CiviCamp 2017, formerly known as CiviDay, took place in Denver on February 22. This is a casual gathering that is organized by CiviCRM experts to create a forum to discuss, discover and evaluate topics related to CiviCRM in a relaxed and candid atmosphere. Denver's CiviCamp, organized and hosted by Cividesk, offered a one-day fast track to learning about CiviCRM and improving overall user skills. The event had a great turnout and was an overall success. In addition, this CiviCamp boasted the presence of CiviCRM Core Team members Joshua Gowans, Project Manager and Coleman Watts, Product Manager. Denver was privileged to have them as part of this annual gathering where they offered first-hand expertise and insight from the ground level of CiviCRM.
Clark Hodge, ED of Chase the Music, attended the Denver CiviCamp and said "CiviCamp brought together people across a number of entities and geographies. They came with the common purpose of learning, sharing and improving. A spirit not found in the commercial world! THANK YOU everyone at Cividesk for all the work behind CiviCamp!"
Morning sessions included new CiviCRM users and those still evaluating the software. Attendees were invited to discover and explore more about CiviCRM and what it can do for their organization. A hot topic for CiviCRM users is the integration with their website Drupal, WordPress or Joomla so this was discussed at length as well. This was followed by a panel discussion that included representatives from two organizations who have had a great experience with CiviCRM: Tim Coleman from mPowered and Perry Jowsey from Reach Out and Read Colorado.
"As a self-taught CiviGuy, I found CiviCamp truly to be incredibly valuable. I picked up actionable take-aways from every session. Even the new-user session exposed me to things I was unaware of in CiviCRM!" Clark Hodge added.
Attendees enjoyed a casual lunch with networking and the afternoon was geared for current users of CiviCRM. Josh Gowans presented the CiviCRM Vision and Ecosystem and spoke about the Core Team and the community that surrounds CiviCRM. On site training was offered in two different tracks for beginners and more experienced users to explore more about managing events and effective email marketing strategies using CiviCRM.
To end the day, attendees participated in an "Ask an Expert" session. This was a unique opportunity to meet with CiviCRM Core Team members and CiviCRM experts, ask questions about CiviCRM future releases, new functionalities people would like to see or issues people are encountering and don't know how to fix.
"Ask the expert was awesome and I learned a lot!" - Mike Samyn, The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
