Proposed Sessions

Remotely Virtual

KarenS — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:23:14 +0000

Drupal runs on virtual teams. The Drupal project itself is a virtual team project. Many Drupal shops have at least some remote employees. Enterprises that want to bring Drupal in-house are finding that a good way to get top-notch Drupal talent is to allow employees to work remotely. Drupal sites everywhere are being constructed by virtual teams that include both in-house employees and remote contractors. In every possible way, Drupal runs on virtual.

But there are challenges to building effective virtual teams. Project stakeholders have to understand and overcome the challenges while taking full advantage of the benefits. Team leaders need different techniques to manage a virtual project. Team members have to learn how to work effectively in a virtual team. Nothing about it is automatic.

The goal of this session is to help project owners understand how to use virtual teams more effectively, and help contractors and employees understand how to benefit from and contribute to the success of a virtual team. If you are leading or participating in a virtual team now, or are trying to create a new virtual team, or you just want to make a case that you can be effective as a remote employee, this session is for you.

Some of the topics we'll cover:

Benefits of virtual teams, for both companies and team members
Potential problems with virtual teams
Building rapport when you're not in the same room
Staying in touch vs information overload
Mixing timezones, cultures, and languages
Tips for running virtual meetings
Tools that help make virtual teams effective
Stories and examples of making it work

Slides:

remotely-virtual.pdf

Schedule info

Status:

Accepted

Time slot:

Thursday, May 23 - 01:00pm-02:00pm

Room:

B 113 - NewMedia!

Session Info

Speaker(s):

KarenS

Track:

Business + Strategy

Featured:

Not Featured

Experience level:

Beginner

Demystifying the Panda: Strategies for Marketing Your Drupal Website

no longer here 251296 — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:09:32 +0000

Over the last six months there has been a revolution in Search Engine Optimization. Google's newest algorithm has turned the Internet marketing world on its head. Luckily, Drupal is the best platform for Internet marketing, so you are already one step ahead of your non-Drupal competition.

This session will start by discussing the new changes to the Google Panda algorithm. We will then discuss strategies that you can implement on (and off) your Drupal website to increase your website traffic and turn that traffic into more leads and sales for your company.

Following this segment, we will discuss utilizing a lead nurturing platform on your Drupal website to improve your inbound marketing efforts. Learn how you can track a lead from a click in the search engines to a purchase in your CRM.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

no longer here 251296

mitchholt

Track:

Business + Strategy

Featured:

Not Featured

Experience level:

Intermediate

The business of being a software developer

thejmather — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 05:52:27 +0000

There are many things about business theory that is never talked about in our circles: disruption, jobs to be done, pricing, engagement practices, billable hours, and most importantly, how to determine your value. So much to cover. I want to introduce you to the core principals of business that will change the way you freelance. Forever. I will also show you some great examples of what not to do, from my own personal pile of failures as a business owner.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

thejmather

Track:

Business + Strategy

Featured:

Not Featured

Experience level:

Beginner

The Survivors Guide from The Overnight Website Challenge

cosmicdreams — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:08:52 +0000

Building Professional Drupal Websites Faster and More Efficiently on a Deadline

Building a professional Drupal website under time constraints is never easy. There are numerous roadblocks, bottlenecks, and a variety of challenges that are specifically unique to quick-turn Drupal projects. Overcoming these difficulties can only be done through experiences.

This session will share the experiences, findings, tips, and tricks that a team of 10 Drupal developers uncovered as they embarked on their return trip to the Overnight Website Challenge. This 24-hour hack-a-thon style event pits teams of web developers against the clock as they develop professional level websites for deserving non-profits.

2012 Recap of Team Drupal Rocks! at Overnight Website Challenge
About the Overnight Website Challenge

Join us for this enlightening session in which we explore what lessons we learned in the 2012 challenge and how it shaped our 2013 strategy. Benefit from our mistakes, our successes, and how you can directly apply this into your day to day development routines.

This session will include...

Strategies that succeed and failed when you’re building a Drupal project on a tight deadline.
What to bring when you’re pulling an all-nighter and coding Drupal.
How to know when you are your worst enemy in the midst of a project.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

cosmicdreams

Track:

Business + Strategy

Featured:

Not Featured

Experience level:

Beginner

So Happy Together (Content Strategists and Project Managers are)

jakedimare — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:33:08 +0000

Click here to watch So Happy Together (Content Strategists and Project Managers are).

One theme I keep coming back to as a project manager building open source content management systems for higher ed is how much I appreciate the rapidly emerging discipline of content strategy. Ironically, after more than ten years building CMS driven websites, there is one thing I wish people were more aware of: content matters. Sounds silly right? After all, the ‘C’ in ‘CMS’ stands for, well, content. However, project stakeholders are often so wrapped up worrying about technical risks or marveling over new designs that content can nearly be forgotten or worse…Treated as an unimportant ‘detail’ to be figured out later.

In this session we'll take a look at tools of the trade in content planning and strategy, discuss when and how to integrate content strategists and some of the consequences of ignoring this important aspect of designing and building new web properties.

This session will be based, in part, upon a story I wrote for the CMS Myth: http://www.cmsmyth.com/2012/06/so-happy-together-content-strategists-and...

Schedule info

Status:

Accepted

Time slot:

Wednesday, May 22 - 10:45am-11:45am

Room:

B 113 - NewMedia!

Session Info

Speaker(s):

jakedimare

Track:

Business + Strategy

Featured:

Not Featured

Experience level:

Intermediate

Managing your prospects, leads, and customers with SugarCRM and Drupal

jmertic — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:29:52 +0000

Drupal is a great platform for sharing content with your prospects, leads, and customers. But when it comes to managing them, for example keeping track of history, analyzing buying trends, or managing sales opportunities with them, having a true CRM platform on the backend makes the selling process much more manageable. In addition, having an integrated solution makes servicing your customers much easier, providing portal access to customer data via Drupal.

In this session, you'll learn about various SugarCRM and Drupal integration strategies that can help you streamline the selling and customer service aspects of your organization.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

jmertic

Track:

Business + Strategy

Experience level:

Intermediate

Hack your team, your department, and your organization for the greater good

jmertic — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:34:49 +0000

Many of us complain about how "pointy hair bosses", ridiculous IT policies, and a culture of complacency make it difficult if not impossible to function successfully as a developer. But how can the person on the low end of the organizational hierarchy make a difference for the better ( without being fired ) ?

In this talk, I'll give you some ideas of what I've done in the past to help be a positive agent of change in organizations I've been a part of, and what lessons I've learned from it. We'll look at implementing development tools incognito, engaging with higher-ups, and dealing with the failures that go along the way.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

jmertic

Track:

Business + Strategy

Experience level:

Intermediate

You’re Selling Solutions — But What Are the Problems?

thursdaybram — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:23:34 +0000

As a Drupal developer, you solve problems for your clients. But do you actually know what problems you’re solving? When someone brings you a project, they’ve come to the conclusion that the solution they need is a website, preferably built on a robust CMS. If you’re willing to dig a little deeper, though, you can provide a much better solution! This session will cover how to ask clients for the real problem they’re trying to solve, as well as showing how addressing those problems can build development skills and land more clients down the road.

In particular, it’s crucial to know the questions that non-tech savvy clients will respond to with useful information — you may be surprised at what lead your clients to choose Drupal when you start talking to them. Asking those questions can be a bit like speaking a foreign language, so the session will include some business-to-tech translation.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

thursdaybram

Track:

Business + Strategy

Experience level:

Intermediate

Project Management Tools and Organization

akucharski — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:20:13 +0000

As many Drupal development firms continue to evolve and mature, we often run into many management issues involved with the growing pains. One of the biggest of those issues is effective and efficient project management. In this session, we will discuss tools and processes to use throughout the development project and beyond, as well as best practices to help your organization go and stay agile. We will delve into Redmine as an example of a highly flexible, open source project management tool for supporting agile development and support.

We will cover tools in the following categories:
- Communication and collaboration
- Internal processes
- Client reporting
- Ticketing and task management for development and support

This session is intended for principals, project managers, and team leaders at Drupal development firms. It is also helpful for client organizations who want to learn about the type of collaboration and visibility they should have with their projects.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

akucharski

jsnoles49

Track:

Business + Strategy

Experience level:

Beginner

Options For Mobilizing Your Site With Drupal

akucharski — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:10:39 +0000

In 2010 global mobile data traffic tripled for the third year in a row. Between 2010 and 2015, Cisco predicts that there will be approximately 7.1 billion mobile devices connected to the web (roughly one per person on this planet). By 2014 mobile internet usage is expected to overtake desktop internet usage. (source: GigaOm, Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley)

Numerous people today already access the Internet exclusively on their smartphones and do not own a desktop or laptop computer. As Drupal developers, designers, and themers, it's foolish for us to continue to assume that our work will only be viewed on a desktop or laptop screen. Today's website must deliver a tailored experience to the mobile web user that utilizes unique capabilities only available on such a device – geolocation, screen rotation, etc. This experience must be just as flawless as it is on their full size device. The mobile user expects personalization, interactivity, and adjustments to his or her context. We will go over business and architectural options with Drupal for providing your content or moving your app to mobile users.

This session is intended for those responsible for creating such experiences: architects, developers, themers, and designers.

Schedule info

Status:

Proposed

Session Info

Speaker(s):

akucharski

jsnoles49

Track:

Business + Strategy

Experience level:

Beginner