If you've been using CiviCRM for a while, you most likely already know that it is developed by a diverse bunch of people from around the world. Sprints are the time and place when these folks get together to get things done.
It doesn't matter if you are fairly new to CiviCRM or have been around for a while. If you're keen to get more closely involved with the community or have a pet project that you'd like to move forward, then you should come to the sprint in Edale, in the heart of the Peak District. It's a great way to carve out time to improve CiviCRM in the company of others who share your passion.
The sprint is a four day residential event that starts the Monday 10th October (the Monday after CiviCon London, which you should sign up to if you haven't already!) and is made for people that are thinking "hmmm, I don't think two days of CiviCRM conferencing is going to be enough for me!". The majority of our time is spent working together in small teams on projects that improve CiviCRM. But we also spend time in the evenings discussing big picture questions, like:
- How can we grow the CiviCRM community in the UK and Europe?
- What should our marketing priorities be?
- How can we improve the extension ecosystem?
- How can we make CiviCRM the best looking CRM on the market?
And of course, as well as getting stuff done, sprints are a great way to network with others, discuss how they have approached similar problems, and join forces on common goals (at past sprints we've tackled Giftaid, SEPA, UK direct debit, managing large imports, amongst other things).
Sprint attendees come from all backgrounds. From large service providers and established end users to smaller shops and individual consultants. But they all share one thing in common - a desire to get stuck in and push CiviCRM forward and some ideas about how they can do that.
We love people that come to the sprint with a specific agenda (for example, getting your extension published, improving documentation on events, improving the testing framework, etc.) but if you want to be flexible and have some skills to offer, then we'd be happy to suggest some topics for you. And if you've been before and are all 'been there, done that', then you should definitely think about coming back and help others get started on their journey. Something good always comes from contributing back.
By the end of the sprint, we can guarantee that you'll have learnt a lot, met a ton of interesting people, made a contribution (big or small) to CiviCRM, and with a bit of luck got out into the amazing countryside that surrounds the sprint location.
And if you're still wondering whether the sprint is for you, get in contact with Oliver Gibson <olivergibson@northbridgedigital.co.uk> or Michael McAndrew <michaelmcandrew@thirdsectordesign.org>
Hope to see you there!
Olly and Michael
