Droplabs

The general Downtown Los Angeles Drupal meetup is on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at Sensis Agency in Downtown Los Angeles. Those interested in attending this meetup remotely are welcome to join us via WebEx. This meetup is now on the 1st Tuesday of each month.

At this meetup, we're having our usual news and announcements, raffle prizes, lightning talks (short, bite-sized presentations) and featured presentations. In previous months, we've had presentations on simplytest.me, Responsive Web Design, integrating Drupal and Redmine (a popular ticketing system), a behind-the-scenes look at BuildaModule.com, and DrupalCamp planning meetings.

This time we'll be featuring a SANDCamp Debrief and GLADCamp DrupalCamp Planning meeting. Is there another topic you'd like to see a presentation on at this meetup? Post a comment below!

To carpool or catch the Droplabs shuttle from Union Station, post below in the comments.

Drupal Happy Hour

Join us between 5:30-7pm for happy hour, sponsored by Exaltation of Larks, at Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant (one floor above Sensis). Takami serves the highest quality Sushi, Robata and Japanese-influenced entrees and boasts unparalleled views of the LA area with outdoor patio dining. (Happy hour at Takami is between 4-7pm and their phone number is 213-236-9600.)

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Our venue sponsor is Sensis (@SensisAgency), a cross-cultural advertising agency with digital at its core. We got our start building websites and have expanded into a full service advertising agency, helping our clients take advantage of the fundamental changes taking place in the marketing world.

Our parking, happy hour, video conferencing and raffle prize sponsor for this event is Exaltation of Larks, a Drupal strategy, consulting, development and training company with a team of Drupal experts in Los Angeles. We create fun websites, mobile apps, virtual worlds and e-commerce sites. Follow us at @LarksLA to learn more about our Drupal services and upcoming trainings.

This event is being organized with help from Droplabs (@Droplabs), a collaborative coworking space, classroom and hackerspace in Downtown Los Angeles. We're quickly gaining a reputation for being the only coworking space around with a with a low-cost business model: come work here and use our tables, chairs, WiFi and conference room with a low, daily or monthly membership fee and only pay more for the extras, such as 24/7 access, equipment rental and a locker for your belongings.

Join us at Droplabs for a Build a Module.com mentored training. This training is from 12-3pm. Bring your laptop, your lunch and learn Drupal!

This training will be focused on Site Building. Please bring a WiFi-enabled computer that you can use to connect to the internet and watch videos on (and a set of headphones). Those without headphones can buy or rent headphones from the venue.

    Sign up today at http://www.larks.la/training  

Pricing

Suggested donation: $20.

What is Drupal? For large and complex websites, nothing beats it! Where do you start? What is the best way to organize your project to get the best chance of success? This workshop will help you turn your ideas into a concrete todo list — whether you're building the site yourself, handing it off to a developer to build, or something in-between.

    Sign up today at http://www.larks.la/training  

This is the perfect workshop for you if:

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Do you own or help manage a company or organization that uses Drupal? Does your team depend on professional Drupal service providers in the Greater Los Angeles Area? Have you and your projects been affected by a shortage of Drupal development and theming talent?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then consider coming to our first-ever Drupal Jobs Summit from 7-9pm on Monday, January 28, 2013. There is no charge for this event. It is open to any and all companies and organizations who qualify, by:

1. Hosting any Drupal meetups, trainings or other Drupal community events, including Frontend Drupal, High Performance Drupal, Downtown Los Angeles Drupal, LA Drupal, and so on;
2. Sponsoring or exhibiting at any of the Los Angeles Drupal job fairs, including this month's Drupal Job Fair on Monday, January 28th.

Hosting a meetup at your office qualifies you for this event. Buying pizza at a meetup, while appreciated, does not. If you do not meet the above qualifications, contact us at jobs-jan28summit@droplabs.net with a request to attend.

This is a roll-up-your-sleeves working meeting and we will be meeting one another (many for the first time) and discussing the following topics:

• Building a healthy marketplace and business community of colleagues and potential partners;
• Getting the most out of our recruiting and marketing dollar;
• What we're doing now to staff up, from local recruiting and in-house training to outsourcing and hiring out-of-town or overseas;
• Identifying the skills, job titles and qualifications of desirable candidates, employees and vendors;
• Workshops, trainings and other programs that most or all of us can get behind in order to solve our business needs.

We'll have an open bar and cocktails will be served.

The general Downtown Los Angeles Drupal meetup is on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at Sensis Agency in Downtown Los Angeles. Those interested in attending this meetup remotely are welcome to join us via WebEx.

At this meetup, we're having our usual news and announcements, raffle prizes, lightning talks (which are short, bite-sized presentations) and featured presentations. In previous months, we've had presentations on Responsive Web Design by SDG&E, integrating Drupal and Redmine (a popular ticketing system), a behind-the-scenes look at BuildaModule.com, and a DrupalCamp planning meeting.

What topics would you like to see a presentations on at this meetup? Post in the comments below!

Drupal Happy Hour

Join us between 5:30-7pm for happy hour at Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant (one floor above Sensis). Takami serves the highest quality Sushi, Robata and Japanese-influenced entrees and boasts unparalleled views of the LA area with outdoor patio dining. Happy hour at Takami is between 4-7pm and their phone number is 213-236-9600.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Our venue and drinks sponsor is Sensis (@SensisAgency), a cross-cultural advertising agency with digital at its core. We got our start building websites and have expanded into a full service advertising agency, helping our clients take advantage of the fundamental changes taking place in the marketing world.

Our parking, video conferencing and raffle prize sponsor for this event is Exaltation of Larks, a Drupal strategy, consulting, development and training company with a team of Drupal experts in Los Angeles. We create fun websites, mobile apps, virtual worlds and e-commerce sites. Follow us at @LarksLA to learn more about our Drupal services and upcoming trainings.

This event is being organized with help from Droplabs (@Droplabs), a collaborative Drupal event and coworking space in Downtown Los Angeles. We're quickly gaining a reputation for being the only coworking space around with a with a low-cost business model: come work here and use our tables, chairs, WiFi and conference room with a low, daily or monthly membership fee and only pay more for the extras, such as 24/7 access, equipment rental and a locker for your belongings.

Every Wednesday at 7pm, Droplabs has an open stakeholders meeting with the Droplabs founders, keyholders and members of our community in and around Los Angeles, California. These meetings are a great opportunity to kick back after a day of coworking, get to know your fellow community members and request, offer and brainstorm new services and upcoming events to serve our members and larger community.

Topics we've covered in the past include our pricing structures, new membership benefits (such as Build a Module.com day passes and our Coworking Visa Program), which espresso to buy for the espresso machine, and what we want at our upcoming events, such as launch parties, Drupal job fairs, workshops, trainings, user group meetups and study groups.

Tonight we'll be discussing the following agenda items:

• Review of Droplabs' first week of being out of "open beta" and its new $25 / month membership fee;
• Upcoming events, including:
  • Drupal Coworking Friday on January 11, 2013,
    http://groups.drupal.org/node/275653;
  • Introduction to Drupal workshop on January 11, 2013,
    http://groups.drupal.org/node/274318;
  • Mentored Drupal training on January 11, 2013,
    http://groups.drupal.org/node/274323;
  • Drupal Job Fair on January 28, 2013,
    http://groups.drupal.org/node/275138;
• Features to go into Otto, our Drupal-based coworking distro,
  http://drupal.org/project/otto;
• Drupal Ladder / "Drupal School" program as discussed at last week's stakeholder meeting;
• Anything else you'd like to talk about! Attend our meeting promptly at 7pm to have your items added to the agenda.

Anyone is welcome to attend our "steak holder" meetings and no RSVP is needed. Vegetarians and vegans welcome.

You don't have to work alone. We're happy to take part in yet another Drupal Coworking Friday at Droplabs, a collaborative coworking space, classroom and hackerspace. Join us!

We're in Downtown Los Angeles and are happy to host members of our local community and anyone who is just passing through for some coworking, networking and collaboration. We'll be offering the following FREE services to help rock your workday:

• Free parking on Clover St. and N. Main St. and in our large parking lot
• Free, metered WiFi
• Desks, chairs and Ergotron mobile workstations in our open coworking room (on a first-come, first-served basis)
• Hundreds of square feet of whiteboard space
• Use of our private conference room (unless previously reserved)
• Access to our shared lounge area (unless previously reserved)
• Heat / air conditioning

Droplabs is supported by donations, sponsorship of our events, venue rental and paid upgrades, including high-speed, unmetered WiFi, access to a full kitchen (with stove, oven, fridges, sinks, etc.), equipment rental, locker space for your belongings and unlimited coffee, tea, filtered water, sodas and espresso.

Are you a freelancer or service provider who's looking for Drupal work? Do you represent a company or organization that's looking for Drupal talent? Come and make new friends and turn new connections into long-term relationships at the next Los Angeles Drupal Job Fair from 5-7pm on Monday, January 28, 2013.

This event is FREE for individual job seekers and is being hosted by Droplabs, a collaborative coworking space, classroom and hackerspace in Downtown Los Angeles. In addition to being the venue of the only Drupal job fairs ever in Los Angeles in June, 2011, and November, 2011, Droplabs hosts the majority of Drupal activity, from meetups, topic-based summits and code sprints to free workshops, tutoring sessions and paid trainings, in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

• Information for Job Seekers
• Information for Employers and Recruiters
• Sponsorship Levels
  • Marquee Sponsorship
  • Featured Sponsorship
  • Valued Sponsorship
  • Party Crasher Sponsorship
• Location and Directions to Droplabs
• About Downtown Los Angeles Drupal

Light food and drinks are being provided by Chimney Coffee House, our favorite neighborhood cafe, bakery, sandwich and dessert boutique.

This event announcement has been moved to http://groups.drupal.org/node/275138  

Join us at Droplabs for a Build a Module.com mentored training. This training is from 12-3pm. Bring your laptop, your lunch and learn Drupal!

This training will be focused on Site Building. Please bring a WiFi-enabled computer that you can use to connect to the internet and watch videos on (and a set of headphones). Those without headphones can buy or rent headphones from the venue.

    Sign up today at http://www.larks.la/training  

Pricing

Suggested donation: $20.

No one will be turned away from this workshop. If you are unable to donate to Droplabs we ask that you volunteer some time helping Droplabs run more smoothly when you drop by and cowork.

Classroom space is limited, so please sign up early.

About Mentored Training

What's the difference between this mentored training and the 3-hour lunch-and-learn Introduction to Drupal Workshop that we're offering next door at the same time?

In short, the 3-hour introductory workshop is better suited toward business owners and project managers. This mentored training is geared for folks who are interested in diving deeper into Drupal's systems and APIs, module or theme development or using popular contributed modules (e.g. Views, Rules, Features, etc.) for site building.

For more information about the mentored training concept and how it works, please have a look at the buildamodule.com training page. Here's a summary from Chris at buildamodule.com: