CMS Garden
CMS Garden is a non-profit association of open source content management systems for common public relations activities.
The attendees of a typical CMS event are normally those who already know the CMS (and many who know and use the software, know about the events still don't attend).
With CMS Garden the communities are reaching out to a broader audience: Decision makers, web editors, marketeers, IT administrators, web hosters, press, bloggers, government, young talents. We also reach those who are not (yet) involved in open source communitites, like developers, designers, usability experts, project managers, web agencies ...
They all have a common interest in content management systems – in one way or the other. They deal with the question whether to decide for open source and if so, which system to choose. Or they are pondering over whether and how to support or develop their favored system with their respective skills.
Drupal has been a driving force of the initiative and is a founding member of this non-profit organisation.
What we do
How many times have open source communities re-invented the wheel? Wait a moment, don‘t we know how to share and collaborate? Aren't we even the role model?
Marketing + public relations
There are many trade fairs and conferences our target groups go to. CMS Garden gathers ambassadors at exhibition booths to help visitors make educated decisions.
Publications
The CMS Gardener‘s Guide is an independent not-for-profit publication that supports decision-making by comparison and helps avoiding major mistakes in web project planning. It is a collection of the most relevant open source CMS‘ portraits, facilitating the direct comparison. All contributions have been written by members of the respective communities and have been editorially reviewed, with an emphasis on (self) critical considerations.
All content is published under a Creative Commons license. You are very welcome to translate it to other languages and distribute it yourself.
Working Groups
Security, data privacy, camp organization, attracting new talents, growing the community... there are so many topics we have in common. CMS Garden already founded/supports some, like SIWECOS, a security project funded by the German government. Do you have a project that is suitable to join forces with other CMS communities? Welcome!
Barcamps + Meetups
The annual CMS Unconference invites community members and users of all open source content management systems to share learnings, present solutions and collaborate.
There are CMS-related open source meetups in several cities, especially where $cms meetups lost momentum.
Single point of contact
Offices of the public sector, other FLOSS communities, conference organizers, press ... there are many groups who are really happy to have a single point of contact to the Free and Open Source CMS. CMS Garden collects requests and offers for diverse opportunities. Stay in touch!
Join!
Cross-community collaboration is for you, too. If you are struggling with finding volunteers for an initiative, think outside the box: Many other FOSS CMS communities are likely struggling with the same ideas.
How to find the right gate
Use our presentation "Promoting Drupal to decision-makers"
History
Founded in 2012, this non-commercial initiative presents the cooperating open source CMS to a broad public audience, primarily by trade fair and conference presences as well as by maintaining an internet platform.
CMS Garden‘s first project was a 90 sqm booth at CeBIT 2013, the world‘s largest IT trade fair. Presences at trade fairs/conferences were organized ever since, as well as presentations at smaller events. The bilingual publication has been handed out on all those occasions and was received with great interest.
At Drupal Europe 2018, CMS Garden coordinated the Open Web Lounge as a part of the conference.
