DrupalCon North America: Wrap-Up

The year 2021 is special for Drupal because it is Drupal’s 20th Anniversary. In our second year of virtual events, DrupalCon North America and DrupalFest 2021 expanded on the theme #CelebrateDrupal for the entire month of April. 

DrupalCon North America 2021 was a major celebration of the community. We’re so grateful for each person and organization that contributed their time, talent, and treasure. DrupalCon North America hosted 2,330 registered participants. This would not have been possible without our generous sponsors and the 85 dedicated contributors who made up the committees and initiative teams. Over 50% of the contributors were new to contributing to DrupalCon. #DrupalThanks 

Participants came from 80 countries across 6 continents, which made DrupalCon North America among the most geographically diverse DrupalCons on record. Most attendees came from the US, followed by Canada, UK, India, Germany, and Brazil.

In addition to global diversity, approximately 40% of all registrants self-identified with an underrepresented community.

The virtual conference allowed us to continue an expanded scholarship program. We awarded more than 150 scholarships with the support of 29 local Drupal associations around the world, Drupal Diversity & Inclusion, SheCodeAfrica, WomenTech Network, and Kennesaw State University. The scholarship mentorship program which paired recipients with seasoned Drupal community members received positive feedback. There is tremendous value in mentorship for new attendees and this is something we will continue to build on for future events.

DrupalCon North America was designed with flexibility in mind. Each day was structured with four hours of live content including sessions, round-table discussions, social, and networking events, followed by four hours of mentored contribution. On Tuesday, 13 April - Friday, 16 April, each day focused on a specific Drupal initiative. To accelerate rapid Drupal development, mentored contribution opportunities were extended to each day of the conference. 

DrupalCon North America’s Contribution Opportunities yielded fantastic results for the Drupal project. There were seven contribution groups including groups for first-time contributors and mentors and groups that focused on contributing to the same Drupal initiatives that were the focus of DrupalCon North America. 

• Individuals credited with fixing an issue during DrupalCon: 850

• Organizations credited with fixing an issue during DrupalCon: 277

Each day of initiative-related content began with an Initiative Keynote. Key members of the Initiative took us all on a journey through the goals of that initiative, and how it will help create a better product for us all to build future digital experiences. After those sessions, all the keynote speakers were available for discussion with participants.

Watch these brief video recaps of the DrupalCon North America Initiatives.

• Decoupled Menus 
• Drupal 10 Readiness
• Easy Out of the Box

Additionally, the DrupalCon North America program contained content that helped participants of all backgrounds and skillsets to learn in detail how the initiative works, how it will enable them to build more exciting experiences, how to sell those experiences more effectively, and how they can participate in contributing to the initiative’s success.

• 143 informative sessions
• 206 speakers, 40% of whom identified with one or more historically underrepresented groups
• 150 scholarships awarded

In addition to Drupal initiative-related content and contribution, DrupalCon also hosted an impressive slate of Main Stage speakers. 

• Sheree Atcheson - Allyship - the key to unlocking the power of diversity 

• Stu Keroff - School needs open source, now more than ever

• Panel - How can we foster open source contribution from companies to Drupal?

• Byron Woodfork - Building successful mentorships for people of color in tech

• Heather Meeker- Promote open source community in your organization

• Fireside chat with Nani Jansen Reventlow and Preston So -  Creating systemic change: digital rights for all

• Svetlana Kouznetsova - Accessibility for Deaf Beyond Video Captions & Sign Language

• Nuritzi Sanchez - Leading with authenticity in open source

• Fireside chat with Sally Young, Fatima Sarah Khalid, and Ben Morss - JavaScript ate the Web: Key lessons for the Drupal community

DrupalCon North America was proudly supported by 51 sponsoring organizations and 17 individual sponsors. Most sponsors received virtual “booths” in the Expo Hall where attendees viewed lightning talks, demos and had group or individual interactions. Module sponsors were able to gain an audience by sponsoring popular DrupalCon elements such as the Hallway Track, Women in Drupal Workshop, and Drupal Trivia. 

DrupalCon North America was a wonderful celebration of 20 years of Drupal and the Drupal Community. If you did not have the opportunity to participate in DrupalCon North America, session videos will be available to the public at the end of May on the Drupal Association YouTube channel. Join the Drupal Community again for DrupalCon Europe. The virtual DrupalCon Europe conference will take place online, from 4-7 October 2021, in a CET Timezone.