SW Drupal Summit: Recap & Review

Schipul SW Drupal Summit
Photo Thanks To The SW Drupal Summit

What better way to kick start the new year than to attend this year’s SW Drupal Summit? I know, I know; most would be content to start 2011 by just waking up January 1st with out a ‘headache,” but here at Schipul, Drupal is not only one of the new, shiny toys out there for Content Management, but it’s robust, constantly evolving and one of Mashable’s top 10 sites to watch in 2011.

As a newbie here at Schipul, I did not attend this particular Drupal shindig, but I know plenty of lucky ducks who went, saw and geeked-out at this year’s SW Drupal Summit. What were their favorite parts? What Drupal-tastic knowledge did they walk away with?

David enjoyed giving a presentation and…

‘The opportunity to teach about Location-based Views and Managing Client Expectations was an honor.   Since we ran into a number of pitfalls in project management when we first started selling Drupal, it was a pleasure to pass that knowledge along—we’d much rather make all the hard mistakes so you don’t have to!”

Scooter had a great time and enjoyed others’ “views” (he he) on Drupal projects.

“Chatting with members of the Houston Drupal Community was the best part. I especially enjoyed conceptual sessions, like   Tom McCracken’s ‘Scrum Revolution” and ‘Building Online Leaders with Drupal.”   I was able to learn concepts that I can ‘Schipulize” and use within our culture and processes.”

JMO was impressed by the diversity of the crowd in terms of experience and knowledge.

“My favorite part was sitting around during a break and ‘talking shop” with several of the other Texas Drupal guys (Level Ten and Four Kitchens). It’s great to be a part of a community that shares knowledge and helps each other rather than tearing down one another.”

Alex opens up about open source fundamentals.

“I love sessions that leave me inspired about the work I do at Schipul. This time, that inspiration was definitely from ‘The Business of Open Source” by Liza from Lullabot,   a very successful company that uses some non-traditional business models.   We talked about the principles of open source and how they apply to business. Bravo to the red robots!”

Derek is excited about new user friendly Drupal 7 features!

“For me, the most interesting event was hearing first hand from Drupal 7 core maintainer Angie Byron about new features in Drupal 7.   The biggest updates I noticed were the improved usability, organization and the sub tool bars based on roles; all of which should increase Drupal’s popularity.”

Robyn was overwhelmed by so many favorites, that she could write books on this year’s SW Drupal Summit!   For now, here’s (one of) her most favorites:

“My favorite was the Panel: Managing Client Expectations.   It gave people a taste of what it is like to be a client, have a client and run a company based on clients.   The team was able to relate to everyone –   The client, the developer, the project manager and the CEO all based on a Drupal development and   I feel the panel was able to connect to audience as a whole.   I also enjoyed learning about Integrating Drupal with social API’s.”

Albert and Jennifer also attended the conference…

and soaked up as much Drupal-icious tid bits as they could.   Schipul was not only a proud presenter and attendee this year, but also was happy to sponsor this year’s Drupal event.   All in all, it sounds like some pretty awesome people had a pretty awesome time! Thanks to all who spoke and participated!

SWDRULA-SUMMIT