DrupalCamp Poland 2018 – a summary

The seventh edition of the conference has come to an end, but our work doesn’t end with that. We’re already planning the next edition and we need your help. Yes, we’re talking to you!

DrupalCamp Poland 2018 was the seventh edition of the largest annual CMS/CMF Drupal conference in Poland, and we can proudly say that it was the best one to date. Hundreds of hours of preparation, which began last year, resulted in a success which could be measured in numbers.

• The conference attracted around 140 participants, 40% more than in previous years.
• The number of lectures also more than doubled, and the majority of them were in English.
• The lectures covered a more diverse range of topics: programming, design, as well as issues related to team management and promoting Drupal.
• The fact that the lectures were tiered into three difficulty levels made it very easy to find with lectures and materials offering knowledge at the right level.
• The Birds of Feather meeting concerning Drupal’s promotion in Poland was a complete novelty in the conference’s offer.
• Workshops on the basics of creating Drupal websites returned to the programme after a short disappearance. 

Your commitment

Even the best intentions aren’t enough if they are not translated into action, so we would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of the conference:

• organisers who took care of communication, order and great fun;

   

• Speakers who put a lot of effort into sharing their knowledge, skills and interesting insights;

   

• participants who were committed and positive and who made the two days go by in a great atmosphere;

   

• this year’s sponsors and media partners for their resources and time.

   

Prizes

Among the materials provided by the conference patrons, there were also numerous prizes given out during the conference:

• prize for a question asked at the opening presentation on Sunday: annual PHPStorm license
• Prizes drawn during the presentation at the end of the conference: 
  • two annual PHPStorm licenses;
  • three power banks;
• prize for the best post shared with the #DC18PL hashtag: free ticket for Drupal Camp Poland 2019 

Congratulations to the winners!

New places, broader horizons

The number of visitors during the seventh edition of Drupal Camp Poland surpassed our wildest expectations. However, we expected that the attendance would be good right from the get-go. Earlier on, we prepared the meeting in a venue that could accommodate everyone. We gave up on a conference hall in a hotel and chose a much larger hall, as well as additional rooms in the Wrocław Technology Park. 

    The choice was obvious: the proximity of a comfortable hotel, a lot of parking spaces for people travelling by car, convenient access via public transit for the rest and... the office of the main sponsor located five floors above :) 

From an organisational point of view, the change turned out to be a good decision. More space and freedom to do what we needed ensured not the only comfort of the participants, but also allowed us to take full advantage of the equipment used to present and record lectures.

We also had to give up the venue where we organised our Drupal Party in the previous years. The charming, but not too spacious Huśtawka Pub would not be able to accommodate all conference participants looking for some fun and a place to continue their discussions about Drupal in a slightly less formal atmosphere.

We chose PadBar – a new type of venue, offering not only cold beer but also a broad range of computer games for various platforms, as well as card games and board games. The number of unusual pastimes made it easier to network and learn new things about old friends. Despite the weather forecasts which warned about possible storms, the temperature and weather in the evening were good, so the integration dragged on into the late evening.

New rules

We wanted to further integrate the Drupal community and facilitate networking, which is why we decided not only to introduce and enforce the Code of Conduct (which is becoming a standard for most OpenSource events) but also put two simple rules in place, which Eric Holscher described in more detail on his blog:

• The Pac-Man Rule – when standing as a group of people, always leave room for one more person to join your group.
• The Community++ Rule – for every year you have attended the event, you should try to meet that many new people each day.

Despite some initial concerns that the imposed behaviours might alienate the participants, the rules were adopted and implemented very naturally. We were happy to see that the level of discussions outside the presentations increased and that it was easier for new people to reach out to speakers and regular visitors with their concerns or questions. 

Video from lectures

We did not change all the elements. Recorded lectures are a regular feature of the Camps. This year, all the lectures were recorded, so if you missed any interesting material, don’t worry! Everything will be made available on our YouTube channel and we will let you know on Twitter and Facebook as soon as the videos are ready. Currently, we are working on the recorded material, but a lot of useful information appears on the channels every day, so we encourage you to follow them all.

Plans, plans, plans...

When we concluded the last year’s edition of the conference we have shared some of our plans for the future with you. Today, we can say that we managed to realise 100% of our plans and ideas. We managed to include more diverse lectures and workshops in the conference programme, as well as to invite more speakers and participants, and to ensure a higher technical and substantive level of lectures.
Just like last year, we are not going to rest on our laurels – instead, we are getting down to planning the eighth edition of Drupal Camp right away. The first step in this direction is establishing a new foundation, announced at Saturday’s Birds of Feather. The aim of the Polish Drupal Marketing Foundation will be to promote Drupal in Poland and abroad as a universal, secure and user-friendly system. 

What do you think?

We hope that we will be able to break our own records and organise an even more attractive meeting for the participants once again, but in order to do so, we need to know your opinions and thoughts. We have sent out a short questionnaire in which we ask for your opinion about the most important elements of the conference. We also encourage you to comment on social media and write your own reviews. We will be very grateful for all the feedback and suggestions for the future.

See you next year!