[ONLINE] MautiCon Working Group Meeting (3 p.m. UK time)

Quick recap

The meeting focused on planning for the upcoming Mautic Conference, with discussions led by Margareth and Ekkehard, and new team member Sarah joining the conversation. The team reviewed sponsorship updates, including Kumo MTA's confirmed platinum partnership and Drop Solid's placement as a gold sponsor, though some payment confirmations were still pending. A significant portion of the discussion centred on the Call for Papers (CFP) timeline, where the team agreed to maintain the current June 30th soft deadline while implementing a July 31st hard stop for submissions. Sarah shared her approach to reviewing submissions on a rolling basis and proposed reaching out to previous speakers and webinar presenters to encourage submissions. The team also discussed the process for selecting keynote speakers, with plans to proactively reach out to potential keynote speakers rather than relying solely on submissions through the CFP. The conversation ended with discussions about creating a contract for speakers and setting an August 31st deadline for the first draft of the conference agenda.

Next steps

• Margareth: Send follow-up email to Ritaros France (Retires France) using personal Mautic.org email to address delivery issues

• Sarah: Meet with Sven to get access to the call for speakers system

• Sarah: Review JIRA tasks assigned to her and begin work on them

• Sarah: Review call for speakers submissions on a rolling basis and provide updates

• Ekkehard: Provide Sarah with a list of accepted speakers from previous years

• Sarah: Draft email content to reach out to previous speakers/attendees for new submissions

• Margareth: Update meeting notes and JIRA with new CFP dates (soft stop June 30, hard stop July 31)

• Sarah: Create first draft of agenda by August 14th (target date) or by August 31st (official deadline)

• Margareth: Inform Ekest about updating the website to reflect the correct sponsor levels

• Margareth: Check HubSpot for payment confirmation of the Friendly sponsorship

• Sarah: Consider creating a speaker contract template for future speaker commitments

• Sarah: Request media kits from confirmed speakers and forward to the marketing team for announcements

• Margareth: Update JIRA with new CFP dates

• Ekkehard: Reach out to contacts for speaker suggestions

• Sarah: Send outreach to the recommended speaker list once received from Ekkehard

• Sarah: Review and potentially decline inappropriate submissions on a rolling basis

• Margareth: Update notes with new dates and inform the team

• Margareth: Log new dates into Jira

Summary

Sponsorship Follow-up and Email Issues

Margareth and Ekkehard discussed following up on a sponsorship opportunity with Ritaros France that Ruth had been handling. Margareth reported issues with email delivery through HubSpot, receiving notifications that the recipient had previously bounced emails or unsubscribed. Ekkehard suggested using Margareth's personal Mautic.org email instead, and she agreed to try this approach. The meeting was intended to review the marketing and social media plan for the year, but Margareth noted that key team members, including Barsha, were unavailable, so they decided to handle this discussion asynchronously.

Keynote Speaker Planning Discussion

Sarah introduced herself as a Philadelphia resident who previously spoke at the Mautic conference and expressed interest in supporting the event planning. The team discussed the approach to keynote speakers, with Margareth explaining that they are proactively reaching out to potential keynote speakers while also considering upgrading strong submissions from the call for speakers as a backup plan. Margareth mentioned that Barsha had shared two researched potential keynote speakers, and she encouraged Sarah to review existing JIRA tasks and help establish parameters for speaker selection.

Sponsorship and Speaker Access Updates

Sarah planned to meet with Sven to gain access to the call for speakers and review submissions regularly. Margareth updated the team on sponsorship details, confirming that Kumo MTA had agreed to be a special platinum partner and would receive four tickets upon payment confirmation. There was a discussion about the sponsorship levels of DropSolid and Notify, with Margareth clarifying that Sven would adjust their classifications on the website.

Website Package and Process Updates

Margareth and Ekkehard discussed updating website packages, with Ekkehard confirming they had paid for the Platinum package. They identified that payment confirmation would need to be verified with Sven, potentially through the open collective. Margareth assigned Sarah subtasks in JIRA related to speaker confirmations and media kit requests, with the process involving moving confirmed speakers to the marketing team for announcements. Sarah asked for clarification about the review committee timeline and her role in reviewing submissions before announcements, confirming she could decline inappropriate submissions on a rolling basis.

Speaker Selection Process for Event

The team discussed the process for selecting and announcing speakers for an upcoming event in November. They agreed to keep the call for speakers open without a strict deadline, allowing for rolling decisions on submissions. The group decided that once a speaker is accepted, they can be informed early to allow them to make travel arrangements, while the detailed agenda timing can be flexible. The team noted that attendees would likely be a mix of local UK participants (about 50%) and international attendees, with speakers expected to be primarily Nordic experts.

Call for Papers Timeline Finalisation

The team discussed and finalised the Call for Papers (CFP) timeline, setting July 31st as the hard stop date and June 30th as the soft stop date for submissions. They agreed that Sarah would draft outreach content to previous speakers and submissions, with Ekkehard providing a list of past speakers and declines for follow-up. The team also established August 31st as the deadline for the first draft of the agenda, though Sarah indicated she would aim to complete it by August 14th before her vacation. Margareth committed to updating the meeting notes and logging the new dates in JIRA.