Posted by les lim on March 6, 2014 at 11:30pm
Stemming from a discussion at TCD'OH about community improvement, I'd like to see more frequent meetups on our group calendar, outside of our regular recurring events.
We're not exactly discouraging other events, but our social calendar is dominated so much by the regular meetups that it can seem like that's all there's supposed to be. That's a shame; I often can't make it to the coder meetup in St. Paul, for example, but I'd absolutely host a one-off coder meetup in Minneapolis some Saturday morning.
With that in mind, a few of us at TCD'OH came up with a loose list of criteria for hosting a Drupal event:
- it should be open to anyone;
- if you're hosting, you should be willing to provide your contact info;
- you should avoid double-scheduling against an existing TC Drupal event.
Thoughts about this list?
Comments
I have some ideas
Those who were at the Drupal Open House will understand. :-)
Most importantly, I think it should be clear that you don't need permission to schedule an event for the Drupal community as long as you adhere to the principles that Les outlined (and may be expanded upon).
NOTE: We are now sending out a regular monthly newsletter (until we don't), which can be used to announce your event if you plan it more than a week in advance. Someday, we might have a better "Drupal Calendar" to keep track of all the events that are being scheduled.
I'm editing the newsletter and will include any events posted at: https://groups.drupal.org/twin-cities
Feel free to contact me directly at: tim@politalk.org
Next issue will come out in about a week, so let me know if you have any announcements.
Tim Erickson
Triplo
Agreed
But I'm of two minds on this issue. On the one mind, I feel that the community is and should be open to all ideas and that everyone should be encouraged to step forward. The opening session at TCD'OH proved that anyone, no matter their Drupal skill level, can host a successful productive discussion with just a burning question or idea -- and that this community will respond in kind. So, I say, let's open things up and get more small meetups going.
On the other mind, I'm concerned about the effect that a slew of options will have on participation in the main meetup(s). Can we sustain an official monthly general meetup if our community divides its participation amongst a dozen potential events. We can only attend so many meetups...
I think that's why our theme for TCD'OH was chosen -- Moving Forward With Drupal. Our community is bursting at the seams in many ways (numbers, ideas, energy). What's the best way for us to move forward? Maybe it's in fits and starts, mini-meetups and small uncamps. Maybe it's proceed as we always have with new options growing into standing monthly events (Commerce meetup, Coder meetup, Happy Hour) and others drop off as necessary (Commerce meetup).
I love that we're talking about this. Thanks Les for carrying this forward.
Barry Madore
Triplo
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN