Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit 2024 Returns Tomorrow After Five-Year Hiatus
The Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit 2024 comes to the people tomorrow, October 11, and will run through October 13 at the University of Washington in Seattle. Founded in 2009, this annual event has rotated between three locations: Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; and Vancouver, BC. It brings together Drupal enthusiasts from the Pacific Northwest/Cascadia region and beyond.
After an extended hiatus of 5 years, the Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit is coming back to life with excitement and a renewed sense of purpose. According to the event organizers,
“It feels great! We are very excited. There has been a lot of positive energy from people in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, and we’ve had folks from all those regions on the organizing committee. It’s going to be a fantastic experience.”
The venue, the University of Washington, Seattle provides a welcoming backdrop for this reunion. Although the university’s web presence is heavily WordPress-based, the organizers point out that the UW Drupal community remains strong, making the campus an ideal setting for the event.
The primary goal of the Summit is to foster collaboration within the Drupal community, both locally and regionally, while providing an environment for meaningful in-person interactions.
“These days there is so much conversation happening online, that it can be hard to keep up and feel connected. Plus, working remotely can contribute to isolation,”
one of the organizers shared. The Summit seeks to bridge that gap, encouraging attendees to gather, exchange ideas, and be inspired by one another.
“Everyone has something to share and something to learn, and we hope that the event will provide opportunities for exchanging ideas in all kinds of ways.”
The three-day event kicks off on Friday with training sessions and a contribution room at the Husky Union Building (HUB), where attendees can engage in hands-on learning and collaborative contributions to the Drupal project. A Happy Hour event at Big Time Brewery will cap off the first day, providing a relaxed atmosphere for networking.
The core conference sessions take place on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13 at Mary Gates Hall. Attendees will benefit from a variety of sessions, ranging from technical deep-dives to discussions on business-side strategies and design, UX, and accessibility. Notably, the event features birds of a feather sessions, which are informal, participant-driven discussions held in the afternoon on Saturday. For those looking to unwind after the day’s sessions, a Game Night Party will be held at the HUB Games Facility.
The Summit will conclude on Sunday with closing remarks and opportunities for final discussions.
Choosing speakers and organizing the sessions was a carefully considered process. The review committee was composed of three members who worked to ensure a diverse lineup that would appeal to both developers and non-developers alike. Sessions were grouped into broad categories: Being Human, Business Side, Development and Performance, Site Building and Using Drupal, and Design, UX, and Accessibility.
“We wanted to make sure to have a variety of sessions to appeal to developers and non-developers with different skill levels,”
the organizers noted. While most sessions fell within these categories, the team was open to considering proposals that covered new ground.
The review committee worked to ensure a balanced program, and in some cases, recruited additional speakers to enhance the range of topics. The organizers also decided to block out time for birds of a feather session on Saturday, providing a space for organic, participant-led discussions.
“The registration numbers for this year’s event are lower than they have been in years past, but we are pleased given that we got a late start on organizing it, and we haven’t held one for over five years,”
an organizer explained. Despite this, the organizers expect that the variety of optional activities, such as training workshops, the contribution room, and informal events like the coffee exchange, will make for a highly engaging experience.
A unique feature of this year’s Summit is the decision to allow registered attendees to bring guests to certain social events. As the organizers shared,
“Some participants are even bringing their kids as guests—we will recruit them to the Drupal community early!”
Reestablishing the Summit after a five-year break was not without its difficulties. The organizers encountered numerous logistical hurdles, including the loss of historical knowledge about how previous events were run.
“We had to put a lot of work back into reestablishing accounts and services,”
the team shared, noting that they also had to find a new fiscal host after the Open Collective Foundation shut down. They successfully partnered with the Midwest Open Source Alliance, which helped resolve many of the administrative challenges. Looking forward, the organizers hope that future Summit teams will benefit from a smoother process.
For those unable to attend in person, the sessions will be recorded and made available on the Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit YouTube channel. Thanks to volunteers Chad Hester and Bob McDonald, who will manage the technical side of the recordings, the event’s content will reach a broader audience beyond the in-person attendees.
PNW Drupal Summit 2024 represents a much-anticipated return for the Drupal community in this region. Special thanks to Heather Wozniak, Rick Hawkins, and Eric Wheeler for their generous support in helping us cover the Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit 2024. Their contributions have been instrumental in bringing this event to the community.
Alka ElizabethMy puns are intended.
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