From 058b45698f6299943b126c3b497dca6ab8e1c696 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: nicole Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:18:16 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 1/5] Brain dump on email octopus + emails --- docs/marketing/checklist.md | 19 +++++++++++------ docs/marketing/email.md | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 54 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) create mode 100644 docs/marketing/email.md diff --git a/docs/marketing/checklist.md b/docs/marketing/checklist.md index 409070e..904a47e 100644 --- a/docs/marketing/checklist.md +++ b/docs/marketing/checklist.md @@ -33,14 +33,22 @@ nav_order: 2 ## Mailing List Email -- [ ] Update template to use current year's branding - [ ] CFP and Opportunity Grants Open -- [ ] Registration Open +- [ ] Registration Open & Early Bird Sales +- [ ] Early Bird Closing + + +### Email Octopus + +- [ ] Copy over email addresses from ti.to to Email Octopus with appropriate tags +- [ ] Update [Email Octopus template](https://dashboard.emailoctopus.com/brand/templates?filters=eyJsYXN0S2V5IjpudWxsLCJwYWdlIjoxLCJwYWdpbmF0aW9uRGlyZWN0aW9uIjoiZm9yd2FyZCIsInNvcnRCeSI6Imxhc3QtdXBkYXRlZC1hdCIsIm9yZGVyIjoiZGVzYyIsInNlYXJjaEhhc2giOm51bGx9) to use current year's branding +- [ ] Update [Brand information](https://dashboard.emailoctopus.com/brand/information) with current years' URL +- [ ] Update [Brand Style](https://dashboard.emailoctopus.com/brand/style) ## Attendee Emails -- [ ] 1 month prior to conference -- [ ] 1 week prior to conference +- [ ] Announcing Keynotes: 1 month prior to conference +- [ ] Welcome Email: 1 week prior to conference ## Social Media @@ -56,5 +64,4 @@ Update all social media with new branding and dates each year ## Other -- [ ] Post about each blog post on social media as it happens -- [ ] Use +- [ ] Post about each blog post on social media as it happens \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/docs/marketing/email.md b/docs/marketing/email.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bea534 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/marketing/email.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +layout: page +title: Email +parent: Marketing +nav_order: 1 +--- + +Emailing attendees and potential attendees has multiple important parts to be aware of. There are a few different ways to do this: + +## Ti.to + +Good for emailing ticketholders and prior year ticketholders, easy to segment by ticket type. Markdown for formatting. If needed, email addresses can be manually excluded and included. + +- Welcome emails +- Reminders to assign tickets +- Sprint attendee information + +## Pretalx + +Good for emailing speakers, CFP applicants, etc. + +## Email Octopus + +Ideally for email marketing only. Think: Cold email outreach, promotions, etc. There are laws around email marketing specifically, please read up on them: + + +- [CAN-SPAM Best Practices for Email Marketing](https://help.myemma.com/s/article/How-Can-Spam-affects-your-email-marketing) +- [CAN-SPAM Act and how it affects your campaigns](https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/email-digital-marketing/articles/KnowledgeBase/5825-CAN-SPAM-Act-and-how-it-affects-your-campaigns?lang=en_US) + +### Contacts + +It's important we keep our email list well organized. Any time emails get imported, add the appropriate tag for ticket type, AND by year. For example, in-person ticketed attendees of 2026: [in-person], [ticketed2026]. In the meantime, contacts must be copied over from ti.to via CSV. + +### Campaigns + +A given email can have multiple campaigns, for example an "Early bird tickets end soon" email can be tailored to specific audiences with their own email content and own recipients, for example: + +- Online: [online] tag, content tailored to the $99 ticket +- IRL: [ticketed2025], [ticketed2026] tags, content tailored to the city itself and IRL events + +Don't take this as gospel, take some time to tailor campaigns that will deliver the biggest punch. \ No newline at end of file From a3eed602a84a2c43273a07e8a950da5d78ae6639 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: nicole Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:42:02 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 2/5] email octopus segments --- docs/marketing/email.md | 13 ++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/docs/marketing/email.md b/docs/marketing/email.md index 3bea534..e98340e 100644 --- a/docs/marketing/email.md +++ b/docs/marketing/email.md @@ -21,12 +21,23 @@ Good for emailing speakers, CFP applicants, etc. ## Email Octopus -Ideally for email marketing only. Think: Cold email outreach, promotions, etc. There are laws around email marketing specifically, please read up on them: +Ideally for email marketing only. Think: Cold email outreach, announcements, promotions, etc. There are laws around email marketing specifically, please read up on them: - [CAN-SPAM Best Practices for Email Marketing](https://help.myemma.com/s/article/How-Can-Spam-affects-your-email-marketing) - [CAN-SPAM Act and how it affects your campaigns](https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/email-digital-marketing/articles/KnowledgeBase/5825-CAN-SPAM-Act-and-how-it-affects-your-campaigns?lang=en_US) + +### Segments + +Dynamic lists based on specific filters and properties. Some of the ones we currently have are: + +- Sent an email in the last 7 days +- Sent an email in the last 30 days +- In-person attendees + +*Previous providers were Sendy and Mailchimp; no longer used.* + ### Contacts It's important we keep our email list well organized. Any time emails get imported, add the appropriate tag for ticket type, AND by year. For example, in-person ticketed attendees of 2026: [in-person], [ticketed2026]. In the meantime, contacts must be copied over from ti.to via CSV. From 17b8dd7d523440d81660107947e994b329490640 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: nicole Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:46:56 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 3/5] claude review --- docs/marketing/email.md | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------ 1 file changed, 40 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/marketing/email.md b/docs/marketing/email.md index e98340e..36d7f13 100644 --- a/docs/marketing/email.md +++ b/docs/marketing/email.md @@ -5,48 +5,72 @@ parent: Marketing nav_order: 1 --- -Emailing attendees and potential attendees has multiple important parts to be aware of. There are a few different ways to do this: +Emailing attendees and potential attendees has multiple important parts to be aware of. There are a few different tools we use, each suited to a different purpose — don't mix and match them (e.g. don't use Email Octopus for transactional ticket info, or Ti.to for cold marketing outreach). -## Ti.to +**Need access to any of these tools?** Get in touch with someone at DEFNA. -Good for emailing ticketholders and prior year ticketholders, easy to segment by ticket type. Markdown for formatting. If needed, email addresses can be manually excluded and included. +## Ti.to -- Welcome emails +Good for emailing ticketholders and prior-year ticketholders — easy to segment by ticket type. Supports Markdown for formatting. Email addresses can be manually excluded or included as needed. + +**Use it for:** +- Welcome emails - Reminders to assign tickets -- Sprint attendee information ## Pretalx -Good for emailing speakers, CFP applicants, etc. +Good for emailing speakers, CFP applicants, and anyone in the talk-submission pipeline. + +**Use it for:** +- CFP acceptance/rejection notifications +- Speaker logistics (AV needs, scheduling, travel info) +- Reminders for speaker deadlines (slides, bios, headshots) +- General speaker communications leading up to the event ## Email Octopus -Ideally for email marketing only. Think: Cold email outreach, announcements, promotions, etc. There are laws around email marketing specifically, please read up on them: +Ideally for email marketing only. Think: cold email outreach, announcements, promotions, newsletters, etc. +There are laws around email marketing specifically — please read up on them before sending a campaign: - [CAN-SPAM Best Practices for Email Marketing](https://help.myemma.com/s/article/How-Can-Spam-affects-your-email-marketing) - [CAN-SPAM Act and how it affects your campaigns](https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/email-digital-marketing/articles/KnowledgeBase/5825-CAN-SPAM-Act-and-how-it-affects-your-campaigns?lang=en_US) +If we have subscribers or attendees outside the US, also be aware of: +- **CASL** (Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation) — stricter consent requirements than CAN-SPAM +- **GDPR** (EU) — if we have any EU-based contacts, this affects consent, data storage, and the right to be forgotten + +When in doubt, don't email someone who hasn't opted in, and make unsubscribing easy and immediate. + +### Contacts + +It's important we keep our email list well organized. Any time emails get imported, add the appropriate tag for **ticket type**, AND for **year**. For example, in-person ticketed attendees of 2026 would get both `[in-person]` and `[ticketed2026]` tags. + +Currently, contacts must be copied over from Ti.to via CSV export/import — this is a manual process (not an automated sync), so it's worth budgeting time for it around each ticket-import cycle. + +*Previous providers were Sendy and Mailchimp; no longer used.* ### Segments -Dynamic lists based on specific filters and properties. Some of the ones we currently have are: +Dynamic lists based on specific filters and properties, built from the tags above. Some of the ones we currently have are: - Sent an email in the last 7 days - Sent an email in the last 30 days - In-person attendees -*Previous providers were Sendy and Mailchimp; no longer used.* +### Campaigns -### Contacts +A given email can have multiple campaigns — for example, an "Early bird tickets end soon" email can be tailored to specific audiences with their own content and recipients using the tags described above: -It's important we keep our email list well organized. Any time emails get imported, add the appropriate tag for ticket type, AND by year. For example, in-person ticketed attendees of 2026: [in-person], [ticketed2026]. In the meantime, contacts must be copied over from ti.to via CSV. +- **Online:** `[online]` tag, content tailored to the $99 ticket +- **IRL:** `[ticketed2025]`, `[ticketed2026]` tags, content tailored to the city itself and IRL events -### Campaigns +Don't take this as gospel — take some time to tailor campaigns that will deliver the biggest punch. + +## Sending best practices -A given email can have multiple campaigns, for example an "Early bird tickets end soon" email can be tailored to specific audiences with their own email content and own recipients, for example: +Regardless of which tool you're using: -- Online: [online] tag, content tailored to the $99 ticket -- IRL: [ticketed2025], [ticketed2026] tags, content tailored to the city itself and IRL events +- **Test send first.** Send yourself (and ideally one other person) a test before blasting the full list. Check links, images, and how it renders on mobile. -Don't take this as gospel, take some time to tailor campaigns that will deliver the biggest punch. \ No newline at end of file +- **Watch your frequency.** Avoid emailing the same segment more than once every few days unless it's time-sensitive (e.g. an early-bird deadline). Over-emailing drives unsubscribes, which is when the segments like `Sent an email in the last 7 days` come in handly, so those emails can be excluded if needed. From 5b270f748e81dca9dae45f53adb9496dd6572775 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: nicole Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:49:55 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 4/5] more edits --- docs/marketing/communications.md | 1 - docs/marketing/mailing_lists.md | 31 +------------------------------ docs/sponsors/history.md | 3 +++ docs/swag/history.md | 3 +++ 4 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/marketing/communications.md b/docs/marketing/communications.md index 9311cbe..b78ba44 100644 --- a/docs/marketing/communications.md +++ b/docs/marketing/communications.md @@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ For standard announcements (CFP open, tickets on sale, keynote announcements), w - [Pablo](https://pablo.buffer.com/) for adding text and logos to images - [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/144080672@N05) for photos of past DjangoCon US's - [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/) for free "generic" photos -- [Mailchimp](https://mailchimp.com/) for mailing lists; ask to be added to our group - [Buffer](https://buffer.com) for scheduling social media posts - [Awesome acceptance letter](https://bridgetkromhout.com/blog/2016/04/06/tl-dr-your-talk-is-accepted/) - [Happiness Packets](https://github.com/erikr/happinesspackets/) diff --git a/docs/marketing/mailing_lists.md b/docs/marketing/mailing_lists.md index 5c9309e..e3f2b3c 100644 --- a/docs/marketing/mailing_lists.md +++ b/docs/marketing/mailing_lists.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ nav_order: 5 # Mailing Lists -The current mailing lists for DjangoCon US are: +The current mailing lists for DjangoCon US are managed by Google Groups and are as follows: | Mailing List | Purpose | Who receives emails addressed to this list? | | ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | @@ -16,32 +16,3 @@ The current mailing lists for DjangoCon US are: | program@ | List for program committee | Members of the program committee, AV chair | | sponsors@ | List for active and potential sponsors | Members of the sponsors team; conference chairs | | visas@ | List for attendees who have questions about international travel or who need visa invitation letters | Members of the visas team | - -## Mass Emails - -We use [Mailchimp](https://mailchimp.com/) for mass emails to attendees, speakers, and sponsors. Mailchimp has pretty good [docs](https://mailchimp.com/help/) that can help you figure out how to do what you need to do. Common Mailchimp functions: - -- Create lists -- Update people on lists (new ticket purchasers) -- Create new template -- Add sponsors to template -- Create "campaign" (another word for email) -- Schedule campaign - -These are the current lists we use in Mailchimp: - -### DjangoCon US Announcements - -This is the list we use for anyone who wants notifications about our announcements. It persists from year to year. At the end of a conference, we move all attendees from the current year onto this list so they can continue to receive announcements for the following year. - -### DjangoCon US Attendees - -We use this list to keep in touch with attendees before and during DjangoCon US. This list is deleted at the end of a conference year. - -### DjangoCon US Speakers - -This is a private list with all of our speakers (keynotes, talks, and tutorials). This list is deleted at the end of a conference year. - -### DjangoCon US Sponsors - -This is a private list with all of our sponsors which we use to keep them informed of what's going on. This list is deleted at the end of a conference year. diff --git a/docs/sponsors/history.md b/docs/sponsors/history.md index ffccb66..d222313 100644 --- a/docs/sponsors/history.md +++ b/docs/sponsors/history.md @@ -6,3 +6,6 @@ nav_order: 3 --- ## Previous Sponsors Chairs + +- Catherine Holmes +- Nicole Dominguez \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/docs/swag/history.md b/docs/swag/history.md index 42cff08..ecedf6c 100644 --- a/docs/swag/history.md +++ b/docs/swag/history.md @@ -6,3 +6,6 @@ nav_order: 3 --- ## Previous Swag Chairs + +- Nicole Dominguez +- Catherine Holmes \ No newline at end of file From 8f28bba00afb14f8cca7a73598e92c61962e749c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: nicole Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:51:52 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 5/5] update drafts --- docs/website/history.md | 3 +++ zensical.toml | 6 +++--- 2 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/website/history.md b/docs/website/history.md index 93fecd3..75c743f 100644 --- a/docs/website/history.md +++ b/docs/website/history.md @@ -6,3 +6,6 @@ nav_order: 3 --- ## Previous Website Chairs + +- Salim +- Nicole Dominguez \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/zensical.toml b/zensical.toml index 6459591..601253f 100644 --- a/zensical.toml +++ b/zensical.toml @@ -19,17 +19,17 @@ nav = [ { "Health and Safety" = ["health_and_safety/about.md", "health_and_safety/checklist.md", "health_and_safety/history.md"] }, { "Lightning Talks" = ["lightning_talks/about.md", "lightning_talks/checklist.md", "lightning_talks/history.md"] }, { "Logistics" = ["logistics/budget.md", "logistics/design_website_checklist.md", "logistics/logistics.md", "logistics/organizers.md", "logistics/photographer.md", "logistics/post_conference.md", "logistics/timeline.md"] }, - { "Marketing" = ["marketing/about.md", "marketing/checklist.md", "marketing/history.md", "marketing/communications.md", "marketing/mailing_lists.md", "marketing/remarks.md"] }, + { "Marketing" = ["marketing/about.md", "marketing/checklist.md", "marketing/history.md", "marketing/communications.md", "marketing/remarks.md"] }, { "Online Committee" = ["online_committee/about.md", "online_committee/checklist.md", "online_committee/history.md"] }, { "Opportunity Grants" = ["opportunity_grants/about.md", "opportunity_grants/checklist.md", "opportunity_grants/history.md"] }, { "Program and Schedule" = ["program_and_schedule/about.md", "program_and_schedule/checklist.md", "program_and_schedule/history.md", "program_and_schedule/example_schedule.md", "program_and_schedule/program.md", "program_and_schedule/timeline.md", "program_and_schedule/schedule.md"] }, { "Social Events" = ["social_events/about.md", "social_events/checklist.md", "social_events/history.md", "social_events/special_events.md"] }, { "Sponsors" = ["sponsors/about.md", "sponsors/checklist.md", "sponsors/history.md"] }, - { "Swag" = ["swag/about.md", "swag/checklist.md", "swag/history.md"] }, + { "Swag" = ["swag/about.md"] }, { "Tickets" = ["tickets/about.md", "tickets/checklist.md", "tickets/history.md"] }, { "Venue" = ["venue/about.md", "venue/checklist.md", "venue/bathroom-baskets.md", "venue/experience.md", "venue/history.md"] }, { "Volunteer Team" = ["volunteer_team/about.md", "volunteer_team/checklist.md", "volunteer_team/handbook.md", "volunteer_team/session_emcee.md", "volunteer_team/session_manager.md", "volunteer_team/registration.md", "volunteer_team/email_templates.md", "volunteer_team/blog_template.md", "volunteer_team/automation.md", "volunteer_team/history.md"] }, - { "Website" = ["website/about.md", "website/checklist.md", "website/history.md"] }, + { "Website" = ["website/about.md", "website/checklist.md"] }, ] [project.theme]