Drupal Association Elections

Good question. A combination of 'site news' on the Association site, and a press release mailing list, is probably the easiest combination. To some extent, communicating events is pretty straightforward. Board decisions and other internal information is a bit thornier. My understanding is that in the past, it was unclear what of this internal information COULD be communicated based on the Association's bylaws, and what internal information would be useful/productive to communicate. My feeling is that if it's accompanied by high-level communication about the Association's goals and current priorities, even incomplete 'in-progress' ideas are useful and beneficial to the community. Even if they're not actively disseminated (via press releases or what not), this under the hood information is a great aid to transparency.

Bert, thanks for your questions. I'm not sure I can edit the original application, so I'll just let it stand in all its tongue-in-cheek glory.

I feel that the biggest need facing the Association from a communications standpoint right now is a strong vision for what message needs to be communicated, and the legwork that follows. This isn't to say that others responsible for communications haven't been working. Rather, that communication and Drupal evangelism is much less dependent on specific budgetary goals than, say, the server infrastructure.

A couple of the 'zero dollars, many man-hours' tasks include:

1. Create a simplified explanation of the Association's chartered mission (including what its bylaws prevent and why). Explain, too, what high level tasks are at the head of the Association's list of priorities at any given time. This material should be posted on the
2. Create materials in different forms (charts, explanatory articles, and possibly presentations) that explain the Drupal project's ecosystem of developers, commercial and nonprofit companies, hobbyists, individual site maintainers, users, etc. and how that ecosystem functions.
3. Regularly communicate the 'top priorities' for the Association as they change and evolve, even when there is not yet visible progress made on them. Understanding what's on the radar helps the community and other contributors understand how they can help, too.
4. Create and maintain ready-to-use materials for Drupal presenters and lecturers. Various community members have contributed to this effort at times, and a centralized effort to build this library of resources would be of great benefit.
5. Create and maintain a printable/distributable 'information packet' about the Drupal project and the community. A Drupal 'press packet' would be useful for media contacts, evaluators, etc.

Given a budget, there are a couple of specific initiatives that I think would be valuable and would fall under the Association's mission.

1. Hire or sponsor a professional graphic artist/designer to improve the quality of the Drupal informational materials discussed above.
2. Pre-print a number of the aforementioned press/evaluator kits so that presenters at conferences and members of the media can have ready-made materials on hand.
3. Sponsor targeted contests aimed at promoting the strengths of the Drupal platform, and drawing new contributors with skillsets needed by the community. (A theme design contest, not unlike SixApart's Style Contest for Movable Type, is a good example.)

All of the above 'dollar-intensive' options, though, would need more careful consideration and planning before specific dollar amounts could be settled on. Based on prior involvement in the print publishing and graphic design world, the price of the first two options could range from "Five hundred dollars for some nice DTP work" to "Ten grand for a full press packet and printing services." The contest, too, could vary. Ideally, outside sponsors like Adobe, ActiveState, and so on could donate prizes to reduce the direct cost to the Association.