My week at DrupalCon, part 1

The sky is truly the limit for getting value from attending a DrupalCon. There are so many ways to involve yourself, be a part of different opportunities to give back, and meet many people from all over the world and of all walks of life.  At DrupalCon Los Angeles, we saw so many of our wonderful community members coming together to share their experiences and learn from each other -- and one of the places where this happened most was at our Monday summits.

A much anticipated part of my job is to host the Community Summit at DrupalCons. It’s a truly wonderful and humbling experience to stand in is a room filled with like-minded caring people, all of whom are ready to roll up their sleeves and work on some community topics and projects.

This DrupalCon we had some folks working on COD, which stands for Conference Organizing Distribution.  COD packages all of the features event organizers need to create a website for their event.  One of the coolest features is that they can update their site for multiple events and years.  We also had participants discuss Drupal and non-profits.  They sprinted on how to incorporate CiviCRM into their work, best practices for site builders to utilize and pro-tips for those in non-profit using Drupal.  

Additionally, we had Donna Benjamin come out to represent the Drupal Association board.  Donna and her group discussed governance and conflict resolution for the Drupal community.  The group learned about the Community Working Group, its goals, and generated some great ideas on how to keep DrupalCon a warm and inviting event.  

Other groups sprinted on community topics such as a Campus Ambassador program, International Collaboration and Community building, Large Scale Drupal, and Building local Drupal Communities.  

All in all, it was a successful day, with around 60 participants from Australia, North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.  However, the fun and networking didn’t stop at the end of the summit.

More on my experiences at DrupalCon Los Angeles next week, until then, cheers!

Lauren Shey
Community Outreach Coordinator
Drupal Association
@lsheydrupal

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