Last weekend in Orlando was the 2014 edition of Florida DrupalCamp. It was a great event with loads of outstanding presentations and community building. What follows are some materials from the event and well as links and resources to topics that were discussed in some of the best talks.

One slight bummer is that not all of the talks could be recorded as planned due to some technical issues. That said, I still have some excellent stuff to share so that you can get a flavor of what the Drupal community is talking about these days whenever it gathers (hint: Drupal 8, Drupal 8 and also sometimes Drupal 8).

Final #fldc14 attendee tally was 314! That beats other years by a wide margin! Thanks everyone who attended! #drupal pic.twitter.com/l3CrHLDILV

— FL DrupalCamp (@fldrupalcamp) March 10, 2014

A Different Format

If you've attended a DrupalCamp before - or really any conference - you'll be familiar with a format that involves an opening keynote address and occasionally another to close the event. This year at Florida DrupalCamp, we changed things up and instead had four double-length featured sessions. All of the featured sessions were on Drupal 8 with the focus of the talks ranging from an overview for site builders to changes in Drupal 8 development.

The video above is Kevin Basarab of MediaCurrent giving a great talk on changes in Drupal 8 for site builders. Unfortunately, the other presentations are victims of the technical issues I mentioned earlier, but you may have a chance to see Larry Garfield's (very popular) presentation at MidwestCamp in Chicago: 

Did you miss my #fldc14 session on #Drupal 8 development? You have a second chance at @midwestcamp: http://t.co/YkjwE2LF8J

— Larry Garfield (@Crell) March 13, 2014

At least keep an eye out for a recording of that presentation. I wasn't in his talk, but it really had the place buzzing with excitement. Apparently Larry killed it.

Using Maps in Drupal

Another one of the sessions that has a great video to accompany it comes from Mike Anello of DrupalEasy. Mike is an excellent presenter and is also the guy who leads the Florida DrupalCamp effort. Ask him about it and he'll modestly suggest everyone else does the work, but make no mistake, this guy does a lot of the heavy lifting to make this event happen every year.

Kudos aside, his presentation on implementing maps with Drupal is very useful and a bit surprising. I hadn't worked much with maps on any of my Drupal projects, but it's actually surprisingly easy to do very cool and powerful things with the modules Mike discusses in this talk. If you're interested, he has written up an article to accompany the video.

Great Opportunity for Beginners

The past couple of years OSTraining has done a beginners track at Florida DrupalCamp and it has gotten hugely positive reviews.

Did a #Drupal beginner training session with @OSTraining's @stevejburge at #fldc14. Highly recommend for anyone getting started!

— Kaylan S. (@kesoleil) March 11, 2014

If you've previously thought about attending a DrupalCamp but skipped it thinking you wouldn't fit in or know enough about Drupal to get anything from it, you should reconsider. There really isn't a better way to get introduced to Drupal than to attend a camp.

It's been said many times, but one of the things that sets Drupal apart is the community. Drupal folks are some of the most friendly and generous people in technology. If you've been around some other developer groups, you'll know that isn't always the case.

Attending a DrupalCamp - or the upcoming DrupalCon in Austin, TX - is one of the best investments you can make in mastering Drupal, gaining practical experience as well as making a few friends along the way.