Flashback Friday - DrupalCon Barcelona in 2007 and 2015

If you have deja vu when we say DrupalCon Barcelona, you could be one of the people who attended DrupalCon Barcelona back in 2007! In true Throwback Thursday fashion, we are going to break down the tried and true things that have been the same for the past eight years, and what you can expect to be different at our upcoming DrupalCon.

Changing with the times

To start with, there are many more Drupalers

In 2007, 450 attendees showed up to celebrate Drupal in Barcelona. For this coming September we are expecting four times more attendees to come together to learn, share and get social in the city all over again. Everything is going to be correspondingly larger as a result.

More sharing on more topics

In 2007, the Con offered 84 sessions. As our attendance has grown, so has our demand for broader content, which is why for our 2015 Con we will be offering 120 sessions with quite a few tracks that didn’t appear 8 years prior. The increased contend doesn’t stop with sessions: we will also offer:

• 3 plenary sessions highlighting four keynote speakers, a bit more than the 1 we had in 2007
• we will hold a Business Summit along with 8 trainings on Monday
• Even more opportunities to sprint beginning at 9:00 on the Saturday before the Con until midnight the Sunday after. Of course, there are also tons of evening social events where you can get your Drupal on, 2015-style.

First-Timer Fun

Over the years, we have heard a lot of feedback that although the Drupal community is welcoming and friendly, the sheer scale of it can make it a bit intimidating and overwhelming to go to your first DrupalCon. We tested out a First Time Attendees Social in Los Angeles, and it went so well that we’re replicating it in Barcelona. Join us Monday evening for the First Time Attendee Social, where new Con attendees can make friends and talk with DrupalCon veterans full of tips and great advice.

Tickets Cost More

In 2007, the price of the Con was a mere 50€ which was amazing! As the Cons have gotten bigger, it’s become increasingly difficult to find space in popular cities such as Barcelona that have space for keynotes, exhibit halls, lots of sessions and BoFs, 24/7 sprinting, lunch and well-priced nearby hotels. While the price for DrupalCon Barcelona 2015 will be higher, we have done our best to keep the price as low as possible while continuing to provide all the elements that are now expected of Cons. We are looking forward to releasing more information about what it costs to run a Con with the Los Angeles wrap blog post next month.

Tech Updates

Thanks to the amazing work from the various Con teams throughout the years, we have enjoyed some great technological advances at each DrupalCon. In Barcelona in 2007, not all rooms had microphones, presenters were requested to upload their own presentations and slides to slideshare, and the main keynotes were not streamed live. This time around, we are happy to offer a typical AV set-up in each session room (mic, podium, screen), live streaming for the keynotes and closing session, and YouTube archiving that is almost instantaneous. Throwback bonus: in 2007 there was talk about offering session recordings on a DVD for conference attendees to watch at home after the Con, and we are sorry to say we will not be offering this ;).

Keeping it the Same

Dries’ Welcome

A Con is not a Con without a welcome from Dries! On Tuesday, 22 September, we will hear from Dries about the ‘State of Drupal’ but instead of highlighting the Drupal 6.0 beta which was released four days before the 2007 Con, we are hoping to hear some grEIGHT announcements from Dries about the what’s happening for Drupal in 2015.

Speakers

Besides Dries, there are many speakers who shared their knowledge in 2007 and will be sharing new content this time around. agentrickard won’t be highlighting Enterprise Drupal this time around, but instead will talk about reimagining content management; eaton won’t be telling us about the exciting future of nodes like he did in 2007 but will share his knowledge on how to build a (billable) content strategy practice; although crell won’t be speaking about PHP, he has become the PHP Track Chair this time around… and, of course, Gábor Hojtsy will speak about multi-lingual, just like he did eight years ago.

Drupal CAT is still helping organize

The people at Drupal CAT (the Catalan Drupal group) along with many other volunteers were instrumental in putting on the Con in 2007. The Drupal Association was a wee baby at only 1 year old, and we have now grown up and have taken on the Cons. While the DA has taken the reins, the faces of Drupal CAT are still playing a huge role and the goal to provide a great Con still lives on in the local community.

People will always want more/better coffee

Even back in 2007, when the organizers requested feedback on the Con, there were people that wanted better and more coffee. It seems that even with the changing times, large venues just don’t provide amazing coffee during a conference. While we are working our best to provide a lot (we know you want it!) of coffee for Barcelona 2.0, we also understand that there will be people who provide the same feedback as they did in 2007. Happily, one thing that will change in regards to coffee is that Neil Drumm will now partake in the beverage: he told the Events team he ‘was not drinking coffee’ back then. Hopefully he isn’t disappointed by what the convention center has to offer.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you about what you are planning on repeating from DrupalCon Barcelona 2007 and what you are excited that will be different. We’re sure that all our attendees are going to have a great time, and that DrupalCon Barcelona is going to be fantastic. After all, it’s the attendees that make a Con great, and we couldn’t be happier to work with the best community in the world. Make sure to get your ticket and bring a friend to make new memories with.

Flickr photo by André Ellis
Group photo by Dries Buytaert