From March 5-11, I was in Chicago, representing DTEK at DrupalCon - the semi-annual gathering of the wonderfully diverse and vibrant Drupal community. The event brings together all types of Drupal users, and offers formal tracks and sessions on widely varied topics, from design and user interface, to ecommerce and core development. It's also a chance for many informal conversations about anything Drupal related, with the nearly 3,000 attendees from all over the world. DrupalCon alternates between Europe and North America; the last two were San Francisco (April, 2010) and Copenhagen (August, 2010), and the next two are London (August, 2011) and Denver (March, 2012).
Why go? As the title of this post suggests, making connections is a primary goal for me. Slides and/or video of most sessions can be found online in various places (the official DrupalCon site and archive.org), but you really can't imagine the synergy and flat-out geeky fun that happens when 3,000 people take over an entire hotel for a week! The Drupal community is amazing, and these type of gatherings are always energizing and present opportunities for unexpected learning and networking. There are generally specific problems or areas of inquiry fresh in my mind that I'm particularly drawn to learning about. But then I always stumble upon a solution to something that's been written off or solved in a "less than ideal" manner; or a whole new perspective on a problem or workflow which makes existing roadblocks irrelevant. In short, it's professional development; a chance for me, and the DTEK team, to hone our craft and learn from others who do the same thing, often in very different ways.
I've never had the chance to visit downtown Chicago, so it was fun to have a few days before the conference to be a tourist with my wife and son. While it was a bit chilly at times, we thoroughly enjoyed the downtown architecture, a visit to the aquarium, and all the cultural fun of being in a big city (it definitely made us miss and appreciate our 7 years in Seattle). I also had some late nights in the hotel as Andy and I wrapped up our sprint to re-brand and launch the new dtek.net on Drupal 7 - migrated from WordPress, just over a week after launching the World Affairs Council site.
I met a number of people I had previously only "known" on IRC; I also made many new connections, quite a few at the sold-out Field museum party of 2200+. I chatted with Susan and Remy (of McCormick and Winter in Lake Tahoe) about Drupal, skiing and toddlers over many pints on Wednesday night, after the Drupal fashion show was full and we didn't get in. Greg Lyle and I finally met - after having worked together briefly last year - and had dinner and fun conversation Thursday night. And I also met Shannon Lucas at the 4 Kitchens booth, who shares office space with Andy at Office Nomads in Seattle.
Another personal highlight was meeting numerous Colorado drupalistas, just before the announcement that DrupalCon 2012 will be in Denver! And of course, introducing myself as a gushing fan to both Dries (the Drupal creator) and webchick, aka Angie Byron (the Drupal 7 co-maintainer).
The other, and maybe more obvious connections are the ones made with knowledge. All told, I attended about a dozen sessions and BOFs; developing mobile apps/sites, Drupal 7 theming, high performance tuning, project estimates and pricing, automated testing, git workflow, advanced drush, advanced features and Drupal commerce. My Top 3, in the order they took place:
- Getting Early Estimates Right (by Jakob Persson) - superb information on factoring in levels of uncertainty when quickly breaking down a project for an early estimate
- Failure to Launch: Drupal Performance Tuning (by Kenny "webkenny" Silanskas) - very funny and informative presentation on Drupal performance tuning
- Git Workflow for Site Building & Project Development BOF (with Joshua Jabbour and Sam Boyer) - "real-world" examples and chat around a practical git development workflow and branching model
And don't forget the "connections" with conference swag: 2 water bottles, 5 t-shirts, a handful of writing utensils, and far more stickers than my wife will ever allow me to plaster on our foosball table!
Much like San Francisco last year, I had a great time and learned a lot from many smart people. Unfortunately, Andy and the rest of the DTEK team weren't able to join me - but I'm doing my best to tell them all how great it was and make sure they're in Denver for 2012.
PS: There is a secret 'feature' on the DrupalCon Chicago site - use the original Konami Code (type '↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A') to see the Drupal drop appear in the spotlight on the clouds, batman-style! Subtle, but fun. :-)
PPS: Come introduce yourself if you happen to be at DrupalCamp Colorado this June.
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