Posted by OldAccount on August 18, 2009 at 6:10pm
I'm sure most of you have probably seen that Lullabot has announced their latest seminar/conference: Do It With Drupal 2009. I'm still pretty new to Drupal so I've never been to any kind of conference/event.
I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks about the different options, whether it's worth waiting to see where the next U.S.-based Drupalcon is, or if I should try to check out the Lullabot event in New Orleans? Is one geared more for newbies and another for more advanced developers?
Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions!
Comments
My impression
My impression is that Do It With Drupal is more about building sites and strategies around that, beginner to advanced with an emphasis on beginner. Drupalcon is a bit more random and around building sites but also other topics like building the community, specific modules, Drupal Association and the Drupal core (note there are code sprints before and after Drupalcon Paris). Drupal camps seem to be a mix of the two, though more for learning, than deciding the path Drupal will take.
I went to the Drupal Camp in Chicago last fall and Drupalcon Boston a year and half ago. Both taught me a ton, and the people were ab-fab as with all Drupal events. I will return to the next American Drupalcon (personal conflicts kept me out of DC) and likely Drupal camp Chicago
camp and con
I only went to a camp and a con and not to lullabot.
To my understanding, lullabot has a strong emphasis on teaching what they are so famous for. There is also a large difference in price ... You might be interested in the lullabot's online training too.
The other two (con, camp) are more a kind of meetings and how tos.
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Bettina
Don't Follow Trends: Set Them!
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Bettina
Don't Follow Trends: Set Them!
https://drupal-training.de
https://www.skool.com/drupal/about
Is Chicago the closest Camp to Ohio
Is the Chicago Drupal Camp the closest one to Ohio? Are we looking to have an Ohio Camp?
Gregg Short
GShort.com Web Marketing and Design
gregg a t -- g s h ort.com
Burbank, OH
I think so
I think Chicago is the closest, not counting BOF's and session at Ohio Linux fest :)
Other's I have heard of in the "region" are
Philly
NYC
Nashville (though that may have been a barcamp)
You interested Ohio. If I remember correctly the Chicago team said their budget (which used to be on their site) was in the 5-7K range (for space, food, transporting speakers/trainers, etc...). Raising that $$ seems to be the biggest hurdle. I can get a copy of their budget if people are ineterested.
Do It With Drupal vs DrupalCon/Camps
Hi Laura!
We like to see Do It With Drupal as a "learning conference". While DrupalCon and a lot of the camps are a great way to jump into the deep end, we try to make our event more of a guided experience with a focus on quality control and clear communication. And, as jalama said above, DIWD is also focused on pragmatic information for building Drupal sites NOW. You won't find any sessions on suggestions for API improvements or better ways to store the menu system in the database for future versions of Drupal. Instead you'll find sessions dissecting websites like the New York Observer or FastCompany.com (both from last year's schedule) discussing exactly what it took to build them. We also present what we call "fantasy sites" where we demonstrate how we built popular websites using Drupal - last year we built BaseCamp, YouTube, Twitter, and Flickr! Another big focus of Do It With Drupal is the non-Drupal stuff which goes into building a Drupal site, such as community building, project management, server performance tuning, and that sort of thing.
I won't go on and on, but we do try to address this in the Do It With Drupal FAQ. Overall, DIWD is a much less ad hoc event where you can show up with a handful of questions and be sure that you'll come away with the information you need.
Hope that helps!
-= Jeff Robbins | The Do It With Drupal Seminar =-
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Thanks so much for all your replies
I have a better idea of the distinction now, sounds like DIWD is more appropriate for where I'm at on the learning curve. I've already benefited from Lullabot's tutorials, so I have no doubt this event will be just as helpful and well thought-out. I just realized it was mostly (if not all) Lullabot people that wrote the "Using Drupal" book that made me finally understand theming. I hope I can make it!
that's not al they wrote
They also wrote the Pro Drupal Development book, the book used by anyone who does any programming as at least a references manual
My 2 cents
I've been to 2 Cons, 3 Camps, 4 Lullabot workshops, and seen most of the videos from DIWD 2009.
I can tell you that any Lullabot organized event is higher density and quality of instruction. I strongly urge you to consider a double edged sword approach to this.
[1] Register for the Drupal Fundamentals Online Workshop This is where you will gain the FUNDAMENTALS that took mew so long to acquire. It's 6 weeks [every Tuesday starting 9/9/10] 1-3 pm EDT. The link gives ALL the details. But I will add that this is an incredible opportunity that DID NOT EXIST when I was starting out. :-(
[2] The DIWD event is an excellent addition to your training. Having the fundamentals from the online training will allow you to really follow along later with the DIWD sessions. Can you get the fundamentals at DIWD? Not as detailed and as nicely packaged and digestible as it will be delivered in the online course listed in item [1] above.
It may make for an expensive year of training, but let me assure you. The demand for what you're learning to do is up and up and going no where but up! 19 months ago I didn't know Drupal still existed. I thought it died a silent death. I was a casual Joomla user who wasn't real happy with Joomla. Now I work full time as a Drupal Lead Developer for www.DuoConsulting.com and I travel the planet teaching ppl how to use Drupal.
Let us know what you end up doing.
It looks like you might be attending my Drupal KickStart session at the Ohio Linux Fest? Is that right?
I have a good grasp of the
I have a good grasp of the fundamentals now (I think), after digesting Using Drupal and Front End Drupal. I think I mistakingly said it was Using Drupal that gave me my A-HA! moment, but it was actually Front End Drupal that did that. Nonetheless, I still think very highly of Lullabot.
I have the green light to go, so I'll be there (yay my first big Drupal event!) And yes, I'll be at your KickStart presentation as well. Look forward to meeting you!
Laura
Twitter - LinkedIn
I forgot to mention a FREE resource that should help
A few weeks ago I was in LA presenting two sessions for beginners. I did them each twice and the 1st time arround we recorded a screencast of them.
If you visit http://replay.nacs.uci.edu/public/summer2009/DxLA/ Towards the bottom you will find: "dxla intro to drupal" those are mine. There is a variety of formats available to suit your multimedia needs.
Also check out the "cck demystified" which I presented. Also be sure to check out the 2hr marathon of "views demystified" which was presented by Rain Breaw.
All in all I just recommended 4 hours of screencasts. After watching those [and following along on your own install] you really should be ROCKIN' ! ;-) !Additionally, it would assist you later as you engage in other learning resources.
OK.... I need to stop... I could add something to this post every day and never hit the bottom! There are just SO SO many resources. :-)