Marmaladesoul

Wow, what an event!

Wow, what an event! DrupalCamp Australia 2008 started with a very early morning for the Marmaladesoul Team. Creeping around the dark at 3am in the morning is not the best way to greet the day but sometimes sacrifice leads to great gain! :)

The roads were the clearest ever seen in Brisbane but we are not often out and about at 4am! We made it to the airport just in time to board and strolled straight on without a backward glance. It was only after the stewardess gave us our much needed coffee fix that we really became aware of the morning... and it was that same beautiful caffeine hit that gave us the energy to walk all over the maze of a campus known as Sydney University. At last, we stumbled, sweating and breathless into the cool halls of the Pharmacy building and signed in.

Breakky was a welcome sight with cold orange juices all round. A rich reward for our efforts thus far! :)

Shortly after arrival...

Shortly after arrival, we were ushered into the Great Halls of Drupalogy otherwise known as a seminar room. Welcomes all round. DrupalCamp Australia 2008 kicked off, dividing the group into two streams: one being for newbies and one being for advanced.

Due to having three of our team present, we decided to divide up and go to different presentations. I'm sure we've all come away with our favourite parts but mine would have to be Module Highlights by Justin Freeman and call me biased but I also loved Panels 2 by Jeff and Josh.

Presentation Favourites...

Module Highlights was impacting to me as it really opened my eyes to some of the creations that Agileware has made or maintain. We have been using some of their modules for some time now so it was exciting to hear of others that we haven't yet had the chance to really dig around in. Plus it was great to meet the maintainer of "Taxonomy Redirect", one of our essential modules! :)

Panels 2, though presented by Marmaladesoul was impacting to me for two reasons. The first reason is that I haven't had much of a chance myself to be using this module so it was amazing to see the advancements since Panels 1 and secondly, I was so proud to see the guys cohesively working together to produce a brilliant presentation.

My only disappointment is that I didn't get to see Josh and Jeff's presentation on Theming with CSS frameworks (their presentation was running parallel to Module Highlights). Feedback tells me that it too went brilliantly.

Jeff's and my presentation (Theme Modifications) was bumped to later in the day. Fortunately, this gave me time to chase away any nerves but once you sit in the hot seat, that fine film of sweat beads on your brow and you can only hope that it will run smoothly and be applicable. I think presenting was one of the most difficult things to do — all those faces staring up at you expecting some gem that they can tuck into their rucksack and take home to examine at a later date. After presenting you realise that when part of an audience I need to nod more! ;)

Meet the community...

It was also fantastic to finally meet some of the community. It is strange that for so long we meet only on a virtual front but to be in the crowd, be amongst the number, to meet individuals (yes actual people :), to feel that sense of community and to share that love for all things Drupal was a wonderful thing.

Overall, we all left very content (after a quick bite at the Thai takeaway store — why is there nothing like that wonderfully delicious and fresh take-away store in Brisbane?). We came home tired and looking forward to calling it a day yet when we all glanced into our backpacks we each had a handful of gems that we hope to pull out during the coming weeks and see what we can do with our new-found knowledge.

Finally, a big thanks to Ryan Cross for all his organisation and for all the other presenters who imparted their Drupal goodness.

Hoping to see you there next year!
Sheree