June Wellington Drupal Meetup - beer, pizza, Maori TV and Drupal South

Greetings to you all you excellent people. Again this month we have another round of engaging conversations, opportunities to learn and share more technical knowledge about Drupal, and as always an excellent excuse to get together with like-minded Drupal nerds (I use the term with pride) who understand the struggles, triumphs, challenges and genius that you require daily to make world-leading web experiences.

So... what's going on then in June? We're getting together to talk generally about Drupal - we have a mixed bag of topics - but the point of difference for this meetup will be delivered by Josh Waihi who'll be telling us more about Drupal South and how we can all be involved (talk deferred from May).

WHEN: 4th June, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

WHERE: Catalyst IT Level 3

AGENDA:

Newbie spotlight - An optional opportunity for new people to the group to say a quick intro and tell us a bit about what you're doing with Drupal. Are you looking for work? Are any of the organisations at the meetups hiring? Are you short on Drupal buddies or looking for a hand with a project? Module highlight - This is a new repeating part of our agenda that we will have during every meetup. It is where those of us who have modules we'd like to talk about take the stage tell us a bit about the module that they are currently in love with and what they've used it for. Templates vs DIY - How many of us are using contributed or commercial themes in our site developments? What are the benefits (and pitfalls) of using templates, and when do you need to draw the line on just doing everything yourself? What are the best templates to use? Usability testing - An essential part of any web or software development, but how many of us actually do it? And how well do we do it? What are the established methods / protocols people have in place for ensuring customer satisfaction, both from the perspective of the end-user and the content admin? Drupal.org.nz contribution - A growing number of people (including members of the Auckland community) have expressed interest in making improvements to or adding functionality to the community site we built, drupal.org.nz. We need to structure some formal guidelines / policy around contribution to the site and how people can be involved in building on it over time.

PIZZA - vege, gluten free available (if you have special dietary requirements, PLEASE let us know in advance by emailing alex@xequals.co.nz) Maori TV showcase - Sean Hamlin will present a showcase on the Maori TV website developed by Catalyst IT. This is an intriguing opportunity to learn more about a highly advanced Drupal web system built by one of NZs leading web companies. Drupal South - Josh Waihi who will be talking to us about the Drupal South event, how we can be involved, and why we should be excited about this uniquely New Zealand Drupal event. General Drupal Q & A - If we have extra time to fill, we will do so by opening the floor to a general Q & A. Need to tap into the wider wisdom of the group? In a general sense this is the most powerful function of the meetups and worth taking advantage of. Useful for newbies and veterans alike to get peer feedback, insights and leads. ONGOING AGENDA: (These are open discussion points that anyone can contribute to at any stage and we'll also bring these up at the end of each meetup for people who stick around).

Topics for future meetups. Have something that you're dying to discuss with the community? Come loaded with discussion topics and we can take them all down for future agenda points. What are the big issues you face in your organisation with Drupal, and what are you doing about it? We need to keep adding to this list!
Ongoing topics in the Drupal eco-system currently identified as talking points are:

• Drupal 8
• Symphony
• Twig
• PHP 5.4 Overview
• Using HTML5
• Building NZ's Drupal economy
• Website showcases

Feel free to help us add to this list! Email your thoughts to drupalmeetup@xequals.co.nz HR Needs for Wellington Drupal. Does your business have too much or too little work? Are you on the hunt for Drupal talent or brimming with it and not being acknowledged? Are you finding that you have to turn away Drupal projects due to small scalability, or are you a young designer/developer yearning for recognition and new projects? This is a chance to pool our thoughts, resources and where relevant, identify new collaborations. drupal.org.nz - A weekly opportunity to discuss anything relating to the community site we maintain. REFRESHMENTS: Beer and pizza are provided by the very lovely Sparks Interactive. Thanks Sparks! You guys are awesome! If only everyone else were as good at providing beer and pizza as you... you have a special place in our heart.

And thanks Catalyst! Without you guys, there is no meeting room - a sad thought indeed. So cheers to Catalyst (http://catalyst.net.nz/) and Sparks (http://www.sparksinteractive.co.nz/) for supporting the Wellington Drupal community, we all really appreciate it! :)

CONTRIBUTE: Want to share something specific with the group? These events are always open for people to take the stage, run a presentation or anything that they think might be interest to the wider group. Get in touch! Organisation of these events is provided by Xequals (http://www.xequals.co/). Please contact us (http://xequals.co.nz/contact/contact-xequals) if you'd like contribute to an event.

RSVP NOW!

See you there :)