Every Monday we get asked about our weekend by our colleagues and typically struggle to respond with more than a shrug and, “Oh, fine.” Well, after the weekend of August 7 and 8, our own Rick Wagner and Chris Bauer offered a great response: they went to DrupalCampLA2010.
DrupalCampLA, for those who don’t know, is DrupalLA's annual conference. The conference brings together Drupal users from all over southern California to share ideas and strategies, strengthen ties and encourage communication. Through two days of formal sessions and more informal BoFs, the attendees enjoyed unlimited opportunities to explore, learn, and ultimately disagree about Drupal development.
Unlike most conferences we’ve attended over the years, DrupalCampLA has some very distinctive features. Like Drupal, it’s completely free. You might also think of it as open source as well. For weeks prior to the conference, DrupalLA solicited ideas for sessions from users, and then allowed online registration. This way they could schedule the sessions that most attendees wanted to see.
Bauer’s favorite session was Helior Colorado’s presentation on Theme Packets. These are collections of files and functions that enable an easier organization of themes while developing in Drupal. Wagner, meanwhile, preferred Doug Vann's session on using WebEnabled.com as a development environment for Drupal projects. Vann showed how WebEnabled.com provides and maintains tools and infrastructure to enable users to work and collaborate more easily.
Of course, in addition to deepening our technical expertise, we also renewed some friendships. Wagner and Bauer drove up to Los Angeles together after meeting in our offices here in San Diego. While at the conference, Wagner happily had time to catch up with the entire San Diego Drupal User’s Group, and Bauer was very pleased to have met Stephanie Parkrul from Top Notch Themes, creators of Fusion.
