main goals for events

[Robert Deutz]

Hi All,

within OSM we are discussing the question what should be the main goal for events and I would like to hear the thoughts from the members of this list. Here is the starting point of the discussion as a plain copy:

snipp -----

Hi all,

Events is an important area for Joomla, and Robert is doing a great job leading the events team. As we look ahead and plan for the future, I would like us to discuss this question together:

What should our main goal for events be? 

For example, should our main goal be to:

• Strengthen communities that will in turn strengthen our overall community
  
• Bring in more revenue for the project
  
• Attract more people from one or more segments, such as:
  
• Developers
• Designers
• Sitebuilders
• General users
• Enterprise users
• Service providers
• Or something else...

I think it is also okay to consider broadening this question and ask if we should instead be aiming to achieve a combination of goals (or perhaps plan different events that are targeted for different goals).

Please share your thoughts about this important question!

Thanks,

paul

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Link: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=de&fromgroups#!topic/open-source-matters-public/ewCXJrtXD0I

Cheers,

Robert

[saurabh ds16]

Hi Robert,
As always , you are doing awesome job for keeping these events alive :-)
About the event, the main goal should be like mixture of everything. From Basics to advanced and also from startup to the higher business model views.
Basic - from basics of Joomla! with some programming about how to get started with coding ro designing, which will help on designers who wants to learn about coding or developers to design more better things.

Intermediate - Those who knows about design and bit of coding , there should be some more advance level track where they can enhance their level and continue to give values to the community.

Advanced - For those who already knows , well we can attract them with more advance level like how they can communicate with joomla and how do they can understand the Joomla! models and move ahead and help others to join in... Not that clear in my mind what we can do about it but something like what i shared my view about it.

Startups - how they can pitch their startup and get more busienss.

Business models - we can try to gather all who already in joomla business , they can share their case studies , their experience and share about how others can move forward or someone can start business with joomla and/or in thier joomla vertical/domain (like designing/hosting/developing company) and bring more people to the community to join in.

I think this will make the complete event.
Waiting for hear others comment and other views about event.

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[brian teeman]

As someone who has perhaps attended more events than most I would like to say the following

• A joomla event should aim to both educate and inform Joomla users both old and new
• A joomla event should not be a revenue raising exercise and should be at as low as cost as possible to enable the widest audience

I think I have only attended one event over the years where this was not truly satisfied and it was rectified in later events.

I see people making recommendations for more international events, but perhaps regional/continental rather than global. My issue with this is that they still dont really resolve the issue of cost of travel that exists for global events and we must be very careful to ensure that any events like this do not impact on local/national events. I think the current mix works well but as we haven't had our first World Conference yet perhaps it is still too early to say.

I see people making suggestions that Joomla/OSM should look at hiring professional event organisers to help. I see no benefit to this. It is very expensive and as stated before I dont see any need for us to look at replacing the local event organisers who do an amazing job. We can of course always improve and the increased communication and knowledge sharing I see between organisers is a step in the right direction.

Sponsorship is however a growing problem. With more and more events all looking to the same companies to support them it is harder and harder for event organisers to raise sponsorship. There are a few areas that could be considered to help with this.

• Have some global joomladay sponsorship deals that OSM arrange and then disperse accordingly - however this could raise issues with how these sponsors are recognised if the share that a local event receives is less than their direct sponsorships
• Reduce the need for sponsorships by reducing the expenses (see below)
• Pool and share resources better between joomladay events - for example equipment hire. It can be cheaper to purchase projectors (beamers) and share them between events (even after shipping costs) than it is to hire them

Speakers are the key to any event. Their topics and even their "recognition factor" are many times the driving factor when someone id deciding to attend an event. The problem is that if you are inviting international speakers this directly results in an expense which perhaps can be avoided. I see far too many events looking at multiple international speakers (yes that includes me) when they have perfectly good local speakers. If you want "names" to attract the crowd be selective and dont invite everyone. And dont forget just because someone is a "name" does not mean they are a good speaker. This is an area that OSM/events team can help by creating a speakers panel:

• list of known and good public speakers
• their expenses directly covered by OSM and not by the local event (reducing the need for local sponsorship)
• spread the speakers around so that one or two people are not permanently on the road or in the air

So what can we do to improve ourselves and create better events. Well one relatively easy option is to create a private members only area of the events web site just for event organisers. Here they can co-ordinate event dates, share experiences, ask each other advice and even things like "dont invite brian teeman to speak as he is terrible".

Finally let us remember that no two events are or should be the same. Local cultures mean that events will be different - we can learn from each other but that doesn't mean we should copy or that just because it works in France the same thing will work in Italy. Event organisers must be given the autonomy and respect that they know their local best.

If you've read this far, thank you and see you at the next joomladay

[Jen Kramer]

Speakers are the key to any event. Their topics and even their "recognition factor" are many times the driving factor when someone id deciding to attend an event. The problem is that if you are inviting international speakers this directly results in an expense which perhaps can be avoided. I see far too many events looking at multiple international speakers (yes that includes me) when they have perfectly good local speakers. If you want "names" to attract the crowd be selective and dont invite everyone. And dont forget just because someone is a "name" does not mean they are a good speaker.

Let me second what Brian has said here.

When running Joomla Day New England, we always made a point to include plenty of local speakers, ideally half. (We also made a conscious effort to be half women speakers, reflecting the makeup of our audience.)

Many of our local speakers no one knew the first time they spoke. However, many have gone on to speaking at other events. 

If the Joomla Day is sponsored by a local group, you should be promoting your local talent. Give your user group members an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise to the Joomla community as well as local businesses.

It gets old to see the same speakers at every Joomla Day event. Sure, everyone wants a few rock stars in attendance. But do you really need the same 10 people who spoke at the last Joomla Day to speak at yours, even on the same topics?

By "promoting from within" the user group, you strengthen the Joomla community, empower and strengthen the user group, and increase Joomla's knowledgebase. 

You can always start by giving your local speakers some of the basic Joomla Day topics that are always favorites and are well-attended:

- Intro/overview of Joomla

- What's new in Joomla X.x

- Great extensions to use with Joomla

- Great templates to use with Joomla

- Website case studies, ideally a site or sites the speaker built

More advanced or larger JUGs might have a local expert who could cover site migrations, template framework comparisons, custom template construction, and so forth.

SPEAKER ADVICE TO JOOMLA DAY ORGANIZERS:

When you announce your Joomla Day event, you will be approached by a number of people asking to speak at your event. If you say yes to all of them immediately, you won't have room to think about who you'd like to have speaking at your event.

Furthermore, it's likely that those local user group members that you'd like to speak at your event will NOT approach you for a speaking slot, because they will consider themselves "unworthy". I have had more than one conversation with a speaker telling them they are perfect for the job, and they did an excellent presentation because they cared deeply about doing well and making the user group look good. 

Conversely, I've also seen some "rock stars" show up to Joomla Days (in general, not New England in particular) with no presentation prepared, not fill their time slot, and seem to not care about what they're talking about.

 

This is an area that OSM/events team can help by creating a speakers panel:

• list of known and good public speakers
• their expenses directly covered by OSM and not by the local event (reducing the need for local sponsorship)
• spread the speakers around so that one or two people are not permanently on the road or in the air

OSM already pays for some leadership travel expenses. For example, for JDNE 2012, they provided $500 which we applied toward Paul Orwig's travel expenses. 

It would be great if OSM would provide travel expenses for individuals not in leadership as well. This would help develop leadership within the community, plus it would spread responsibilities from leadership to other knowledgeable individuals who can assist with this duty, leaving leadership more time to lead the project.

A speaker database with reviews of speaker talks would be a valuable resource. I would certainly like to know who is a good speaker before asking them to come to a Joomla Day. 

 

[brian teeman]

On Thursday, 12 July 2012 15:08:12 UTC+1, Jen Kramer wrote:

OSM already pays for some leadership travel expenses. For example, for JDNE 2012, they provided $500 which we applied toward Paul Orwig's travel expenses. 

Technicaly the money provided by OSM is to promote the event in whichever way you see fit. The fact that is that it  is often used to cover the expenses of someone in OSM or other leadership teams. My proposal is in addition to that money. So you still get your event "seed" money and money for a "rock star"

[Sully Sullivan]

I agree with the consensus that Joomla! events ought not be profit centers but rather expense centers for the community. As an event organizer, I’d like to see Joomla! offer support to create more Joomla! Days with:

 

·         A few basic slideshows that first-time presenters could use (“What is Joomla!?” “What is new in version X.X” “Adding images and video to your Joomla! site” “Using the Joomla! Forums and …”).

·         Some checklists and materials for conference planning, fundraising, etc. This is probably a matter of a few experienced organizers from diverse locations comparing their methods and efforts.

·         Displays/popups and reusable signage. These can be quite expensive on a one-off basis.

·         Collaterals and giveaways to help spread the word from our shop.

·         A “Master List” of potential sponsors – when the benefit is tangible, several companies in our Community are willing to sponsor events that are not local to them and which they are not attending, perhaps they could volunteer for inclusion on such a list.

 

Another type of event to which we need to give some deep thought are increasing JUG launches. How can we help catalyze new groups in key markets? Can some “rock star” visits and online support from leadership and the community at large help? What resources might we offer (sponsoring MeetUp subscriptions, access to online meeting software, swag, travel reimbursement for an established speaker?) to help a nascent group get underway in a critical location? There are several major North American cities (Philadelphia, Houston, Montreal, Pittsburg, St. Louis are some that come to my mind) that have no, or no effective, JUG. I’m sure there are other important centers where it would be good to activate a local community.

 

Best,

Sully

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[saurabh ds16]

Agreed to your points Sully. I think creating some predefined slides / presentation will help local comminuty to talk about it. Instead of calling some from the team to talk about the same. Like the Idea about Swags too

+1 for Brian's Points like Sending speaker to the J!day events with the OSM expenses would definitely help organizing Jday team.

@Jen I agree to your points , but it's us who need to tell Jday organizer to promote their local JUG people in their list.