November 2026
As I’ll be away toward the end of the year, I wanted to share an early look back at what DroidBuilders has accomplished in 2026 and where we’re putting our effort next.
There is a lot that members see: the droids, the gatherings, the conversations and the willingness to help someone solve a problem with their build. There is also work that happens between those moments; developing teaching materials, coordinating volunteers, maintaining our digital services and getting our organizational records in order. I want to give you a clearer view of both.
This is our progress through early November and our current planning outlook for 2027 and 2028.
DroidCon was a highlight of the year. Our June gathering in Indianapolis sold out with 190 attendees, and the community raised $13,006 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – a new DroidCon record. Those results belong to everyone who attended, volunteered, donated, presented and helped make the weekend happen. They are a reminder of how much this community can accomplish together. Read the full event recap.
We have also made progress on the educational work behind future activities. This year’s work included organizing and revising our STEM lesson library, developing instructor and student materials, and bringing lessons into a more consistent format. Early educational voice-assistant development also reached real-device testing. There is still equipment development, testing and teaching validation ahead before we can call the broader set of resources ready for delivery.
On the technology side, we improved the website’s protection and maintenance, tested recovery from a website backup, and put tools in place to help coordinate volunteer schedules. We also developed a workflow for preparing event information for review and publication. The aim is practical: make the supporting work easier to manage and give us a better foundation for future activities.
For Finance & Administration, we organized a corporate records library and prepared governance, board-administration and financial templates. That gives us a clearer starting point for reviewing and adopting processes, keeping records current and demonstrating that those processes work in practice. Preparation was a meaningful step this year; implementation and review are part of the work ahead.
Our current plan brings that next stage together under four areas. Across them, we are tracking 19 planned or active projects. The roadmap shows when those projects are scheduled, grouped by area rather than by individual project.
Events – 2 projects
The focus is on preparing our convention participation and future builder gatherings. That includes the programming and experiences people come for, along with staffing, equipment, logistics and the work required to get everything home and ready for its next use. Our current event planning extends through mid-2028. Event details will be shared as they are confirmed.
STEM Education – 10 projects
The goal is to turn the educational development already underway into resources that can be used and reproduced with confidence. Nine projects focus on lesson and reference-kit development, alongside one educational prototype project. For each lesson project, the intended finish is one validated reference kit with the teaching materials ready to reproduce. The prototype project will finish with an accepted working prototype.
We have scheduled the lesson projects in two-month windows, with no more than two STEM projects running at the same time, including the prototype. The current sequence extends into early 2028. This gives us a manageable order for building, checking and finishing the work.
Technology & Communications – 4 projects
The next phase concentrates on service recovery, access administration, useful documentation and reviewing the event-information workflow. These projects are scheduled from January through July 2027. Their purpose is to make the services supporting DroidBuilders easier to maintain and more dependable for the people using them.
Finance & Administration – 3 projects
The planned work covers governance and corporate records, financial reporting and spending controls, and donation and supporter administration. These projects are scheduled sequentially in the first half of 2027. The emphasis is on clear responsibilities, usable processes and evidence that the processes work.
This is a planning outlook, and timing may change as we confirm requirements, available time and resources. The shaded quarters show where project work is scheduled; they are not event dates or promises of continuous activity. Routine support and community appearances also continue outside this project roadmap.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed this year—whether you brought a droid, shared your knowledge, volunteered, donated or helped another builder move forward. I want to keep making our progress visible as these plans become completed work.
Keep building.
