Lessons from a first time Drupal Camp organizer

A presentation at DrupalDevDays Transylvania in June 2019 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania by Camilo Bravo

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

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12 – 14 oct 2017

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

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

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May 2017 22 weeks until the event

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Team

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Team

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Team Core Team <= 3 people Extended Team

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Team It’s good to have backup

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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

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

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Prepare and anticipate Schedule

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Venue

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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

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Design Logo d1 Roun d Roun 2 d3 Roun

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Design

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Design

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

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June 2017 18 weeks until the event

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Website

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

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

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Do not spend all your time working on the website Website

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

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Promotion Email is a lot of work

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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

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

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Promotion Contact local newspapers

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

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July 2017 13 weeks until the event

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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

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Sponsors Photo by Cerqueira on Unsplash

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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September 2017 4 weeks until the event

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Speakers

  1. 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

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

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  1. Speakers Software developers are not known for their presentation skills

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  1. Speakers

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Selection process 3. Speakers

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

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

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

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October 2017

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October 2017

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Logistics

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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

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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

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

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

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Later…

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

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

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

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

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Prepare for all this beforehand Post

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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

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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!