Nathan Gasser
Mon, 12/31/2007 - 21:00 — Nathan Gasser
What is your motivation for being a member of the Drupal Association?:
I would like to represent the goals, ideas, and energy of the local Philadelphia, PA (USA) area Drupal community to the Drupal Association, and represent the goals and vision of the Association to local developers. We have tremendous and growing talent and interest in Drupal in this area, and I'd like to help bring people together to discuss their ideas, combine their energies, and learn from each other. Beyond that, I'd like to collaborate with other local organizers to share success stories, collaborate on resources, and combine efforts into larger regional / national / international events. Making connections through the Association will help in these efforts.
What are the primary goals you would like to work on?:
Strengthening the network of Drupal talent -- designers, developers, businesses, etc. both online and offline. I'd like to make it easier to find people to collaborate with on projects, including code projects for Drupal and/or contributed modules and themes, website projects for community groups and non-profits, as well as paying development projects and jobs.
What strategy will you employ in order to accomplish said goals?:
I'd like to organize Drupal events in our area and promote Drupal to developers, designers, non-profits, and businesses. I'd like to connect with other regional organizers, especially on the east coast (Washington, Baltimore, New York, and Boston) and organize regional events and a Drupal presence at industry conferences.
I'd also like to reach out beyond the core group of Drupal developers, coordinating speakers for design events, content events, marketing events, etc. The more people who know about Drupal, the more they'll consider it as an option, and the more opportunities there will be for people who choose to make Drupal a core part of their professional capabilities.
Online, I'd like to see http://groups.drupal.org expanded to help people find events by location, find online events like chats and webcasts, and make connections with other people interested in working on projects together.
What yearly budget would you need in order to accomplish said goals?:
It should be a goal that every event or outreach activity be self-supporting, through company sponsorships and/or individual donations. There may occasionally be minor expenses in teleconferencing, printing supplies, etc. In the past whenever I've encountered such expenses I use my company to pay them so the organization doesn't have to expend its limited resources.
What strengths/experience you have to help you accomplish the goals?:
I have held leadership roles in several non-profit organizations and associations. I'm a founding board member and current president of the Philadelphia Area New Media Association (http://www.panma.org/) which has been organizing and producing networking events for the Philadelphia internet community for over 10 years. I started the Philadelphia Area PHP Meetup (http://php.meetup.com/353/) to bring PHP developers together, and I organize the Philadelphia Area Drupal Group (http://groups.drupal.org/philadelphia-area) currently.
How long have you been using Drupal, and how'd you get your start?:
I've been using Drupal for just over two years. First as an independent contractor and now as owner of a web development firm, I've been developing Content Management Systems since 1998. For years we did everything from scratch since the enterprise systems were too expensive, and the Open Source solutions weren't flexible, powerful, or customizable enough. My opinion of that changed once I found Drupal 4.6, and now almost all of our new projects are developed in Drupal.
Have you made existing community contributions, and if so, what?:
I'm the organizer of the Philadelphia Area Drupal Group (http://groups.drupal.org/philadelphia-area) and have organized monthly meetings for about a year. Through my company I support the organization financially as needed, sponsoring room rentals, food/drink etc. I'm also the organizer of the Philadelphia Area PHP Meetup (http://php.meetup.com/353/) and have organized many meetings of the two groups together, in order to introduce Drupal to PHP developers, and help Drupal folks pick up some PHP expertise. As mentioned above, I'm a founding board member and current president of the Philadelphia Area New Media Association (http://www.panma.org/) which has been organizing and producing networking events for the Philadelphia internet community for over 10 years.
I don't spend as much time coding as I used to, but I encourage the developers we hire to contribute their code, and they've begun making Drupal contributions such as (http://drupal.org/project/multiple_email) I hope to continue and expand this in the future. Through my company, I hope to continue to provide jobs to talented developers, and not just hire Drupal talent, but build it as well.
How much time can you invest in your Drupal Association work?:
10 hours/month
Apply for Board of Directors membership:
Apply for Permanent Membership only
Statutes:
I have read and understood the Statutes of the Drupal Association. I am prepared to participate by following those statutes.
Comments
Big support for Nathan
Nate has been a huge resource for the Philadelphia area. He organized an excellent "show and tell" session that was attended by dozens of Drupal developers, and cannily created alliances between the PHP group, New Media group, Web Standards group and the Drupal meetup.
I definitely think he would be a great resource for the Association.
Nathan is amazing!
Just wanted to chime in and say that Nathan would be an extremely valuable asset for the Association. He's listed his accomplishments above, but I just want to add that Nathan's people/organizing skills are amazing, and even within a community that has such a large number of organizers (from the Dean movement and its offshoots) his interpersonal skills stand apart. Also: Nathan isn't just active in Philly, from what I can see he's active everywhere from NYC to DC!
I'm sure that he would be a great mentor for other Drupal folks who want to figure out ways to grow their local communities!
-aua
Wow, event management + board member experience...
I can't speak for other Association members, but that's a huge +1 in my book. The previous year's Association consisted of people (myself included) who could write code blindfolded and with one hand tied behind their backs, but had no idea what was involved in being a board member, organizing events, and that sort of "boring, real world" stuff. ;) So I think it would be great if we could elect Association members with this kind of experience. I also like that you have the foresight to realize that our outreach needs to be beyond simply coders and also embrace designers, marketers, etc.
I'm less psyched about applications that mention promoting specific locales as a primary goal, since the Drupal Association is a global organization. But I like that you, unlike other applicants, have mentioned outreach with other cities/regions in your general area.
With your experience in organizing local events, I could also see you being a good resource person for others who want to do the same and don't know where to start. Does a role like that sound appealing to you?
Sounds great to me
True the Association is global, but everybody lives somewhere, right? ;) I think your idea of collecting resources, tracking best practices for organizing local events, and helping startup organizers would be a great role for me. I certainly didn't mean to imply my only focus would be my own region, rather that's where my existing connections and experience are. Thanks for the kind comments!