Topic Idea Roundup

Learn more about the call for proposals and submit today! The session submission deadline is December 4th 11:59 pm CT (UTC -6). Send questions about DrupalCon (session submission process, logistics, etc.) to Bethany Lister. Get tips and request proposal feedback from the DrupalCon program committee anytime in the #session-help Slack channel.

A note from our fabulous DrupalCon Minneapolis program committee:

With a December 4, 2019 deadline we are one-third of the way through the DrupalCon Minneapolis 2020 session submission period. The program committee is thrilled with what we’ve seen so far, with many compelling sessions to review—from accessibility to Xdebug. If you aren’t one of the early submitters, however, we still need your voice! And we are here to support you.
 

Unsure of what to submit?

Well, we haven’t received any sessions yet that start with Z, but maybe you want to change that? For example, talk about z-index and other CSS techniques for controlling layout?

You are bursting with knowledge and have plenty to share. How do we know this? You are an active part of this amazing community that grows because of each other. 

In all seriousness, though, we understand that it can be difficult to come up with topics, and it can be even harder to think your topic is worth sharing. So let’s break down both of these barriers.

We have been holding office hours in our #session-help channel on Drupal Slack, and at one of these we discussed things that people would love to see—whether or not they themselves would be interested in presenting such a topic. The program committee has also been researching what people want to see at the Con, and we have shared our findings with each other.

What we’ve found: 
 

Your colleagues want to hear your ideas!

Something that was made clear in those discussions was that many things that you might not think are worth a talk other people would love to learn. Everyone has different experiences, history and perspective. 

Also, just because someone has covered a particular topic in the past doesn't mean it isn't valuable to revisit. DrupalCon sessions are recorded pretty reliably, but Drupal 8 (and 9) are different from 6 and 7. There are even significant changes between minor versions, e.g., between 8.3 and 8.7 so a more up-to-date session on a topic could be perfect.

Another thing to think about: while DrupalCon has many seasoned, experienced attendees, and presenters, around one-third are attending their first DrupalCon. Other attendees may be experts in one area but novice (and interested in) another area. Sessions don't have to be super-advanced; introductory and “beginner” level sessions are welcomed and encouraged. Some people would love to learn more about creating views, or why media is amazing. Onboarding and welcoming those new to Drupal is a critical part of growing and improving our community as much as pushing the limits of technology for the most experienced among us.

So are you wondering "would this session be of interest?" Almost certainly, the answer will be yes. Of course there will be more sessions than we can choose, but a variety of skill levels and perspectives are important to get the best quality. So don't hold back, post a proposal and/or discuss in Drupal Slack's #session-help channel. We have formal office hours coming up on these dates: 

By no means feel constrained to just these times; there are usually at least a few folks on the session teams active on Slack.
 

Topics people want to see more of:

As our world is becoming increasingly digital, the work we do—and the scope of our impact as members of the Drupal community—is increasingly central to human existence. Does that sound grandiose? Well, it is, but it is also true. Think about how many times a day you interact with a digital interface even outside of work. Consider how many of those interactions are in some ways powered by Drupal. 

We are in a time when we need to think more about the ethics of what we do, about being humans in a digital world, our global community, even our environmental impact. Any of these big concepts are open for interpretation into session topics.

And on a more practical, less grandiose scale, if you’ve read the call for proposals you may already be aware that each session is in one track with up to 4 tags. To help get your creative juices flowing, the session team has brainstormed a list of session topic ideas that we would love to see. (For even more ideas, see the bigger list of sessions topic ideas. This list is by no means all we want to see, and we eagerly await your unique ideas as well!)

  1. Being Human, Contributions, & Community

    • The path to contributing: how do I do it?

    • The challenges facing our open source/Drupal community and how we address them

  2. Content & Digital Marketing

    • Role and permissions schemes for decentralized teams

    • Privacy-respecting marketing strategies

    • Google Analytics vs opens source analytics option(s)

  3. Development & Coding

    • Getting the most out of Drupal’s caching system

    • Drupal as an application backend

    • Building a decoupled site using Drupal and Gatsby

  4. DevOps & Infrastructure

    • DevOps and SRE practices

    • Measuring progress toward improvement

  5. Leadership, Management, & Business

    • Hiring challenges and how to create career paths into Drupal

    • Creating and maintaining an effective business model for your agency

    • Fostering a more inclusive remote workplace

  6. Quality Assurance & Testing

    • Testing for many browsers/devices

    • Drupal Spec Tool

  7. Site Building

    • Metatags (specifically optimizing for social media)

    • Basics of Drupal Views

  8. User Experience, Accessibility, & Design

    • Designing for an aging population

    • UX Design as an advocacy tool

  9. Wellness

    • Avoiding DrupalFlu and other convention sicknesses

    • Preventing RSI (Repetitive Strain Injuries)

  10. What’s Next

    • AI-driven Drupal smart search

    • Drupal and IoT
       

For even more ideas, see the bigger list of sessions topic ideas. This list is by no means all we want to see, and we eagerly await your unique ideas as well!
 

Want to chat now? We’re here to support you: 

  • Asynchronously available on the #session-help channel in Drupal Slack

  • See who is on our team—and working on the tracks you are considering submitting to—on the Meet the Volunteers page

 

Contributed by Nick Wilde, Aubrey Sambor, Rain Breaw, Melissa Stamm, and Shweta Sharma.