrupalCamp. I have a few takeaways that sreynen has encouraged me to share with the community. I sent my notes about what I think can be done to improve outreach around Aten, but the laundry list is pretty long, so I'd like to narrow the scope of recommendations here.

First, let me say camp was a lot of fun for me personally, and more was good than bad about it. Leading up to the conference, I think the internal communication was powerful. That said, I think future conferences can do a better job of reaching outside of the community.

Beginners are the life-blood of the project and new people are largely intimidated by their lack of knowledge, know virtually no one at the conference, and are staring up at a huge learning curve. I have recommendations – both in terms of logistics and marketing – but I'd like to talk about how we can do better to encourage beginners that come to camp.

One specific recommendation I would make is to embrace IRC for the sessions. A lot of presenters – myself included – told newcomers that IRC is a great resource, but did nothing to show how it is.

• At sign up prior to the conference, attendees are instructed to have an IRC client installed on their computers in advance of camp (with step-by-step instructions on the web site).
• Include IRC reminders and links to installation instructions in the event reminder emails.
• Installation help provided on day 1 by the sign-in desk for late-comers and the lazy.
• Have IRC channel for the camp ready in advance of the camp.
• Post schedules there as they come up.
• Have IRC channels ready for each session.
• Have bot programmed with "directions?" "schedule?" "theming?" "site-building?"… etc. and variants to show information to relevant attendees upon request.
• Have volunteer on IRC at all times during camp to offer support.
• Of course, be sure venue supports IRC.

During sessions have a presenter's assistant on hand:

• Prior to the session, instructs attendees to join session's IRC channel.
• Invites attendees to post their questions in IRC as they come up during the session.
• Has copy of slides prior to session. As session progresses, on IRC translating terms, linking to tutorials, sharing resources as the presenter goes through the session.
• After presentation, chooses questions from IRC to organize the Q/A, and answers questions if they have the information on hand.

I was told there were more volunteers than tasks for them, we could've used people helping with sessions, introducing themselves to beginners, checking in on them throughout the weekend, asking how things are going, sharing resources, and generally encouraging them to climb the curve. This requires volunteers and an easy way for them to identify the beginners to begin outreach. Something as simple as getting a cup of coffee with a stranger would go a long way toward encouragement.

I have more recommendations, but this post is already too long and I don't want to flood the channel.