The Decoupled Menus Initiative is hosting a contribution hackathon where you can help us test both the response format of the proposed menu API, and the new General project type on Drupal.org for facilitating development of JavaScript libraries within the Drupal ecosystem.

What:

Join a team and contribute to one of the existing projects, or start your own and show off your ideas.

The goal of the hackathon is to create (or improve existing) projects on Drupal.org that leverage the proposed menu API in order to test the API itself and the new infrastructure for developing JavaScript libraries on Drupal.org.

There are a couple of existing projects, with well-defined issues, that would be a great place to jump in and help out.

Or you can start your own. This is your chance to share your experience from past projects, or get creative and dream up new ways of navigating a menu.

We’ve set up a demo API endpoint that you can use to test a menu provided by Drupal. Check it out here, and here.

Some inspiration to get the creative ideas flowing:

• Have a favorite JavaScript library that's not already represented (Vue, Angular, Ember, Svelte, etc.)? Create a project that demonstrates how to consume a Drupal menu using that library.

• What is the digital signage representation of a menu?

• Help add tests to one of the existing components.

• What would it look like to navigate a Drupal menu via voice commands like Alexa?

• Can you play Doom via a Drupal menu?

If you want to start a team, or have ideas but aren't sure where to go next come find one of us and we'll help get you pointed in the right direction.

Who:

Anyone and everyone is welcome. Whether this is your first time, or you're an experienced contributor, we'll have mentors who can help answer your questions and guide you along the way. And whether you want to write code, create docs, design interactive UIs, or anything else, we'll do our best to put your unique skills to work.

Have an idea for a project and want to find others to collaborate with? Let us know and we can help create the space, and link you up with potential collaborators.

When:

Tuesday, 13 April is Decoupled Menus Day at DrupalCon. The morning will consist of a keynote and related sessions. And in the afternoon we’ll kick off the contribution hackathon. This is when we'll form teams, group newcomers with mentors, and generally provide the most hands-on guidance.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we'll schedule a time to hang out, answer questions, and help in any way we can. Expect this to be maybe about an hour each day. Though, many of us are in Slack (#decoupled-menus-initiative) and can be reached there asynchronously.

Throughout the rest of the week, you and your team are free to self-organize and work on your projects whenever it works for you.

Where:

The primary gathering space for the hackathon will be Open Social and Zoom.

We'll have a main Zoom call set-up where you can go for questions and guidance at any time. As well as individual Zoom calls for focused collaboration on specific topics. Think of these like how groups are often organized by table in a traditional code sprint.

The Open Social site contains a list of scheduled events and links to relevant Zoom rooms.

You find us in the #decoupled-menus-initiative on Slack.

All the links:

Our Diamond Sponsors
 

Browse this year’s scheduled sessions to create your personalized DrupalCon experience, tailored to your interests. Whether you’re a developer interested in building new skills, a marketer who wants to learn more about digital experiences and branding, or a Drupal user looking for insights on accessibility and inclusion, you’ll find a session to meet your needs.

New for 2021! Participation in industry summits is included in your DrupalCon ticket, and summits will be held throughout the month of April.

• Take time to focus on your industry without missing out on DrupalCon content
• Connect directly with colleagues and peers in your industry through chat, 1:1 networking, and other platform features
• Get exclusive access to creative and flexible sessions, with the chance to join additional breakout groups and roundtable discussions

Register now to be part of DrupalCon 2021 and get access to all event content and the industry summits throughout April!

Last call for scholarships - 26 March application deadline

We’re also looking for scholarship mentors—people who have attended DrupalCon in the past and can help new DrupalCon participants get the most out of the experience. Mentors help provide a warm welcome to the community. 

Register for DrupalCon and sign up to be a scholarship mentor today.

Celebrate 20 years of Drupal at DrupalFest events throughout April

Join the global Drupal community in celebrating 20 years of community-led, open source innovation at DrupalFest events—from training workshops to virtual happy hours. Most DrupalFest events will be hosted online, by people within the Drupal community, and are free to join. 

Browse confirmed events, and join your fellow Drupal enthusiasts in celebrating community, collaboration, connection, and two decades of positive impacts made possible by Drupal.

Have an idea for a DrupalFest event you’d like to host? Submit it here.

Whether you’re looking for premium branding, speaking engagements, or a virtual booth, there’s still time to sponsor DrupalCon North America.

Hear why Gold Sponsor, Amazee.io, is sponsoring

This is your chance to highlight your business as an important part of the largest annual gathering of Drupal talent, experts, agencies, and users. Sponsorships start at just $4,050 - contact [email protected] for more information.

Register now!

Our Platinum Sponsors

Thank you to our newest sponsors supporting DrupalCon North America 2021!

Have a question?

Wednesday at DrupalCon will feature content focussed on the Easy Out of the Box strategic initiative, as well as all the usual great things we have lined up for DrupalCon.

Rachel Lawson caught up with some of the Initiative Team to find out what they had to tell us.

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Cristina Chumillas, Emilie Nouveau, AmyJune Hineline, Sascha Eggenberger, and Tim Plunkett will guide us on a journey about Easy Out of the Box, starting with a Keynote introducing the initiative, suggested sessions to attend to increase your knowledge related to the initiative, as well support to contribute to the initiative following the live sessions at DrupalCon.

We cannot think of a better way of wrapping up a whole week at DrupalCon than a focused look at the next major release of Drupal, version 10, and how we will get there.

Rachel Lawson caught up with some of the Initiative Team to find out what they had to tell us.

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Gábor Hojtsy, Chris Darke (ChrisDarke), Ofer Shaal (shaal), and Lauri Eskola (lauriii) will guide us on a journey about Drupal 10 Readiness, starting with a Keynote introducing the initiative, suggested sessions to attend to increase your knowledge related to the initiative, as well support to contribute to the initiative following the live sessions at DrupalCon.

Atcheson will talk about one crucial way everyone can play a role in making our work environments and technology more inclusive: intersectional allyship. She’ll discuss how we can consider, champion, and advocate for the needs of others through all of our processes, and offer useful tips on how to become a more inclusive person in your own day-to-day life.

Atcheson is Global Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Peakon, an advisory board member with Women Who Code, and author of Demanding More: Why Diversity and Inclusion Don’t Happen, and What You Can Do About It. 

Hear her speak on Monday, April 12 at 12:10 pm EDT (UTC -4).

Submit an event for DrupalFest: April 1 - 30

Have an idea for how to celebrate Drupal’s 20th birthday? We’re looking for submissions from within the community for DrupalFest, held online throughout the month of April. DrupalFest is a series of free, virtual events focused on community, contribution, and the positive impacts Drupal has made possible. Submit your ideas for virtual Drupal contribution events, skill-building workshops, and fun ways to come together and celebrate online.

Explore event ideas, and submit your own event. 

Nominate a Drupal contributor for the 2021 Aaron Winborn Award

Register today, get swag

Become a DrupalCon sponsor and reach our global Drupal community

Contact us today to learn about DrupalCon sponsorship opportunities.

Our Diamond Sponsor
 

Our Platinum Sponsors

Thank you to our newest sponsors supporting DrupalCon North America 2021!

Have a question?

On Monday, April 12 Drupal Founder Dries Buytaert will introduce key strategic initiatives in his highly anticipated Driesnote. Tuesday, April 12 - Friday, April 16 will begin with a keynote presentation focused on one of Drupal’s strategic initiatives, and you can join sessions throughout the live programming for more context on that day’s featured initiative. Whether or not you have technical experience, there is a way to get involved in the initiative.

Following the DrupalCon sessions, you’ll have the chance to participate in contribution activities related to the initiative, with support from Drupal initiative leaders and mentors.
 

The specific initiatives we’ll be focusing on include:

• Auto Updates and Bug Smash: Implement a secure system for automatically deploying safe, secure updates for Drupal sites, providing cost efficiencies and peace of mind for clients and Drupal end users
• Decoupled Menus: Develop an easy-to-integrate solution to provide the best way for JavaScript front ends to consume configurable menus managed in Drupal
• Drupal 10 Readiness: Update and enhance the platform in advance of the Drupal 10 launch in 2022, enabling a smooth, secure transition
• Easy Out of the Box: Improve upon Drupal 9 features and enable new ones to make Drupal even easier to use

On January 15, 2021, Drupal celebrated its 20th birthday - a major accomplishment for an open source project! As we look to the future, how can we propel Drupal forward to be the top digital experience platform?

Vision. Contribution. Innovation.

With Drupal 10 on the horizon for summer of 2022, the Drupal Association is helping to rally the community around Drupal’s key strategic initiatives, critical to meeting this milestone. We are collaborating with the Core Mentoring Coordinators, the Core Initiative Coordinators, and the DrupalCon Program Committee to evolve the contribution experience at DrupalCon to support key initiatives, illustrate how to get involved, and, ultimately, accelerate project innovation.

DrupalCon North America will incorporate Drupal's strategic goals and contribution opportunities into the main event programming. As part of your DrupalCon experience, you will have the ability to deep dive into a specific initiative or participate in more general conference programming. 

Each day, we focus

Each day, in addition to the traditional DrupalCon content, we will have a focus on one of the Drupal Project’s Strategic Initiatives and will begin with an Initiative Keynote. Key members of the Initiative will take us all on a journey through the goals of that initiative, and how it will help create a better product for us all to build future digital experiences. Co-speakers will join the keynote to place the initiative in the wider context of the value this feature brings to Drupal. This content will not just be for developers, but for everyone who has a stake in the strategic future of Drupal.

At the conclusion of the session, all the keynote speakers will be available for discussion with attendees.

Throughout the day, the program will contain select, highlighted content that helps participants of all backgrounds and skill sets to learn in detail how the initiative works, how it will enable them to build more exciting experiences, how to sell those experiences more effectively, and how they can participate in contributing to the initiative’s success.

Each day, we contribute

In the latter part of the day, participants will have the option to engage in interactive and supported contribution activities. Contribution opportunities will be available for both technical and non-technical audiences at all experience levels.

The day’s initiative keynote team will be available to coordinate contributions, alongside our mentoring team. On other days, we will all give the initiative team the space to build upon the successes coming out of their day in the spotlight.

Contribution is not limited to the focused initiatives. There will be space and opportunity for individuals who already have their own contribution teams and goals. You’re encouraged to work on them at DrupalCon and share your stories via #DrupalContributions for us to share with the wider community.

The transformation of contribution opportunities at DrupalCon will only make an impact with your support. Accelerate the project by contributing at DrupalCon and elevate the future of Drupal.

We hope you'll join us! Register for DrupalCon today.

More information about the specific schedule, content, and areas of focus for contribution will be coming soon. 

Editor's note: DrupalCon contribution activities will be available for free for non-ticket-holders as always.

About DrupalCon North America 2021

At DrupalCon North America 2021, the people who create the digital experiences the world relies on every day—developers, marketers, agency leaders, and business decision makers—come together to learn about the latest Drupal developments and contribute to the future of the platform.

This year’s all-virtual event, April 12-16, is designed to fit into your schedule, so you can still participate in the conference while balancing work and life at home. Live sessions will be held across five days, Monday - Friday from 11:00AM - 3:00PM Eastern, with these contribution activities in the latter part of the day

In events ranging from keynote presentations to hands-on skill-building workshops, you’ll:

• Learn Drupal best practices, new skills, and innovative strategies you can use in your own projects.
• Connect with others in the Drupal community, growing your network and collaborating on ways to make the platform even better.
• Build your career or business, with opportunities to showcase your own work and meet potential employers, clients, talent, and partners.

Whether you attend DrupalCon to hear the vision from founder Dries Buytaert, to learn from mainstage speakers about open source and beyond, to develop your own talent or recruit talent of others, or to build relationships with new contributors, collaborators, and friends - there is a place for you at DrupalCon. 

Don’t miss your last chance to register for DrupalCon at the early bird rate

Whether you’re new to Drupal or have been attending DrupalCon for years, you won’t want to miss this year’s all-virtual event. In keynote presentations, hands-on workshops, breakout discussion groups, and interactive sessions, you’ll connect with a global community of developers, marketers, and leaders — people who want to learn about what you’re doing with Drupal and have their own expertise to share. 

Dive deeper into issues related to your industry and share insights with peers in your field at a DrupalCon summit. Participation in industry summits are included this year with your DrupalCon ticket. Dates are spread throughout the month of April so you don't have to miss a thing. 

Learn more about the call for content and submit today! The session submission deadline is Sunday, February 14 at 11:59 pm EST (UTC -5). Send questions about DrupalCon (session submission process, logistics, etc.) to the DrupalCon team. Get tips and request proposal feedback anytime in the #session-help Slack channel.

A note from our fabulous 2020 program committee:

“Imposter syndrome” — something we seem to be hearing about more often. Not familiar with the term? Gill Corkindale defines imposter syndrome beautifully in Harvard Business Review: 

Imposter syndrome can be defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. ‘Imposters’ suffer from chronic self-doubt and a sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any feelings of success or external proof of their competence. High achieving, highly successful people often suffer, so imposter syndrome doesn’t equate with low self-esteem or a lack of self-confidence. In fact, some researchers have linked it with perfectionism, especially in women and among academics.

In 1978 clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes came up with the term “imposter phenomenon” after recognizing a pattern of feelings in graduate students. Through this research they created the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), which helps individuals evaluate their level of imposterness.

Many times, when a person considers presenting in front of an audience, imposter syndrome comes, too. We’ve chatted as a committee and have come up with a few thoughts to share. 

Why is this relevant to you?

Do any of the following sound like something you might say?

• Everyone else around me knows so much more than I do
• I’m not sure why [potential employer] would hire me when [someone else] is available
• If I ask or talk about this, everyone will realize that I don’t know as much as they think I do
• [Another Drupaler] is far more qualified than me to teach this subject
• I should offer a discount for this job because I’m not as good at this as [insert someone else’s name here]

Chances are pretty high that, if you are reading this post at all, you are party to this pattern. Why do we feel confident making this assumption? Because you are curious enough to submit that you are paying attention to the resources, but you feel that you need to prepare yourself with more information before doing so. The very fact that you are interested in submitting content means that you have something valuable to share. And we want you to submit, as we want and need your voice.

The worst that can happen: your proposal is not accepted. Even then, however, you and your unique ideas are now top of mind for a collection of Drupalers, and our own journeys are anecdotal evidence of this directly translating into impact, personal growth and future opportunities.

And consider this: you probably think of the session selection team as experts in the field because someone thought we should be part of this team and invited us to join, right? Well, how is it that we are capable of writing this post if we are such hotshots? Frankly, because we have these thoughts every day. We are not hotshots, but simply people who took the scary step to put ourselves out there even though we doubted ourselves.

How does imposter syndrome come into play at DrupalCon?

It is common for Drupalers to think that whatever they may have to share is status quo and everyone knows it, but if you start asking around, everyone is always looking for better solutions. It is highly unlikely that two people will approach similar challenges exactly the same way, and your “basic” talk idea might be exactly what dozens or hundreds of people need in order to level-up their Drupal skills.

True story from one of our session team members: in 2010 Rain, then fairly new to Drupal, submitted “Views Demystified” because the very basic chapter on Views from Angie Byron (webchick) and Addison Berry (add1sun)’s book, Using Drupal, saved her hundreds of hours building Drupal sites. Rain figured it wouldn’t be accepted or attended because of course everyone else knew Views, but she submitted anyway.

This very simple beginner talk not only landed hundreds of attendees at the Con and was directly requested for many camps and meetups for years following, but it also had a lasting impact on many. To date, after nearly a decade, Rain continues to encounter people who tell her this talk changed their Drupal-lives.

When preparing your submission, think about what would be useful if you were in the audience of a potential session. If it’s useful to you, then someone else wants to learn about it too. Not every session has to be something new or cutting-edge; sometimes the most obvious topics are the ones people need most! 

Your idea, no matter how basic it seems, might be that key talk for future generations of Drupalers. 

Overcoming imposter syndrome in the moment

Imposter syndrome can also make presenting feel scary, especially when things don’t quite go as planned. 

Shaky Wi-Fi connection from an unanticipated windstorm? Dog decides to create a symphony with a siren? Mishaps happen. It’s helpful to acknowledge that things go wrong—it’s normal! You are supportive and have patience when mishaps happen to others, so show yourself patience. At DrupalCon in particular, remember that much of the audience have been speakers themselves. They understand and are rooting for you!

Don’t let it bother you if an audience member leaves or sign-off, there could be any reason for this. Perhaps they have an emergency to tend to, someone scheduled a meeting that overlaps with part of your presentation, or they realized the content wasn’t quite what they were looking for and they’d like to make another session instead. This is not a reflection of you, or your speaking. Focus on the people who are there and engaged.

If it all goes awry, be honest! If you’re nervous, say so. If you need help, ask for it. A session host will be there to support you and can help stimulate conversation with the participants while you adjust your slides or microphone. Team up with a friend and co-present. This tends to take some pressure off each person, and provides at least one guaranteed familiar face.

You’ve got this

If you’re feeling a dose of imposter syndrome, perhaps that means you’re surrounding yourself with people who motivate and challenge you. That’s admirable! 

Some powerful advice from Megan Dalla-Camina’s article in Psychology Today:

At the end of the day, remember this: You are here for a reason. In this job, your business, your life, you are worthy. You are better than you think you are. You are smarter than you think you are. You know more than you give yourself credit for. Remember that. And remind yourself as often as you need to.

Remember, you’ve got this!

Contributed by Esther Lee and Rain Breaw Michaels.

Register now to save $50USD

Attend DrupalCon to:

• Learn the latest technology 
• Grow your Drupal skills
• Deliver more value to your organization and clients
• Build a stronger network 
• Share your knowledge with others
• Contribute to the Drupal project

Early registration ends February 3 at 11:59 PM ET.

DrupalCon North America 2021 is officially pivoting to a virtual event for the safety of our community. We will gather together online April 12 - 16, 2021. Join us to build Drupal, make connections, and foster friendships through DrupalCon!

We are delighted to have you join us for the first ever Virtual edition of DrupalCon Europe 2020.

Let's kick off!

Today, Tuesday, 8 December 2020, the first parallel sessions, tracks, BoFs and workshops will launch DrupalCon Europe 2020 Virtual Meeting at 9:15 CET.

Drupal initiative leads keynote from 16:30 to 18:00 CET

Drupal’s initiatives form powerful teams that make great things happen. Core initiatives self-organize to get new improvements to the base system while community initiatives coordinate event organization, spread diversity best practices, collaborate on promotional materials, and so on.

Speakers: Putra Bonaccorsi, Ted Bowman, Len Swaneveld, Neil Drumm, Ryan Aslett, Baddy Sonja Breidert, Gábor Hojtsy.

We cheerfully invite you all at 18:15 CET to join the Official Opening Ceremony Don't miss this convivial moment: The Flamenco Session, known by most of you as a Spanish typical dance. You will be able to see a demonstration from the professional dancer Marta G. Blanco and as well learn some of its basic moves.

Visit our Sponsors in the Virtual exhibition and request live meetings to video-chat with them and learn about what they offer.  We hope you enjoy your first day with us! 

With kind regards, 

DrupalCon Europe 2020 Congress Secretariat

Kuoni Congress

[email protected]