Lessons from a first time Drupal Camp organizer

A presentation at DrupalCon Europe in October 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands by Camilo Bravo

Slide 1

Slide 1

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

Slide 2

Slide 2

12 – 14 oct 2017

Slide 3

Slide 3

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

Slide 4

Slide 4

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

Slide 5

Slide 5

May 2017 22 weeks until the event

Slide 6

Slide 6

Team

Slide 7

Slide 7

Team

Slide 8

Slide 8

Team Core Team <= 3 people Extended Team

Slide 9

Slide 9

Team It’s good to have backup

Slide 10

Slide 10

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

Slide 11

Slide 11

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

Slide 12

Slide 12

Prepare and anticipate Schedule

Slide 13

Slide 13

Venue

Slide 14

Slide 14

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

Slide 15

Slide 15

Design Logo d1 Roun d Roun 2 d3 Roun

Slide 16

Slide 16

Design

Slide 17

Slide 17

Design

Slide 18

Slide 18

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

Slide 19

Slide 19

June 2017 18 weeks until the event

Slide 20

Slide 20

Website

Slide 21

Slide 21

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

Slide 22

Slide 22

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

Slide 23

Slide 23

Do not spend all your time working on the website Website

Slide 24

Slide 24

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

Slide 25

Slide 25

Promotion Email is a lot of work

Slide 26

Slide 26

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

Slide 27

Slide 27

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

Slide 28

Slide 28

Promotion Contact local newspapers

Slide 29

Slide 29

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

Slide 30

Slide 30

July 2017 13 weeks until the event

Slide 31

Slide 31

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

Slide 32

Slide 32

Sponsors Photo by Cerqueira on Unsplash

Slide 33

Slide 33

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

Slide 34

Slide 34

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

Slide 35

Slide 35

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

Slide 36

Slide 36

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

Slide 37

Slide 37

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

Slide 38

Slide 38

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

Slide 39

Slide 39

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

Slide 40

Slide 40

September 2017 4 weeks until the event

Slide 41

Slide 41

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

Slide 42

Slide 42

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

Slide 43

Slide 43

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

Slide 44

Slide 44

  1. Speakers

Slide 45

Slide 45

Selection process 3. Speakers

Slide 46

Slide 46

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

Slide 47

Slide 47

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

Slide 48

Slide 48

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

Slide 49

Slide 49

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

Slide 50

Slide 50

October 2017

Slide 51

Slide 51

October 2017

Slide 52

Slide 52

Logistics

Slide 53

Slide 53

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

Slide 54

Slide 54

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

Slide 55

Slide 55

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

Slide 56

Slide 56

Slide 57

Slide 57

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

Slide 58

Slide 58

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

Slide 59

Slide 59

Later…

Slide 60

Slide 60

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

Slide 61

Slide 61

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

Slide 62

Slide 62

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

Slide 63

Slide 63

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

Slide 64

Slide 64

Prepare for all this beforehand Post

Slide 65

Slide 65

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

Slide 66

Slide 66

One more thing…

Slide 67

Slide 67

What if we had… ✦ Repository of resources to help plan a Drupal event ✦ Community of organizers where knowledge sharing is encouraged ✦ Centralized place to market all of our events to the Drupal community ✦ Supported tools required to organize events ✦ Highlight the individuals who volunteer to produce these events

Slide 68

Slide 68

Event organizers working group Formation Board members drupal.org/community/event-organizers

Slide 69

Slide 69

Get involved ✦ Join Our Monthly Meetings (2nd Tuesday of the month) ✦ Join the Event Organizers Slack ✦ Join Our Email Newsletter ✦ Jump Into Our Issue Queue drupal.org/community/event-organizers

Slide 70

Slide 70

Join us for contribution opportunities Thursday, October 31, 2019 Mentored Contribution First Time Contributor Workshop General Contribution 9:00-18:00 Room: Europe Foyer 2 9:00-14:00 Room: Diamond Lounge 9:00-18:00 Room: Europe Foyer 2 #DrupalContributions

Slide 71

Slide 71

What did you think? Locate this session at the DrupalCon Amsterdam website: https://drupal.kuoni-congress.info/2019/program/ Take the Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DrupalConAmsterdam