12 Things I learned at my first DrupalCon
For years I have been hearing about DrupalCon from Brice and Amitai. Every six months they would send me a massive group photo and challenged me to locate them among the crazy mustaches, viking helmets, and identical t-shirts. Needless to say, I failed every time and the number of people in those pictures grew every year. I’m also happy to say that that last group photo - from a week ago - included me as well (Bonus points if you can spot me).
2016 DrupalCon Group Photo.
My first Con was an overwhelmingly great experience and I learned a ton of new things. Here are the top 12:
1) Count down from 100 if you can’t fall asleep at night
DrupalCon’s sessions and keynotes are diverse and engaging. For instance, the Community Keynote by @schnitzel (Michael Schmid), was full of tips to keep your brain ready and aware, such as: Start your day doing things you dislike, drink plenty of water that will force you to take a lot of pee breaks, and play with kids to clear your mind.
The enormous amount of people and ideas exchanged in DrupalCon are so invigorating that you might find it hard to sleep at night. Try counting backwards slowly from hundred to zero. I have already put it to the test and it works - that tip alone was worth the trip.
Michael Schmid (@schnitzel) delivers the Community Keynote
2) Gator omelette for breakfast
New Orleans is a seafood and meat town. Crab, crawfish, sausages, bbq, and alligator - the Queen City is not known for its consumptions of vegetables.
Breakfast portions are huge and everything is golden-brown. But in New Orleans there is a special name for that little strip of green ground in the middle of a boulevard - “neutral ground” (thanks Trivia Night!). Perhaps they can grow fresh vegetables there!
A typical three-person breakfast. We’ve never finished it!