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By megansanicki on
The Drupal Association is honored to be the stewards of DrupalCon - a program created by the community for the community. It serves many goals ranging from uniting, growing, and strengthening the community to leveling up Drupal skills to accelerating contribution.
This year the Drupal Association has been focusing on DrupalCon Europe, so we can better serve the European community. While we certainly hear good things about the event from attendees, we also hear many comments like “it is too much of a US event” or “content isn’t appealing enough” or ”it is too expensive” or “there isn’t enough business value for sponsors” or “it’s not rock and roll enough”.
We see this play out in the attendance numbers, which decreased 14% on average each year since DrupalCon Amsterdam in 2014. Sponsor revenue decreased as well. And thanks to a more accurate financial reporting approach launched last year, we can see that DrupalCon Europe lost between $100,000 to about $200,000 per event for the last several events.
This isn’t a sign of Drupal’s health. It is simply a sign that this event is not meeting the community’s needs. We can tell because European Drupal events grew in number, attendance, and type over the last few years. The community clearly wants a different kind of experience.
Drupal Association staff like Amanda Gonser, Program Manager, and Rachel Friesen, Director of Events, come to work each day simply to serve the community and create a DrupalCon experience that delights and helps people feel empowered to move Drupal forward. It pains us knowing that DrupalCon is not hitting the mark for the European community. And, it also pains us that we aren’t able to host DrupalCon in other regions like Asia or South America because they’re not possible with our current operational model for hosting events.
For staff, producing a special DrupalCon experience is more than a job, it’s a personal mission. So, we are putting a lot of care into figuring out how to make DrupalCon Europe better.
To come up with an event concept that is sustainable and loved (or provides unique value in business speak), we met with many European community members over a period of 10 months and even put out a community survey to gather input. Together, we worked through a process to find a better path forward.
It’s time to open this discovery process up to the greater community so you can understand at a deeper level the problems we are trying to solve and the process we’re using to solve them. Then, we want to discuss the options that we have identified so we can find the best path forward for DrupalCon Europe. I know that together, we can create a sustainable event that strikes at the needs of the European community.
To share the information we’ve gathered and to foster discussion, I am launching a blog series. Starting with this post, it will cover the following topics:
I encourage discussion in the comment section during the blog series and I will host BOFs at DrupalCon Vienna so we can talk through a path forward. We encourage members to read this blog series so you have as much background information as possible to help inform these discussions.
Thank you for caring about this important community event and giving input into what it looks like in the future.
Comments
May be we need to dig deeper
So make it better, then?
So do something about that, then? Step up and offer to maintain some modules. Find, encourage and support people to make the code changes needed. None of this necessarily requires excellent coding skills of your own; only the commitment to support those that do have them. You want a module to be available on D8? Make it happen - no-one is stopping you.
How could the DA help in that process of making it better?
As part of the conversation that I think Megan's trying to open up between the active Drupal community, the less active community and the DA, could the DA play a greater part in helping spread/amplify your suggestion to "do something about that?" How they position themselves, set policy, allot resources etc. can send clear messages about what the Drupal project sees as its priorities.
For what it's worth, my personal feeling is that reducing the sprints and summits at Vienna as a mis-step: I believe those parts of Drupalcon are comparatively (potentially) cheap to run and also pay for themselves, albeit indirectly and eventually, by fertilizing the grassroots. I can also see, however, that it's been difficult for the DA to directly measure their cost-to-benefit (networks are notoriously difficult to measure: just ask Dr Beeching!) and when the conference is being squeezed, then the unmeasurable is an obvious candidate to drop.
Ultimately, if people aren't contributing enough (enough yet, or enough as a long-term projection) then maybe conference resources need to focus on encouraging (developer but also definitely non-dev) contribution as much as, or more than, encouraging industry/enterprise adoption.
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J-P Stacey, software gardener, Magnetic Phield
2013
What did change between 2013 and 2014, less sponsors, more expenses?
Attiks - Print and web design
Given the number of attendees
Given the number of attendees from UK who go to Euro cons, the GBP/EUR exchange rate is probably not helping. Dublin and Vienna will be significantly more expensive than Amsterdam and Prague.
One person from miggle is going this year - down from 3 last year, to 5+ the 3 years prior to that (and 4 at DCLA) - partly because headless and Symfony making front-end and back-end devs resepectively look at using their self-directed development budgets on improving JavaScript or PHP skills, at other events, or through buying training.
I'm not going because my youngest is starting school and I need to settle her in - but I'm not sure I would have anyway. I enjoyed Dublin, but I got limited value from it. I'm starting to think business day events, or more camps might be better for me anyway (DrupalCamp Bristol was excellent, and enabled me to meet up with a load of friends, but also meet lots of new people).
If I had more time, I'd like to help shape an event which encourages our end-users - like the content managers, devs, PMs etc our clients employ - to build their engagement with the community.
It is what it is, but many events seem to be too dev centric. No issue with that - but ideally a con would have a broader audience. But taking it for what it is, I'd like to see my (dev) team use cons as an opportunity to work out who they should be looking to for best practice and learning from them and forging relationships, as well as aiming to be mentors to those who are looking for best practice. Those discussions often best happen after hours, possibly because the days don't lend enough opportunity to enable this. Maybe more BoFs would help?
I'm quite a thirsty man. My liver is the hardest working thing at miggle. But a lot of the after hours events are booze centric, very noisy and too crowded - and that doesn't work for a lot of people. Keeping the conference centre open till 10am and sticking a tonne of gaming machines in conference rooms would deffo engage a number of my team I think, than going out.
After hours
I think Alick has hit on a really good point. Having an after hours space that isn't a noisy pub would be amazing!
Not just dev-centric but maybe aimed at the wrong *type* of dev?
It's interesting you call Drupalcon Europe dev-centric. I've found myself engaging with the tracks less, and I just assumed it was a consequence of it becoming less dev-centric. It made sense to me: other events like Drupal Dev Days were taking energy out of the dev-i-er tracks while also providing for that audience; so the con could occupy a different space.
However, you saying that makes me wonder: is the problem that Drupalcon is appealing to the wrong kind of both devs, project managers, designers, marketers etc? Not as in, there's a wrong kind of dev etc. as such; but maybe the con has become quite didactic and talking-at, and there's less talking-with.
Whereas big agencies etc. want to ferry staff in for a week of solid talking-at, the grassroots of tomorrow's strong community would (I'd argue) appreciate at least a bit more talking-with, which is the attraction of other events like DDD, Frontend United etc.....
(Apologies if that's all a bit fuzzy but I'm trying to see how to reconcile your and my viewpoints of how the con has changed.)
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J-P Stacey, software gardener, Magnetic Phield
I should explain better. It's
I should explain better. It's not that the events are dev-centric, probably more that the community is dev heavy. I'd imagine the % of devs alongside other community members is much more than say WordPress, which I think has a broader community. That's not to say WP has done a great job of diversifying its community, its more reflective of WPs appeal and make up that its easier for it to hook in a broader range of people than Drupal traditionally has. Drupal 8 could change that, because is many respects where it's improved makes it as straightforward as WP to use for simple sites. But then arguably it's not D8s sweetspot, which I think is around powering the sites that other CMS simply can't. So, where should Drupal be aiming?
Both 'what is Drupal for' and 'how could the community broaden' are questions and challenges that could be resolved by working out how we could get more of our clients attend Cons and Camps - like content managers, e-commerce execs, social media managers, SEO, researchers, BAs etc. Then it could be a blend of talking at/with around best practice, different practices etc.
Other than that, what you say about other events taking the dev energy out of the cons is right I think, as well as what they provide for more focussed collaboration and relationship building. And its not just for devs, CXO days, Frontend united and other niche gatherings are doing that across a range of functions. Which is why I think there's an opportunity for Cons to look to own the customer, who would be a little way from attending the niche events anyway. That might mean taking a step back, accepting that it might get smaller for a bit.
Different viewpoints are good!
Really interesting, so thanks for following up. I think this shows we do need a diversity of viewpoints, to work out exactly what the future direction will be for European conferences and meetups more generally.
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J-P Stacey, software gardener, Magnetic Phield
Symfony Hangover?
I think there have been some excellent points raised so far - but I'm wondering if there is also elements of the D8 / Symfony hangover at work here too, impacting on the event, rather than issues with the event as a whole.
I know quite a few people who used to go to Drupalcon who still haven't moved onto D8 because of the ground shift to Symfony, and it wouldn't surprise me if they end up moving away from Drupal altogether. On the flip side, some people may now be finding going to the Symfony events more beneficial if they are trying to make the transition. They may feel they broadly know the Drupal side of things and would get more from going to something Symfony specific.
If there are more organisations and companies involved but less contributing back to the community perhaps we should focus efforts there on engaging (and perhaps even incentivising) them to be contributing back - as that side of things is still one of Drupal's greatest selling points.
For our organisation, having had people attend for the last several years (and I attended personally in Dublin), we're not in a position to move to D8 at the moment, nor will we be for the short - medium term, so we're not particularly in a position to justify the expense (which as someone else alluded to, is higher than it used to be due to the way the pound fell off a cliff after the Brexit vote).
FiveRDesign - UK Drupal Consulting, Development, Custom Modules & Support
MySweetShadow - Heavy Metal Blog, Drupal & SEO
Less marketing and more platform improvement
Nowadays IT platforms are invaded by marketing and marketers, IMHO we should switch the most of the resources from marketing and PR to platform improvements (modules porting, translations, UX improvements, media/workflow initiative). I think after 10 years all the world knows about Drupal existance, it's just the moment to supply a constantly and rapidly improved platform.
Don't be obsessed about "spreading the word" but on platform excellence.
Best,
Pierluigi
Local Drupal events
Recently went to Drupaljam in the Netherlands. A fine example of a diverse conference at an affordable entrance price and a fun venue. The sessions encompassed a variety of topics. Digital marketing, UX, content authoring, SEO aside the usual suspects with Drupal sessions about development, security and so on. And invite world-class speakers from the conference circuit. This standard is needed for Drupal Camps locally. Attract sponsors outside the Drupal companies as well. The perception that is all Drupal sponsored session and plugs would be reduced. Affordable entrance price and qualitative sessions are possible. Local events can attract enough attendees when all fits together. Diverse topics and a mix of speakers inside and outside the community. Open community and universitas! Evolve, reflect and grow.
thanks
on behalf of the organisation crew, thanks :-)
and indeed, drupaljam is in a way an example for drupalcon (as is it v.v. :-) )
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groets
bert boerland
I became involved with Drupal
I became involved with Drupal after attending DruoalCon DC in 2009. Immediately 6 people added to the Drupal roles which in turn has led to many more and so on. This is a common theme among Drupal peeps including many major contributors. When calculating the value of DrupalCon EU the number of new community members and contributors needs to be factored in.
The end of DrupalCon in Europe?
After reading this blog series I felt quite sadly, that the DA won't support us European Developers any longer.
It took me a while to understand, that there are some serious reasons not to forego with the cons as we did in the past. The main reason from my point of view is to keep in mind, that there is not a single European market. The DA has faced with the same challenges like global companies e.g. like Acquia when trying to enter this complicated market (which in truth is a bundle of about 25 different local markets).
I think it is a good idea to split developer and marketing events from each other. We have some successful developer events already in Europe.
In Europa we need marketing events quite crucically. Because of the different markets they can be organized by local networks, who are aware about the requirements of their potential customers. I am sure, that the DA will support all of our efforts working on this.
I have published my complete thoughts about this in our Germany languaged based blog.
(Hopefully google translate will work for you.)
Ralf Hendel
comm-press Drupal Solutions Hamburg
Thank you for your view point
Hi Ralf,
The European community certainly is a special part of the Drupal community made up of many countries, cultures, and personas. This region deserves an event that really works for you. Currently, DrupalCon does not in its current form.
The Drupal Association is not abandoning the European community. We want to partner with the community in a better, more collaborative way to find a better path forward. This decision is about creating the space we all need to come together and talk through what that path should look like.
Many have asked for more agency, more involvement, more engagement. This is an opportunity to provide this.
Drupal's future is bright and we can see how camps have grown more and more each each. DrupalCon has declined. This isn't a Drupal problem. This is a product problem.
I am encouraged that so many want to get involved and help create a DrupalCon that is best suited to meet Europe's needs. I am glad you are joining in the discussion.
Megan Sanicki
Executive Director
Drupal Association
twitter: megansanicki
It is natural that DrupalCon
It is natural that DrupalCon should get smaller, and that adjustments will need to be made. I was inspired by the DrupalCons I attended in London and Munich. Although I am currently in Austria, and have previously travelled to Vienna for Drupal Camp, I won't make the trip the Vienna now, amazing city though it is. That is because I perceive Drupal as a different animal for a different market (fewer, larger, more lucrative sites) with a different culture (more corporate, more about money).
At the thrill of my first DrupalCon, the word 'Drupal' summoned the emotion, 'that is my passion.' Now, the word 'Drupal' summons the emotion 'that is my sadness.' So I won't go. It does not mean Drupal is unhealthy. Just different.
Digit Professionals specialising in Drupal, WordPress & CiviCRM support for publishers in non-profit and related sectors