DrupalCon for n00bs

DrupalCon LA is right around the corner! Woo hoo! I'll be there. Will you?

If this will be your first DrupalCon, I'd like to provide you with some ideas of how you can approach things. You have different options available to put together your Con:

• Sessions
• BOFS
• Sprints
• Exhibitor Hall
• Social Events

Sessions

When I attended my first Con (DrupalCon Denver) I packed my scheduled with sessions. I was determined to get in as much training as I could and I looked for sessions that covered things I wanted to learn more about. Before you go this same route, I would recommend that you consider a couple of points.

1. The sessions are taped and you can watch them at any point.
2. Part of the reason to attend a Con is to interact with the community.

So, sure, go ahead and pick out some sessions that interest you. But, make sure to check out some of the other options as well.

BOFs

Birds of a Feather (BOFs) give you the opportunity to have some real interaction with other people. They are meant to be a true conversation and not a presentation. The BOFs are not taped. So, you've got to be there to get it. Have a look through the scheduled BOFs and see if there is one that is run by one of your favorite core or contrib maintainers, centers around one of your favorite modules or that is just an opportunity to have some good old fashion fun. By the way, I'll be running a BOF on crowd funding online Drupal training.

Sprints

There are sprints going on all week long, continuing right into Friday and Saturday. Even more so than a BOF, a Sprint gives you a way to get some real hands on interaction. You can even participate in some sprints without having to write a single line of code. I'd definitely recommend that you find one Sprint you can attend. At some point during the Con, I'll be sprinting on the OG Forum functionality.

Exhibitor Hall

When I attended DrupalCon Portland I ended up spending an entire day just walking around the exhibitor hall talking to different people, both in the booths and outside of them. I don't know if I'd recommend spending an entire day, but I would suggest that you spend a bit of time here and there exploring the hall.

Social Events

As I have already mentioned, part of the reason to attend a Con is to interact with the community. You don't have to wear yourself out trying to get to every event and staying up all hours of the day. Make sure you don't give yourself the "Drupal Flu", but do make an appearance at one or two of the after hours gatherings.

I hope you have a blast at your (first) DrupalCon! If you see me there, please do come on up and introduce yourself. My Drupal "nick" is vegantriathlete.

Free Stuff!

One last thing: I'm offering all DrupalCon attendees, whether "live" or "virtual" free access to my first Udemy course. I'd love for you to sign up and tell me what you think! I'll be building out a full Drupal training curriculum over time.