The "spending over $500" list is now obsolete since I rolled it into the other, color-coding those entries in green.
There were quite a lot of entries that were no longer Drupal sites.
The next step is to start merging that larger BuiltWith list with the original WNYDUG Local Businesses Using Drupal document. First favoring the $500 entries, since those are probably more serious than the rest.
Jeremy is right. We have now contacted all the previously signed up G.d.o WNYDUG "subscribers" (technically 'members' but some are from other states or overseas). The only way to measure the yield of this contact form contacting is to look on the CRM and see the date they verified their info or signed up--if it's since 1/21/2015 then it's probably from this effort. For example, someone from WXXI in Rochester verified himself on the list this morning! :-)
There are no others to contact from the G.d.o list other than the hand-picked "high-value" ones just mentioned. All the other past subscribers have little or no affiliation with the group.
We've contacted the members in the spreadsheet of WNYDUG Members (from g.d.o) through G.D.O. & D.O. contact forms.
I went in and the doc was locked and the second time I was having internet issues. I was attempting to contact someone but they didn't exist in the group or on G.D.O. weird! John or Dave found him on D.O.
You're welcome, Jeremy! Kevin and met with Colleen and Dan on campus today. Everything went as smoothly as possible. They are willing to pursue making the Camp a Buff State event, which would defray quite a bit of expense if successful. They are also interested in hosting monthly meetups down the line, as well as help plot out some future potential for making a Drupal-based curriculum, but the immediate task is setting a date and room for the event slated for April.
You're welcome, Jeremy! Kevin and met with Colleen and Dan on campus today. Everything went as smoothly as possible. They are willing to pursue making the Camp a Buff State event, which would defray quite a bit of expense if successful. They are also interested in hosting monthly meetups down the line, as well as help plot out some future potential for making a Drupal-based curriculum, but the immediate task is setting a date and room for the event slated for April.
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Kevin articulated all the key points of hosting the learning sprint there. Part of that was the tie-ins he has with Acquia, e.g., the Large Scale Drupal initiative, and the chance to import a few East Coast leaders for the event. He made it veryt clear that companies like Appnovation are motivated to interview and hire Drupal talent, and having a pool of capable talent to choose from in WNY would be ideal.
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Kevin articulated all the key points of hosting the learning sprint there. Part of that was the tie-ins he has with Acquia, e.g., the Large Scale Drupal initiative, and the chance to import a few East Coast leaders for the event. He made it very clear that companies like Appnovation are motivated to interview and hire Drupal talent, and having a pool of capable talent to choose from in WNY would be ideal.
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Colleen is also interested in speaking with us about their in-house hosting, since it seems from her that it's in need of better practices. Kevin offered to communicate on that, through Appnovation.
You're welcome, Jeremy! Kevin and met with Colleen and Dan on campus today. Everything went as smoothly as possible. They are willing to pursue making the Camp a Buff State event, which would defray quite a bit of expense if successful. They are also interested in hosting monthly meetups down the line, as well as help plot out some future potential for making a Drupal-based curriculum, but the immediate task is setting a date and room for the event slated for April.
Kevin articulated all the key points of hosting the learning sprint there. Part of that was the tie-ins he has with Acquia, e.g., the Large Scale Drupal initiative, and the chance to import a few East Coast leaders for the event. He made it very clear that companies like Appnovation are motivated to interview and hire Drupal talent, and having a pool of capable talent to choose from in WNY would be ideal.
Colleen is also interested in speaking with us about their in-house hosting, since it seems from her that it's in need of better practices. Kevin offered to communicate on that, through Appnovation again.
For now, we're just waiting another business day or so for our venue application form to be processed. Colleen offered to step in and highlight a few of our needs, mainly expediting the camp scheduling, and will let us know what her superiors say.
All in all, an encouraging meeting and proof that the local community is about to grow.
I had the preliminary phone call with Colleen and Dan at Buff State. I hadn't realized that they self host. They have migrated about 115 sites so far and eventually all campus sites will be on Drupal. She mentioned SUNY Fredonia advanced on that same front (we met their lead, Jonathan Woolson, at last year's camp).
She is very interested in the group and fielded my info on the April 18 event and the possibility of housing it on campus. She is going to consult with her director and get back to me. Hearing the words "It would be a great event" was reassuring, but we'll have to see. If all goes well, they would be open to meeting in person with us to get more details.
Stay tuned--I'll let you know what her next e-mail or call says (probably a call, since their Exchange server is down!).
Mark referred me to the lead on the campus Drupal conversion:
Colleen Callahan Associate Director, Web Community & Development SUNY Buffalo State 1300 Elmwood Avenue Cleveland Hall 307 Buffalo, NY 14222 (716) 878-6657
And she wants to include Dan Schmidt <schmiddj@buffalostate.edu> who does a lot of the Drupal work there.
We hope to have a preliminary phone call Tues., due to Monday being a holiday.
I will see if this merits an in-person meeting with them later in the week.
For now, it seems we have their attention, and I did include a link to our 1/28 Chris Luckhardt meeting in my reply to them.
OK, I've created an Events newsletter that will pull from rhe RedHen contacts in the wnydug.net site. I wanted to have this in place before we send a MailChimp campaign asking everyone in that list to register on the .net site.
I'm going to send out a test mailing to everyone listed here to get your feedback. John and I have looked at it in our clients, and with the exception of some minor weirdness in Outlook it doesn't break anything. I would appreciate it you could take a quick look at it and give feedback tonight if you'll be on the call.
Look for an email from WNYDUG labeled [Upcoming Events Newsletter] Newsletter S05E01 - Jan 2015
I'll also get the Chris Luckhardt info ready later tonight
I will be online at 9 p.m. for the planning hangout, but attendance is not mandatory. Tomorrow night at 7 will be fine, in the "public" hangout. I will send out another blurb about that one too.
Off to the gym--this all sedentary stuff is too much :-)
Hey guys, awesome work on all this. I think the ideal solution would be for Drumbeat to install a permanent cable and provide access to the room (and hopefully not add too much of a cost to the room). Would love to hear what Edla has to say about that. My thinking is that it could take them a while to negotiate that and get it done and we may not have time to wait for them to figure it out.
Next best would be to see if we could bet a wireless connection that you mentioned. I don't know alot about firms that provide that on a temporary basis, but would be interested in seeing how much that costs.
John, let me know when you speak with Edla. If that all doesn't look like they can provide us a guarantee that we would have internet very soon ( and we can figure out what 'very soon' is) then I think we will need to start kicking tire at Buff state to see if they can accomodate us. If that is the case, hopefully given that they use Drupal, they would be willing to donate some space for us for the day.
Update: David phoned the same contact at Drumbeat today and had slightly different results (we're still not sure which of us was the good cop, and which was the bad one). . . .
Anyway, Drumbeat is not interested in doing a temporary cable drop for our event. But, that they would talk to Edla about arranging for a permanent installation that would be figured into the room cost. Seems like a better all-around solution for everyone.
I will drop Edla a note today to impress that we need to know what to do by the end of this week.
I also will find out other options from outside firms, including http://naturalwireless.com/services/event-solutions/ and even Localnet (Tony, expect to hear from me shortly). That's assuming they can accommodate the Larkin space.
Otherwise we may have to punt and look into Buff State.
Excellent, Kevin. Please try to get a quote when you have time. If they can also handle some simple video interviews (would require lighting and a mic, of course), that would be icing on the cake.
Then we can incorporate those interviews into a video as well as text for the comic book prototype.
