The Drupal Community in Poland has a legacy of over a decade of gathering Drupal users and fans yearly. DrupalCamp Poland is a manifestation of the ethos and vision Drupal, and its community believe in: striving to keep the web open while keeping your close ones together!
DrupalCamp Poland 2024 kicks off tomorrow, May 18th, and it’s shaping up to be an exciting day for Drupal enthusiasts and IT professionals. As the largest conference in Poland dedicated to the Drupal CMS, it promises a vibrant mix of learning, networking, and community spirit.
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This year, the largest city in Poland and its capital, Warsaw, will host the 13th edition of DrupalCamp Poland. Attendees will have the opportunity to dive into lectures and workshops led by international experts, sharing their insights on the latest trends, tools, and best practices in Drupal and PHP development. As the proud media sponsor of the event, The DropTimes is bringing you every minute detail you need to know about DrupalCamp Poland 2024.
"The main goal of the conference is to bring together the Polish Drupal community to talk about what is happening in the market, new modules, and possibilities."
Attendees can not only listen but also share their knowledge during discussion panels and on the topics they propose themselves.
"... plus can build a bond between participants. Conferences like DrupalCamp unite smaller and larger companies, that can then collaborate on different levels for Polish and foreign clients."
DrupalCamp Poland is an event for Drupal and PHP developers at all levels, but also for other specialists or people interested in the IT industry. Besides the development topics, the conference agenda includes business-related issues (e.g. running a software agency), projects, and team management.
"This year, we sold an equal of 100 tickets, and we are very proud of that."
So far, the biggest turnout DrupalCamp Poland has seen was in 2018, which attracted just over 140 people. In the following years, until 2023, this number decreased and stayed below 90 people. From 2023 onwards, attendance started to grow again. In the post-pandemic era, hosting in-person meetups and conferences in large numbers has been a struggle. Despite the limitations, the organizers of DrupalCamp Poland employ several strategies to bring together the Drupal community in Poland.
Weronika says,
Weronika Głogowska
"Every year, we contact Polish companies involved in or related to Drupal. We also collaborate and support each other with other event organizers, such as DrupalCon Lille 2023 or DrupalCon Barcelona 2024. We also try to reach out to independent professionals from the country and Europe, encouraging them to share their knowledge and establish relationships."
DrupalCamp Poland will be live tomorrow, the culmination of days of planning and determination. We asked the organizers what they found most satisfying about organizing such events.
"The most satisfying thing is seeing the cooperation and bonds that form between the participants. How companies and freelancers work together and then share the knowledge and skills they have acquired, not only at our event but also at DrupalCon." - Weronika
DrupalCamp Poland 2024 will begin with an opening ceremony followed by a classic Group Photo bringing together all the attendees. Sessions throughout the day will cover a wide array of topics, from introductory talks like "Introduction to Drupal" by Piotr Kamieniecki to advanced discussions on Drupal's components and modules. The sessions are conducted in English and Polish.
When enquired about the selection criteria of the speakers, Agata Charęza, another organizer of the event, added that
Agata Charęza
"The most important criterion for us is the topic. Speakers must address any issue related to our work environment. It can be business, communication, marketing, technical issues, modules, news, etc. It must be interesting and spread knowledge and awareness about Drupal and everything related to it."
Sticking to the criteria, the camp highlights more engaging discussions, including Paweł Górski's talk on "OpenEuropa," which showcases tools used by the European Union.
Paweł Górski
"My presentation will focus on the best practices and open-source tools used by the European Commission. We will showcase various services, tools, and libraries that are available for free and can be utilized by users. We will delve into the technical aspects, starting with a quick installation of the project and proceeding to an overview of the components and key functionalities."
shared Paweł. Ultimately, they will present case studies and projects successfully implementing the OpenEuropa platform in real-world applications.
Another interesting session includes the "Is Drupal a popular CMS?" by Grzegorz Pietrzak. He recently published a study on the popularity of Drupal CMS by analyzing the CMS usage on official city websites. He was inspired by The DropTimes study about Drupal usage in Universities worldwide. The full study can be found here.
It seems obvious that public institutions should use open solutions to maintain transparency and avoid being too tied to commercial alternatives. But is this the case in practice?
is the question that led Grzegorz in this quest.
In his opinion, the percentage of open-source engines on the market tells us a lot about each country. It also shows how much the public sector relies on companies that produce proprietary applications.
Grzegorz Pietrzak
"The conclusions of the study are very inconclusive. They depend heavily on the region of the world. The influence of European institutions on cities in the Union is evident, and the dominance of ASP.NET technology in North America is also clear. It seems that Drupal, along with other open source initiatives, still needs a lot of promotion."
noted Grzegorz. In the presentation, he will walk the attendees through the results of his research. He will also draw some conclusions on how to improve Drupal's presence.
Throughout the day, participants will delve into the future of Drupal, multisite advantages, and effective team communication. Notable sessions include Artur Wójcik and Łukasz Drzóźdź on multisite usage and Daiji Kimura’s insights on enhancing Drupal's market competitiveness. Attendees will also explore topics like "Drupal LMS" by Marcin Grabis.
As the day winds down, attendees will hear from experts like Maciej Łukiański on the future beyond Drupal 7 and Onyi Anyado on becoming an agile, future-thinking tech leader. The event wraps up with a closing ceremony, but the learning and networking don't end there.
Droptica Booth at DrupalCamp Poland | Source: LinkedIn
Sponsored by Droptica and Websolutions Agency, DrupalCamp Poland 2024 is set to be a memorable event. After a long and intense day of sessions and knowledge sharing, the attendees have the DrupalCamp Afterparty at the Moxy bar.
"To be honest, this is my favorite part of the event. It's the cherry on the cake, the moment when the speakers can take a breather, the audience has absorbed the knowledge, and we all come together to have a good time, get to know each other better, and talk."
says Weronika.
Whether attendees are in marketing or management, specialists, or just beginning their journey, the Afterparty offers the perfect setting. It's an ideal place for everyone to unwind and continue conversations initiated in the lecture rooms and beyond.
"These contacts stay with us for a long time; we have attendees/speakers that we see year after year and greet with a smile."
As the community gathers, DrupalCamp Poland 2024 promises a day filled with valuable insights, new connections, and a shared passion for Drupal.
Can't attend in person? Don't worry! DrupalCamp Poland organizers record all the lectures every year to ensure that all participants and interested people who couldn't attend the event can benefit from them. The organizers are very confident about the event, They said, they had faced some struggles in organizing the event in Warclaw because they are settled in Gdańsk and Wrocław, so everything had to be coordinated remotely.
"But we are happy that we made it, and the event is about to happen!"
concluded Agata Charęza.
Additionally, attendees of DrupalCamp Poland 2024 in Warsaw have the opportunity to win a free ticket to DrupalCon Europe in Barcelona. To participate, attendees must take a photo with Mercè during the event, share it on their X and/or Instagram accounts, tag DrupalCon Europe, and use the hashtag #DrupalConBarcelona.
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Alka Elizabeth My puns are intended.
