DrupalCon Portland 2013: Impressions and experiences

5th June 2013

Tim Deeson

Director

I returned from DrupalCon Portland recently. As usual it was a tidalwave of new information, new contacts and catching up with longstanding friends and acquaintances.

Drupal 8 Roadmap

Dries' keynote gave a great overview of progress on Drupal 8 and some of the features that will have direct benefit to project delivery and client.

Structured content

Karen McGrane delivered a provocative take on the current state of WYSIWYG, the pros and cons of in-place editing and the importance of structured content, a topic close to our content strategist's hearts.

Making sure the voice of content creators is heard at DrupalCon

We heard that Relly Annett-Baker, a content strategist working with the Ministry of Justice, was struggling to make it to Portland, session speakers aren't paid expenses or fees, and we were really pleased to be able help support her. She ran a great session and it was fascinating to hear about her experiences with Drupal from a content perspective. Watch out for some guest blogs here soon!

DrupalCon Stories

I recently wrote a guest blog for the Drupal Association encouraging people to organise DrupalCamps and giving them some pointers from my experience with DrupalCamp London. Through this, I found out about the Drupal Association's DrupalCon Stories project which led to content in the form of photos, tweets and blogs throughout DrupalCon.

Blogs included some 'unexpected' experiences in downtown Portland and on themes around the Maker and Open Source communities, and the amazing opportunities that Drupal creates.