The concept behind CiviDay is pretty simple: all the local CiviCRM meet ups organise a meet up on the same day: January 23rd 2013. And we use this as an opportunity to grow and strengthen local CiviCRM communities and create new ones.
Meet ups are a great way to meet other CiviCRM users, implementors and developers: to find people that can help, get your questions answered, find out about the latest developments in CiviLand, and build your local CiviCRM community. They are also a good opportunity to show off any cool work that you have been doing recently. And since its CiviDay, we'll also add a couple of extra suprises into the mix.
So what do you need to do to be part of CiviDay 2013? Simple - just head along to your local CiviCRM meet up and be part of a global network of CiviCRM gatherings happening that day. At the time of writing we have meet ups (some of them happening for the first time!) in:
- Apeldoorn (Netherlands)
- Austin, TX
- Barcelona, Spain
- Bristol, UK
- Chicago, IL
- Dallas, TX
- London, UK
- Montreal, Canada
- Nevada City, CA
- New York City
- Portland, OR
- San Francisco, CA
- Toronto, ON, Canada
- Washington DC
- More to come!
The list is growing all the time and the best place to find an up to date list of meet ups including registration details is this wiki page.
If you can't see your meet up listed there, then feel free to contact the meet up organisers and help get it up there. And if there isn't a local group in your areas, then now is a great time to start one - and it is easy to do...
Starting a meet up
Meet ups are easy to organise. There are tips and instructions on starting a meet up here. Feel free to discuss things on the forum and add your comments / tips, etc. to the wiki. Also feel free to email me (michaelmcandrew@thirdsectordesign.org) and I can help get you started.
In the new year, we'll put in place a lot more infrastructure to help meet ups grow (CiviDay should play a big part in shaping those resources). Before then, if you are interested in discussing meet ups in general and how we can improve them just jump in on the forum/wiki.
Finally, you should feel free to help spread the word about these events and make CiviDay as big as possible by tweeting/facebooking/changing your email footer/emailing your local networks etc. And if you'd like a hastag, I suggest #cividay.
See you there!!
Comments
Are there any CiviDay activities in the Atlanta area?
United Way's Center for Non Profits in Chattanooga, TN has given me a room to present CiviDay. They are actually very excited about it. I have followed every link on the CiviDay page trying to publish the event and have not been able to find where to do that. Maybe I don't have the permissions to see the menu I need to use... I contacted Michael by email yesterday...maybe he has not gotten around to it. I am going to roll with it anyway. If you want to talk about Civi within 2 hours of Atlanta, come to Chattanooga! United Way Center for Non-Profits, 600 Market Street Chattanooga, TN. 8-9 meet and chat (maybe coffee and pastries) with presentations starting at 9 and running no later than 12. If you drive up from Atlanta, I'll buy you lunch ;) Limted time offer, open to the first person who walks through the door next Wednesday and says "Go Falcons!"
Any interest in extending these locations to a Google hangout for those of us who aren't near a major city where most gather at or those who don't have one in their city just yet?
I'm in the southeast as well (central Florida) and would love a CiviDay close to me. Or a google hangout sounds great too! I am way too new to civi to organize any sort of meetup that would be effective but would love to listen in on a CiviDay or chat with other civi users!
Any word from one of the locations as to a possible Google Hangout hookup? If not, does anyone want to volunteer to do this?
Or if I did it myself, is there a way to send out an announcement about it since CiviDay is TOMORROW!!!
Thanks!
Google hangouts will be hosted here:
http://civicrm.org/webinars
there is a recording of the london hangout already. The next hangout will be @ 11:00 am EST
lobo
Using Google assets like Apps for non-profits is going to be part of my presentation. I will basically be telling the story of how I set up internal external comm for a 501c3 and when I get to the Civi part of the story will dig into how the org I work with is using it. I expect to be dealing with mostly new or uninitiated users so if you are a pro, you might not get much out of it. I would be willing to give a hangout a shot and have an extra PC I could use to host the hangout (basically put in on a table facing the front of the room so that hopefully if someone on the hangout wants to chime in, I can see them raise their hand/wave/whatever.) I should have access to the room by ~ 8:15 Eastern, presentation starts at 9 Eastern. If there are a number of people who want to try it out, we can test it ~ 8:30-8:45. I will need at least 15 min before presentation to kinda walk the room and figure out who I am talking to. Send me a direct message through this site or the email contact on the Chatanooga event and I will build a list of folks who would like to try it out.