Last Saturday (February 21st, 2015), thirty-five Drupalers joined together at Classic Graphics for the sencond annual Charlotte Drupal Drive-in. The day was full of presentations, BOFs, and general chatting about Drupal and related web technologies.

The day-long, un-conference-style event was the brainchild of Thomas Lattimore. After CharDUG wasn't able to pull together the human resources to repeat the success of DrupalCamp Charlotte 2012, Thomas mentioned that he had an idea. Since he knew organizers had limited time to commit to planning and he wanted to host an un-conference-style event, allowing for simpler planning than a full-blown Drupal camp. You can learn more about his concept on the DruaplEasy Podcast.

The event started with breakfast goodies, a welcome to the event, a thank you to our sponsors, and session pitches. The list of pitched ideas quickly grew to enough items to easily fill the day with sessions. The organic nature of the event and Classic's space allowed for sessions to split into multiple rooms so individuals had great session options.

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The session schedule was planned for the day after all the ideas were pitched. The scheduled sessions included the following:

• Maintainable Front-End Dev - @tlattimore
• How to quickly launch a small and possibly temporary Drupal website BOF
• Hi-Performance Drupal Hosting with BOA - @connerton
• Hello Backdrop CMS! - @mgbellaire and @shrop
• Small to mid-sized web development business BOF
• shelldevel - @deetergp, @mgbellaire, @shrop, and @tlattimore
  • Sharing the world of shell-based development!
• Life after Launch - @roger_soper
  • Maintaining a website after initial launch
• Migrations - @willjackson00 and @ericveal
  • Getting data into Drupal With Feeds and Migrate

Lunch allowed attendees to chat about the morning sessions and meeting each other. Also, Design Hammer provided a $50 Amazon gift card to giveaway during the lunch break.

From my perspective, the event was a success. The format allowed for a relaxed atmosphere where beginner and seasoned Drupalers alike were able discuss their projects, ideas, and questions. While much of the group was from the Charlotte metro area, we also had attendees from Asheville and the Raleigh/Durham, NC area. I also count this event as a success when all of the event volunteers were able to attend the sessions and enjoy the event. Keeping the event simple is key to this success!

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I would like to thank Classic Graphics, Design Hammer, and our individual sponsors (@bayofodeke, @deetergp, and @shrop for supporting the Charlotte Drupal Drive-in. Also, thanks to all those who attended and led sessions. Looking forward to Charlotte Drupal Drive-in 2016!

Blog Category: 

• Drupal
• CharDUG