Upgrade Your Drupal Skills

We trained 1,000+ Drupal Developers over the last decade.

See Advanced Courses NAH, I know Enough

“More Like a Drupal Community Celebration than a Tech Industry Trade Show”

Parent Feed: 

In preparation for DrupalCon 2019, Chris O’Donnell, Digital Strategist, for Promet Source shared his views on the vibe of this annual conference, as well as Drupal’s current standing within the ecosystem of enterprise-level CMS platforms.  
 

What are you looking forward to at DrupalCon Seattle?

One of the best parts of DrupalCon for me is the community. It’s an opportunity to connect with people who I might only get to see once a year -- colleagues from other Drupal development companies, previous clients, current clients, and like-minded people from all over the country. There’s a ton of training and all of the sessions are driven by community involvement -- people who are just sharing their knowledge for the fun of it, or as a way to give back to the community.

Last year at DrupalCon, there was a proprietary software company exhibiting for the first time. They seemed really confused by a world where a development company was on the stage with some of its best customers. Why would anyone share great information with potential competitors? They were really confused by the entire thing - competitors coming together to openly share knowledge just didn't compute for them.

How would you explain it?

DrupalCon is more like a Drupal community celebration than a tech industry trade show. 

I think it was President Kennedy who said, “A rising tide lifts all boats,” and the same principle applies within the Drupal Community, or any open source community. The more brain power that goes into it, the better it is for everybody. As an open-source CMS, the Drupal community is driven by the community and the needs of users. Anything that anyone does to improve or add to Drupal is freely available to all. 

I joined the Drupal community in 2014, and I love being among hundreds of thousands of people around the world who contribute to the community in various ways. 


What are your observations on how DrupalCon 2019 has evolved?

There has been a pretty big shift this year as the Con has been organized around specific tracks. Drupal 8 ushered in an orientation toward more of an enterprise-level focus, and that’s been reflected in the kind of training that’s offered and an expanded sphere of people who are attending.

With so much going on, what's your advice for attendees for getting the most out of DrupalCon 2019?

Use the schedule builder feature on the DrupalCon website to build a DrupalCon Seattle schedule for yourself of sessions you want to be sure to catch. Don’t forget to look at the Birds of a Feather events, which tend to be smaller and more informal. And don’t schedule yourself so tight that you miss out on the hallway track. My most interesting conversations at DrupalCon usually happen in the hallways and at evening social events.
 

How would you characterize Drupal’s position today within the world of web content management platforms?

Drupal is an enterprise-level content management platform that delivers much of the functionality you would expect from some of the million dollar proprietary CMS platforms, while still retaining the freedom and flexibility inherent in its open-source roots.
 

What are your thoughts on when, why or how Drupal has achieved this status?

I think it was a coordinated effort related to the Drupal 8 rollout. D8 was a total rewrite of the CMS, with the goal of producing an enterprise-grade CMS that would be on par with the established and expensive proprietary platforms. The momentum is now really strong for Drupal as an enterprise CMS.

What sets Drupal apart from other web content management platforms?

The freedom, flexibility, and lack of license fees that come with open source set it apart from all the proprietary options. It’s different from any other open-source CMS in that it has strong corporate sponsorship, a dedicated security team, and an enterprise heavy install base.


What will the extent of your participation in DrupalCon Seattle?

I’m excited about attending the GovSummit on Monday, April 8, and will be presenting in the Builder Track at 3:15 on Wednesday, April 10, in Room 608. Otherwise, I’ll be in and out of sessions and at the Promet Booth (#308) for the rest of the event. This is Promet’s 12th year as an attendee and 11th year as a sponsor. Once again, we’ll be all over DrupalCon. The entire senior leadership team will be there, along with some of our senior developers and our entire sales and marketing team. I’m particularly excited about the addition of Mindy League to our leadership team this year. The Human Centered Design team that she is heading represents an exciting expansion for Promet. I definitely recommend that anyone who is interested in the very latest in design thinking for digital experiences make it a point to grab some time with Mindy. 


How would you characterize Promet’s client base for whom Drupal proves to be the right solution?

Very much in line with what Dries Buytaert, the founder of Drupal said at DrupalCon two years ago: “Drupal is for organizations that are looking to build ambitious digital experiences.” It’s not so much about the size of the company or the team, it’s about the reach and impact that the site needs to have. 

The fact is, I spend very little time selling Drupal websites. I sell e-commerce solutions that will generate more revenue. I sell accessibility, more streamlined user experiences, sites that are better targeted to the needs of customers, and sites that more effectively reflect an organization brand image.

Be sure to stop by booth #308 at Drupalcon in Seattle, April 8-12 to visit with us, or Contact us today for a conversation about how Promet can create an ambitious digital experience for your organization. 

Photo credit: Michael Cannon

<

Author: 
Original Post: 

About Drupal Sun

Drupal Sun is an Evolving Web project. It allows you to:

  • Do full-text search on all the articles in Drupal Planet (thanks to Apache Solr)
  • Facet based on tags, author, or feed
  • Flip through articles quickly (with j/k or arrow keys) to find what you're interested in
  • View the entire article text inline, or in the context of the site where it was created

See the blog post at Evolving Web

Evolving Web