DrupalCon is one of the most exciting Drupal events all year, especially for those of us who enjoy working in the community. We really get to shine.
This year is no different. It’s nice to share knowledge through presentations, but there are many ways to give back to the Drupal Open Source project.
We are proud to help behind the scenes with the making of DrupalCon. For the third year in a row, our CEO Aimee Degnan has helped organize the Business Summit. Our CTO Kristen Pol is the local Track Chair for Core Conversations this year. Core Conversations is an especially important track as they are normally focused on Drupal's future.
Participating in events at DrupalCon is a quintessential part of the whole Drupal project. Summits bring larger groups together for collaboration and thought leadership; Birds of a Feather (BoFs) provide a more intimate atmosphere for deeper conversation; and sprints move the Drupal project closer to perfection. Of course, the myriad of sessions also provide a great place to learn about a variety of subjects related to the whole Drupal ecosystem.
We’re also excited to be part of a couple social events this year! Not only are we sponsoring the Women in Drupal reception again this year, we'll also be providing fun games, snacks, and smiles for the Drupal Diversity & Inclusion Game Night.
Summits:
Business Summit
Monday, April 9 from 10:00am - 5:00pm - We're excited because this year we organized a really stellar group of business people tackling challenging current topics. The summit will focus on the growth and evolution of Drupal in the overall digital ecosystem and that growth’s impact to Drupal-focused businesses.
Government Summit
Monday, April 9 from 10:00am - 5:00pm - The Government Summit presents a rare opportunity for collaboration between Government staff, vendors, and Drupal community members to share cost-effective and innovative ways to serve citizens. We hope to provide insight, to listen, and to facilitate discussions that raise awareness. We plan to brainstorm solutions for infrastructure, application development, DevOps, security/compliance, and user-centered design.
Community Summit
Monday, April 9 from 10:00am - 5:00pm - Our community is the heart of Drupal. Sure, it’s great to be involved, but taking the next step and sharing with others how we collaborate and grow our own community is empowering! With this information, we can then better contribute not only to the Drupal Project, but with improving diversity, enhancing mentoring, and growing our local community through outreach.
Sprints:
Contribution sprints move the Drupal Project forward. We’re eager to help with core and contributed projects. We always enjoy mentoring folks who might be new to tech or Drupal, including those who don’t traditionally code for their jobs. Code is very important, but so are all the other parts surrounding it. We’ll be ready to help mentor anybody who wants to get onboard!
General Sprints
April 9-12 from 10:00am to 5:00pm in Room 104A-C in the Music City Center
Sprint Day
Friday, April 13th in Room 104A-C in the Music City Center
Includes General Sprints, Mentored Core Sprint, and First-Time Sprinter Workshop
BoFs:
Connecting Women in Drupal
Wednesday, April 11 at 10:45am in Room 203b - Continue the conversation! After enjoying some low-key networking and socialization at Tuesday night's Women in Drupal social event, swing by our BoF on Wednesday morning. We'll chat about what it means to be a minority in our industry, brainstorm and collaborate on opportunities for activism, and make some lasting connections across the community.
This BoF will be a safe space for anyone who identifies as a woman to chat and support each other. Others, we truly appreciate your support but respectfully ask that this space is kept for women only. Allies are encouraged to attend the Women in Drupal reception Tuesday night.
Drupal and Coffee
Thursday, April 12 at 10:45am in Room 102a - Many of us in the Drupal community enjoy coffee, let's get together and talk about the magic elixir that many of us use to fuel our days.
This is also an excellent opportunity to have a retrospective for the Drupal Coffee Exchange that Adam Bergstein organizes every quarter...Don't know about the exchange?? Whelp, now is a good time to start participating. Bring a pound of beans for trade and get to know your coffee community!
Start your Thursday morning at DrupalCon with some coffee and new friends.
Improving Drupal Core's Accessibility
Tuesday, April 10 at 5:00pm in Room 102a - Drupal 8 has seen significant improvements in its accessibility since the 8.0 release. The point release process has given developers room to make considerable advances in things like the Inline Form Errors module.
Following the Core Conversation on accessibility, we will discuss how we can help bring more people onboard with improving the accessibility of Drupal 8.
Social Events:
Women in Drupal Reception
Tuesday, April 10th at 6:00pm at the Tin Roof, 316 Broadway Avenue, Nashville - Each year we are happy to sponsor and attend the Women in Drupal event! As a women-owned company, we love to support other women’s growth. We’ve always been impressed by the number of allies to women in tech who also come out to the event and show their support!
Drupal Diversity & Inclusion Game Night
Monday, April 9th from 7PM to 10PM at the Holiday Inn Express Nashville Downtown lobby - Join the Drupal Diversity and Inclusion working group as they host a drop-in style Game Night. One of our goals at Nashville is to do what we can to make it feel like a socially safer space for people. We would like to invite people to bring games and have fun playing them! We expanded the time range a bit because we have some folks who will skip the reception and others that will arrive later.
Catch y'all in Music City!
You can catch us at all the above events, but we’ll also be in the halls offering smiles, swag, and conversation. Swing by the Hook 42 booth on Tuesday, or you can catch some of our team at the DD&I and Mentoring booths as well.
In addition to the events above, we have the honor of presenting four sessions this year! For times and locations, read our article: Cowboy Boots, Hot Chicken, and DrupalCon - Hook 42 is heading to Music City!