Why come to DrupalCon Europe — the film and story of how it came to be
Large Drupal events generate a huge collective energy, at levels I don’t experience often times elsewhere in life. Being amongst so many others sharing a common goal is empowering and inspiring. Drupal Europe was no exception.
So we spontaneously made a short film about why each of us feel attending DrupalCon Europe 2019 is a compelling proposition. But the most interesting part is not the film but how it came to be. Read on to hear this story ….
The making of “Why DrupalCon Europe”
During my last evening at the conference Janne Kalliola, Association Board member and CEO at Exove, approached me with an proposal. “Why not make a short promo film encouraging people to come to DrupalCon Europe before you leave?”.
I mulled it over and realised this was indeed a great idea, to kickstart promotional activity using voices of the Drupal community, and the perfect moment to make such a film. Rather than find excuses as to why not , I switched to think of ways to make it possible. To be honest I do my best work when I have to think on my feet. After all, good and now is often better than perfection (much) later.
Across many aspects of Drupal it is evident momentum is achieved when we work together. As I walked into the conference centre that next day, equipped with little more than a camera in hand (no microphone nor tripod), I surveyed the lobby for likely collaborators to help accomplish this “impossible” task in the 3 hours I had before leaving.
Fortunately I spied John Cook, Baddý Breidert and Gábor Hojtsy who quickly agreed to join the cause. A pretty amazing team right? They helped persuade people to be interviewed to camera, and so the energy started to build. Meanwhile I set up an impromptu studio on the top floor of the conference centre. A groundswell of support started to bubble up. I already had a sense we could do this.
Everyone had personal perspectives and unique compelling reasons why attending events like DrupalCon Europe was so important. By offering these opinions, far superior and varied than I could have imagined from my own viewpoint, every “star” of the film added value and depth as the minutes ticked away.
The key point I’d like to stress most is that this was Janne’s idea. He gave it to me. I ran with it. But without the contributions of others I would never have achieved the end result.
I get a sense that people feel they must seek “official permission” before proceeding with such ideas. That’s most certainly NOT the case. I’d like to think you might watch my film and think you could do a better job, or be inspired to do something completely different. I would totally love to see that.
If this area of work interests you, there are plenty of projects you can get involved with right now. The Promote Drupal Initiative is a perfect example.
I’d like to express gratitude to everyone who took part the frenetic activity that morning be they rallying interviewees or standing in front of the camera. I hope I’ve not missed anyone!
The Drupal heros are: Safa Aroua, Adam Juran, Mark Conroy, Andrew Melck, Johanna Anthes, Azong Hermann, Christopher Skene, Klara Binon, Katharine Shaw, John Cook, Baddý Breidert, Gábor Hojtsy, Janne and of course Dries Buytaert.
PS I didn’t miss my flight Janne, but it was a close call! Great idea by the way.
