Suggestions for the Drupal Community Track

Submitted by Isabell Schulz on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:56

Johan Falk (a NodeOner) is part of the committee for the community track at DrupalCon Chicago (chaired by Greg Dunlap aka Heyrocker and also a NodeOner) and he sent an email out to get suggestions for session topics.
Here are my two cents, and certainly only drafts of what the content could be:
Topic 1: Involvement of Drupal Association in the Drupal Community

What it does and doesn't do
Roles of Permanent Members and the Board
What needs to be done
DA's perception within communities (Why, how to improve/maintain it?)
DA's internal restructuring
DA becoming a US organisation?

Topic 2: Growth of an Open Source Community

Why does Drupal Community work so well?
Compare development of community growth with others
Strengths and Weaknesses
What are the opportunities?
What are the threats?
How to deal with the growth, do we need to restructure?
What does this growth mean for the Drupal project?

Topic 3: Engaging people to become part a community

Things that are done
Things that need to be done
Engaging people through DrupalCon and EU Camps
Dealing with cultural differences
Including everyone
Code of Conduct

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3 comments

This is what I propose:

The community is an asset for everyone who uses Drupal. Show why in a concrete way.

Consider talking about an actual case where a client has gained advantages through direct collaboration with Drupal's community. In my view, presenting is about telling stories and one that supports one's point, is engaging and easy to identify with will work effectively. It's also more interesting to the audience than speaking generally on a topic.

Case:
Client has problem > Client needs to solve problem > Drupal developers get involved > Client and developers work with the community to solve the problem > Client doesn't just solve the problem but gains additional advantages through the community.

Write a headline that sells.

Go for controversy (remember Jen Lamptons "WordPress is better than Drupal"):

* Why you should date a Drupal developer
* Code is irrelevant
* Why you should fire your developers

More concrete (less eye catching):

* How the issue queue helped X save XXX dollars
* Why your d.o account will save your project

"Based on a true story".

What else captures your imagination and attention better? :)

May this be a suggestion for the "Business and Strategy" track instead?
(not sure myself, I am just asking) I guess, there are always topics that will overlap with several tracks

Is there just one community, or is the Drupal community actually a collection of communities, all with slightly different goals, expectations, rules and etiquette, communication channels etc?

If so, then how can we both support all individual communties with their own peculiarities, and still keep the overall focus of Drupal in general?