DrupalCamp

Philadelphia held its first DrupalCamp this week, and it went better than I think even the most optimistic of us expected. We had over 80 people, from all over the Mid-Atlantic region, in attendance, and all of the presentations seemed well prepared and received. The Hub at the Cira Center was a great location--directly connected to 30th Street Station, with nice rooms, endless drinks and Steven Starr catering--which helped to make it one of the most professional "camps" I've ever been to.

Jody and I helped with four sessions: on CCK and Views, Drupal Multimedia, Theming, and a Business BoF, which were co-presented by (in order) Rock River Star's Michael Crawford, Advomatic's Aaron Winborn (whose book--Drupal Multimedia--was just released), Canary's Mason Wendell, and Philadelphia Drupal superstud Nate Gasser from Rock River Star. Addison Berry from Lullabot (also the Drupal Document Lead) and and Jeff Miccolis from Development Seed, led a great discussion on the Drupal Community, which you can read about over at Steve Karsh's site.

Zivtech is proud to announce that we have signed on as sponsors for the upcoming DrupalCon DC 2009. While we were disheartened to see our outlandish vegan donut eating compadres over at Chapter Three move a step ahead of us in the coveted badge color arms race with their Gold Partner agreement with Acquia, we're glad to see that we've kept up with our Silver Sponsorship of DrupalCon DC (and anyway, we just hired another six people, so I don't think we'll be behind in the Acquia badges for long).

We're also extremely psyched to announce that we are sponsoring the upcoming DrupalCamp Philly, which will be held at the Cira Center on November 19th from 9am-6pm. The conference will feature sessions for all levels and types of users--from beginners and decision makers interested in what all the buzz is about to developers looking to improve or share their skills--and will feature prominent Drupal community members like Drupal Documentation Lead Addison Berry and multimedia wiz Aaron Winborn (whose new book on Drupal Multimedia I'll be reviewing here over the the next week or so).

If you're interested in coming to DrupalCamp Philly, please sign up on the Drupal Groups page. Space is filling up, so sign up ASAP if you haven't and you'd like to go. I'd love to see more regional camps, and given the location of this event (the Cira Center is connected to Amtrak's 30th Street Station, making it extremely accessible via Amtrak, SEPTA, Suburban Station, and the Philly Airport) it would be great for this to become the first MADCamp (Mid-Atlantic DrupalCamp). So, please consider joining us even if you're in New York, DC, or anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic area (just don't wear your home team's sports jerseys). The event is free and includes drinks all day (non-alcoholic, so don't get too excited, this isn't another Phillies parade) and lunch.

Also- we're still looking for sponsors for the camp so if you love Drupal and/or would like to reach out to the region's growing Drupal community, please consider donating and, if you like, tabling at the event.

Below you can find linked pics to flickr sets from two recent Drupal related events. First are picks from the awesome DrupalCampNYC 2008. I attended this a few weeks back and had a great time learning, talking, teaching, brainstorming, etc.

Second, are pics from our office opening party. We moved into our offices, in a storefront on 15th and South here in Philadelphia, earlier this summer, but we only got the chance to get fully moved in after DrupalCon.

Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced my camera, so I don't have any pics from BADCamp yet.

DrupalCampNYC 2008:

Zivtech office opening party:

As I write this I’m sitting on a plane flying between Philadelphia and San Francisco, on my way to participate in this year’s BADCamp. I’ve been asked on more than one occasion why I would travel up the Turnpike to New York, let alone across the entire United States, to attend a regional Drupal Camp, and while I am always looking for an excuse to get on a plane, and The Bay Area is my second favorite city, the real reason that I’m traveling thousands of miles from home is community (and of course my love for everything Drupal).