As a project and as software for nonprofits, CiviCRM benefits from events in that they not only raise funds for the Core Team, they raise awareness about this incredible open source CRM and they foster the community participation needed to drive it. We’re excited to see that the first two CiviCon’s in 2016 are coming online, both slated for May/June time frame, though on opposite sides of the world; Ft. Collins, Colorado in the United States and Woerden, Netherlands.
Though there’s a huge distance between them, we’ve tried to align these and all future CiviCRM events such that they can support the operational objectives of the Core Team, specifically to raise funds and to grow the CiviCRM ecosystem. We took a step in this direction late last year when we began to better establish guidelines for CiviCRM events, and now with the recent re-formation of the CiviCRM Marketing Team, we’re committing event proceeds to CiviCRM’s marketing budget thereby underscoring their importance to the project’s growth and health.
We’d like to see more events form around CiviCRM, be they informal meetups or larger “camps” that provide specific training and introduction to new nonprofit organization users. We also encourage you to think outside of the box with respect to events as well. A few folks got together in Vail, CO recently, for example, for a week long sprint to work on D8, APIv4 and WordPress integration. Finally, we do encourage the growth of major CiviCons around the world and hope to see a few more take shape. These are not small endeavors, so be prepared for a great deal of work! But, be prepared also for support from the Core Team to help ensure event success.
We’re fresh off a great showing for CiviDay, held this past February 24th, with nearly 30 events hosted around the world, and we’re excited about the 2016 events that are taking shape so far. Look for information about the DC User Summit and CiviCon London soon. If you’re thinking of sponsoring an event, consider becoming a ‘global’ sponsor (another way we’re tying CiviCRM events together), which affords 5% off all events that you sponsor for 2 or more events this year.
And, if you’ve not yet made it to a CiviCon, now’s as good a time as any to jump in and see what it’s all about. You’ll meet a ton of people and have a great opportunity to sharpen your skills, learn about the project’s direction, and get involved in the project.
CiviCon NW Europe
CiviCRM witnessed two new events last year with CiviCon Madrid and CiviCon Amsterdam, the latter of which is back this year though slightly to the south in Woerden. Geared towards the European continent, this will be a single day event providing tracks for everyone from beginners to seasoned developers. Event details online at http://nweurope2016.civicrm.org
CiviCon Colorado
This year’s US-based CiviCon will once again be in Colorado, though it’s moved a short distance north to Ft. Collins, home to Colorado State University. Similar to most major CiviCRM events, CiviCon Colorado will host a user and administrator training prior to the conference and will a week long sprint post event, allowing people to dig into the project and the community. Event details online at http://colorado2016.civicrm.org
We’re really psyched to see the level of enthusiasm for CiviCRM so far in 2016 and are happy with progress and the direction of the project. We’re trying to move a lot of things forward at once, and look to events as an opportunity to get caught up with community members. We hope to see you out there this year!
