April 27, 2010

So How Much Did Drupalcon San Francisco Rock? A LOT!

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Here's a blog post by cat herding Drupal community celebrity Kieran Lal on the successes of Drupalcon San Francisco. First off a hearty congratulations to Kieran, Matt Cheney and his colleagues at Chapter 3 for putting on a first class conference. I attend conferences throughout the U.S. and they should be very proud of the one that they just put on.

What is most amazing about Drupalcon is that it was pulled off entirely by the efforts of volunteers! Considering that most software companies spend millions of dollars on their user conferences, and in many case have far fewer attendees (over 3,000 people came to Drupalcon San Francisco), this is no mean feat.

In addition to Kieran's comments, here are a few other areas of ingenuity that really paid off for DCSF:

1. Introduction of a business track to the conference. These sessions were surprisingly well-attended, and seemed to create an air of inclusiveness for executives and 'information workers' that are successful contributors in the WCMS ecosystem but not necessarily developers. In past years, Drupalcon was all about developers. This year Drupalcon added sessions that made the conference content accessible to many others

2. More curation of presentations. In past years case study and 'vendor' presentations could be very self-serving. This year I found many of the sessions to be just plain awesome, with deep details given on projects as well as how challenges were overcome

3. Groundswell Marketing. Head over heels this conference rocked because they hired a first class event management marketing firm help us through all the nuances. While many of us participate in conferences all year round, none of us are experts, and the people at Groundswell did an AWESOME job supporting us the whole way

4. Volunteer coordination. For a conference that is put on almost entirely by the efforts of volunteers, I was absolutely astonished by the level of coordination at the volunteer-manager level. For instance, I had signed up for registration desk duties and was really impressed that the coordinators sent all of us detailed information on our slots, where to meet, important FAQs, and even a conference call to debrief in advance.

There was so much more to brag about regarding DCSF, but what I was most impressed with was the mood of the community. In the past there could be a (not-so) faint feeling of unwelcome for newcomers or a seasoned community bristling at interlopers. This year, it felt inclusive - as newbies all strive to find a way to contribute to the Drupal project, this conference was admirable in that it made all comers feel very welcome.

Once again, great job to Kieran Lal, to Matt Cheney, Jen Lampton, and to all of the people that worked their hearts out making Drupalcon an unqualified success.

Posted at 02:39 pm by Joseph Bachana

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