Sync 20260314

Mountain Camp 2027 - Planning Sync

Participants	Josef, Dan, Guzman, Sinduri, Jens
Main goal	Align on Mountain Camp 2027 vision and planning priorities, with a focus on branding, marketing, and program structure.

Featured Speakers & Keynotes: To be published in the Pretalx schedule before DrupalCon Rotterdam (Sept 28 - Oct 1, 2026). This allows for targeted on-site promotion and "on the schedule" credibility during the event.
Submission Portal (CFP): Deadline set to mid/late October (Oct 18, 2026). This provides enough time post-Rotterdam for final submissions while allowing the review phase to start earlier.
Full Schedule Publication: Target for mid-November (Nov 15, 2026) at the latest. This aligns with the end of the Early Bird ticket tier.

Primary goal is to connect people and create transformative conversations that lead to new connections and growth
Focus on bringing diverse groups together - newcomers with experts, different specializations, developers with business people
Attendees should leave equipped with new tools, connections, and knowledge to grow professionally
Emphasize "makers not takers" - prioritize people who contribute to open source and align with community values
Automate more processes to reduce organizational burden and focus on new initiatives

Current attendance: ~80 people; target: 100-140 people
Strategies to attract new attendees:
Featured speakers prominently displayed on website
Government and C-level business people through data sovereignty/compliance panel
University students through partnerships (Belgium model, Roman region focus)
Drupal in a Day participants with discounted Mountain Camp tickets
Quality over quantity - prefer 100 engaged, diverse participants over larger numbers

Confirmed: Dries will attend but do interview/fireside chat format instead of traditional keynote
Room configuration:
Two upstairs rooms for main talks
Large downstairs room as sprint/contribution space
Small rooms for calls and informal meetings
Maximum two tracks per day to maintain focus and community cohesion
Consider theming days around different topics (e.g., government/data sovereignty, AI/disruption, newcomer development)
AI-focused track or summit with potential for paid training component
Workshops, social events, and informal networking remain key features

Prefer curated speaker selection over open call for proposals
Session lengths: Consider limiting to 25-minute talks vs. traditional hour-long sessions
Priority topics:
AI and its impact on Drupal (multiple sessions)
Data sovereignty and compliance with government focus
Open telemetry and emerging technologies
Potential speakers: Jamie, Marcus from AI initiative, Hannes Gassert for government panel [1] [2]
No separate paid speaker dinner; informal gatherings encouraged

Add sponsored lightning talks (10 minutes) before or after keynotes as sponsor incentive
Review entire sponsorship package to provide more value to sponsors
Consider premium pricing for certain business-focused tracks or summits
Ensure sponsor values align with community values (open source, contribution-focused)
Sponsors could introduce awards or other community elements

Grants for active community contributors may be explored but challenging to scale
Gamification path: Drupal in a Day → meetups → first contribution → Mountain Camp grant eligibility
Ticket pricing not the main barrier; travel and accommodation more significant
Venue charges for room configuration changes; plan based on expected attendance
Create personas and journey maps for different attendee types (newcomers, intermediates, experts)