drupalpune Meetup cycle
The one skill you invoke by name. It works out where you are, tells you what's due, and hands off to the outreach skills for the drafting.
Workflow
1. Situate
python3 scripts/meetup_date.py --timeline
python3 scripts/pipeline_report.py
Check whether the date is confirmed or suggested. The output says which.
Confirmed dates come from data/cycles.csv and are the real thing. A suggested
date is the nth-weekday hint and matches the real history only 3 times in 10 -
never put a suggested date in an email. If the cycle you are working on has no
confirmed date, that is the first thing to raise with the user, and once they
decide:
python3 scripts/meetup_date.py --confirm 2026-10-24
That gives the next meetup date, the full T-minus calendar with today marked,
stage counts for both pipelines, and every row whose next_action_date has
passed.
For a specific month: python3 scripts/meetup_date.py 2026-11 --timeline.
2. Report
Lead with the state of the cycle, in this order:
- Date and T-minus. "Next meetup: Sat 19 Sep, T-18, confirmed." Say "date not set yet" when it is only the hint - it changes what is safe to draft.
- Venue. Confirmed? Then name the host. Not confirmed? How many are live, how many are warm, and how many days until the T-30 deadline. This is the only genuinely blocking item in the cycle — say so plainly when it's late.
- Speakers. Slots filled and slots open, by name.
- Due today. From the timeline plus every overdue
next_action_date. - Overdue. Anything past its date, oldest first.
Keep it short enough to read on a phone. The user is deciding what to do in the next twenty minutes.
3. Hand off
| Due | Skill |
|---|---|
| Venue first touch, follow-up, breakup, confirmation, logistics | venue-outreach |
| Speaker invite, nudge, brief, thank-you | speaker-outreach |
| Not enough venue leads to work with | prospect-research |
| Announcement or recap copy | not built — draft it by hand |
Don't draft mails inside this skill. Say what's due, invoke the right skill.
The timeline
Owned by TIMELINE in scripts/meetup_date.py; the human-readable version is
references/timeline.md. Change it in the script — the report reads from there.
Three dates are non-negotiable:
- T-30 venue confirmed. Everything downstream needs an address. Late venue means a late announcement means a smaller room.
- T-21 announcement live. Three weeks is the minimum for RSVPs.
- T-14 agenda locked. Speakers need two weeks to prepare.
The rest can slip a few days without much cost.
Behind schedule
Don't just report lateness — say what to cut.
| Situation | Say |
|---|---|
| T-35, no venue | Escalate: call the warm ones today rather than mailing. Add 3–4 leads via prospect-research. |
| T-25, no venue | Decision point. Fall back to a known coworking space, or move the meetup a week. Moving it is better than announcing a venue-less date. |
| T-18, one speaker | Cut to a main session plus a BoF. A BoF needs no preparation and can be organised in a week. |
| T-10, no announcement | Post today with whatever is confirmed. An announcement with two of three slots is fine; silence is not. |
Starting a cycle (around T-45)
python3 scripts/meetup_date.py --next 2— confirm the date- Check
data/venues.csvforwarmrows with anext_action_datethis cycle — these are last month's soft nos, and they are the best leads you have - If fewer than 6 workable leads, run
prospect-research - Hand to
venue-outreachfor wave one, 5–8 orgs - Set
next_action_dateon every row you touch
Closing a cycle (T+2 to T+3)
- Append a row to
data/meetups.csv— date, host, area, headcount, sessions, links speaker-outreachtouch 4 for every speaker; updatelast_talk_title/last_talk_datevenue-outreachthank-you to the host; ask once about hosting again in six months- Re-queue every
warmvenue row for next cycle's T-45. A "no, but maybe later" is the most valuable output of a cold sequence and the one that always gets lost.
References
references/timeline.md— the T-minus calendar, annotatedreferences/chapter-config.md— pointing this at a different chapter