Lessons from a first time Drupal Camp organizer

Lessons from a first time Drupal Camp organizer Camilo Bravo @cambraca

12 – 14 oct 2017

“ Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong Murphy’s law

Rec ord Budget n otio m ro Website P Schedule Desig n Sponsors e Venu Speaker s Team Post Social s Logistic

May 2017 22 weeks until the event

Team

Team Core Team <= 3 people Extended Team

Team It’s good to have backup

When should we have a DrupalCamp? dar n e l a ic c sity m r e e v d i a n Ac at u s m r Midte Schedule Other Drupal events DrupalCon Vienna General inte rest 2018 World Cup qualific ation Local holidays

In what order should things happen? Venue Sponsorships Design Promotion Pre-registration Registration Website Call for Proposals Schedule Program

Prepare and anticipate Schedule

Venue

150 15 May First approach by email 141 24 May Meeting with head of department 113 21 Jun Denied 101 3 Jul Meeting with person in charge of events 97 7 Jul Venue approved PONR! Venue

Design Logo d1 Roun d Roun 2 d3 Roun

Design

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June 2017 18 weeks until the event

Website

Stages 1. Requirements 2. Event / signup 3. Session submissions 4. Sponsors 5. Calendar 6. Feedback / post-event Website

drupalec.org Org-level website ✦ “Event” content type ✦ “Session” group Website

Do not spend all your time working on the website Website

Promotion Start with what you already have Previous events ✦ photos ✦ videos ✦ design* ✦ contact lists ✦ chat groups ✦ social media *if usable

Promotion Email is a lot of work

Social media Promotion Manual labor contacting groups, e.g. Girls in Tech Paid promotion $69 spent on 9 Facebook ads over 15 weeks Regular posts Facebook, Twitter

Promotion Other Drupal sites groups.drupal.org Latin America group buildamodule.com druplical.com

Promotion Contact local newspapers

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July 2017 13 weeks until the event

Just two sponsor tiers Sponsors ✦ Placement++ ✦ Placement ‣ website ‣ certificates ‣ event roll-up ‣ emails ‣ credentials FB banner ‣ brochure ‣ Silver Gold ✦ Company roll-up ✦ Social media mentions ✦ Booth ✦ Closing act mention ✦ Intervention at inauguration

Sponsors Photo by Cerqueira on Unsplash

Sponsors 97 7 Jul Gold sponsor (venue) 72 1 Aug Gold sponsor event now possible! 41 1 Sep Gold sponsor 37 5 Sep Silver sponsor 34 8 Sep Gold sponsors (organizers) 23 19 Sep Silver sponsor (post-event meeting) 19 23 Sep Silver sponsor (speakers workshop) 7 5 Oct Sponsor changed Gold -> Silver ! Photo by Cerqueira on Unsplash

Total spent: Losses Silver Gold USD 2 853.39 Printing Catering T-shirts Workshop Social media Budget

Total spent: USD 2 853.39 Loss per organizer: Losses Silver USD 184.46 Gold Budget

Total spent: USD 2 853.39 Not pictured: ✦ Recording rs so on Sp ✦ Venue ✦ Design ✦ Head of logistics ✦ Organizers’ salaries Budget

Total spent: USD 2 853.39 Also not pictured: ✦ Ticket sales Losses Silver Gold Budget

Free event ✦ Well, it’s free! ✦ Boost to our community ✦ Unreliable attendance 45% ✦ Budget Budget

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September 2017 4 weeks until the event

Speakers

Session proposals the “add group” page 2. Workshop improving presentation skills 3. Selection spreadsheet magic 4. Event starts until 31 Aug 23 Sep 4 Oct 12 Oct

Speakers Title Type talk, remote talk, discussion group, panel, keynote, workshop Track Difficulty Description Files

Speakers Software developers are not known for their presentation skills

Speakers

Selection process 3. Speakers

Speakers Session proposals 38 in total Core team 3 people One opinion / session “strong” vs. “weak” / team member

Speakers For each session, one opinion 4 possible buckets strong positive weak positive weak negative strong negative

My personal process 3. Speakers Points added (or removed) based on: ✦ Special session type (e.g. panel) ✦ Excellent description ✦ Multiple-speaker talk (rare) ✦ Clear session objective ✦ Speaker diversity ✦ Topic is unique ✦ Foreign speaker ✦ Topic is relevant ✦ Has previous experience ✦ Topic is current ✦ Good impression from workshop

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October 2017

Logistics

Seriously, it’s a nightmare Speakers Need projector? sound? laptop? Small introduction for each Do they know where to go and when? Filming / photos Dedicated team. Equipment. SD cards. Do they know where to go and when? Catering and coffee breaks Special meal requirements Do they know where to go and when? Rooms Sound check for keynotes Testing streaming remote talk Setting up the rooms before each session Logistics

Seriously, it’s a nightmare Registration table Credentials, welcome package Pointing people in the right direction Venue Wi-Fi setup Rooms unlocked in time Volunteers Specific tasks for each Is someone late? missing? Do they know where to go and when? Group photo Does everyone know where to go and when? Inventory Keeping track of roll-ups, cables, adapters, tables, signs, laptops, etc. Logistics

There should be someone other than you dedicated to all this Logistics

Unless you have a separate team* for recording, editing, and social media, just do your best *which we did! Record Social

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Later…

Immediately after Social gathering ✦ Somewhere to wind down ✦ A Silver sponsor provided this space Post

Immediately after Updates on social media and website ✦ Cleaning up Facebook page “signup button” => “learn more” ✦ Remove event registration link on website Post

After a few days ✦ “Thank you” emails ✦ Data entry: attendants to each session ✦ Send feedback forms to attendants ✦ Upload session recordings Post

After a few weeks ✦ Disable “photo uploads” ✦ Post to social media ✦ Send feedback results to speakers ✦ Website adjustments Post

Prepare for all this beforehand Post

Other lessons ✦ No matter how much you prepare, the last few days before the event are always crazy ✦ Look for stronger support from companies / universities sooner ✦ Too many talks at the same time leads to some of them having a very small audience Post

WHAT DID YOU THINK? Locate this session at the Drupal Developer Days Transylvania 2019 website: https://cluj2019.drupaldays.org/schedule Take the survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/drupaltransylvania THANK YOU!