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DrupalCon Chicago Live Streaming Video: Jared Spool

Looking for a Taste of Drupal? Come to Drupal Means Business!

If you're not attending DrupalCon Chicago, but live in the Chicago area and are curious to find out what it's all about, we have a great opportunity for you!

Tickets are on sale now for Drupal Means Business, a special DrupalCon event on March 10 that's designed to help you learn more about Drupal and how it can help your company or organization. Think of it as a way to get a taste for DrupalCon without making the full conference commitment.

If you're considering Drupal for your next project, it's also a great way to meet some of the leading firms in the Drupal business ecosystem and find out how Drupal is used to solve real-world business problems every day.

Attendees will get full access to the DrupalCon Chicago Exhibit Hall and the opportunity to hear from Drupal project founder Dries Buytaert, in addition to a full program of business-oriented Drupal content and a live simulcast of Thursday's keynote presentation by Jared Spool.

Tickets for Drupal Means Business are only $50 and include lunch. You can purchase yours on-site at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel and Towers on March 10. Just look for the DrupalCon Registration Desk.

Module Writing Contest Winners Announced!

Yesterday we announced a module contest sponsored by Tropo - in 24 hours write a module based on the theme of communication.

We had about 10 people submit modules which Robert Douglass, Jeff Eaton, and Morten judged in the following areas: novelty, craftsmanship, functionality, utility, and rockability.

Today we announced the winners:

1st Place winning an iPad and a $200 Tropo credit: Garrett Albright (Garrett Albright) - Go Proxy - http://chicago2011.drupal.org/sites/default/files/webform/albright_modul...

2nd Place winning a Kindle and a $100 Tropo credit: Devin Zuczek (djdevin) - Sign Up SMS - http://chicago2011.drupal.org/sites/default/files/webform/signup_sms.tar...

3rd Place winning an iPod shuffle and a $50 Tropo credit: Rik de Boer (RdeBoer) - SuperSlide - http://chicago2011.drupal.org/sites/default/files/webform/super_slide.ta...

Special Mention winning a pony signed by all of the judges: Johan Falk (Itangalo) - ArgFilters - http://chicago2011.drupal.org/sites/default/files/webform/argfilters.tar...

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated!

Birds of a Feather (BoF) Scheduler Now Available!

If you're interested in scheduling a Birds of a Feather session for DrupalCon Chicago, the online scheduling tool is now live at http://chicago2011.drupal.org/conference/bofs

Fun Activities at DrupalCon Chicago

There’s only a few days left until the start of DrupalCon Chicago, and while we’ve already spent a lot of time talking about the sessions, pre-conference training, and other great content that will be on tap, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of the fun social activities that will also be going on at DrupalCon Chicago.

Exhibit Hall Opening Reception
5pm Monday, March 7

Whether you’ve just finished a full day of pre-conference training, or are just getting into town, what better way is there to kick off your DrupalCon experience with free hors d'œuvres and refreshments? Come get an early look at the DrupalCon Exhibit Hall and meet our sponsors during this event. Sponsored by My Planet.

Module Writing Contest
11am Tuesday, March 8

Can you write an awesome Drupal module in just 24 hours? The Module Writing Contest will provide contestants with the opportunity to win fabulous prizes for the best new module to be written on a topic to be announced on the Exhibit Hall Day Stage on the morning of Tuesday, March 8. A panel of guest judges will evaluate the results, with the winners announced on Wednesday, March 9. Sponsored by Tropo.

Ignite
4:30pm Tuesday, March 8

For the first time, Ignite is coming to DrupalCon! Ignite is a fast-paced, fun, and high-energy activity where speakers have to present twenty auto-advancing slides in only five minutes. In no particular order, the presenters will be:

  • Hello, Drupal? Building Drupal sites that make and receive phone calls - Leo Burd MIT Center for Future Civic Media
  • A Shot In The Arm - Greg Dunlap of NodeOne
  • 0 to 1M+ in 24hrs: The Queensland Flood Response - Ryan Cross of CrossFunctional
  • The short history of the barcode - Scott Falconer of JAGTAG
  • Drupal Faster with Eclipse - Rich Yumul of Sage Tree Solutions
  • Using WYSIWYG Editors in a Microsoft Word World - Thomas MacLean of NorthPoint Solutions LLC.
  • Being the best at giving the worst talk ever - Kitt Hodsden
  • Driving the user experience of Drupal via Drupal Gardens - Jeff Noyes of Acquia
  • Low Footprint UI - Shai Ben-Yehuda of ArtwareSoft

And while you’re in the Exhibit Hall for the Opening Reception, Module Writing Contest, Ignite talks and other great Day Stage content, don’t forget to check these ongoing attractions:

Drupal Store
Drupal books, shirts, and other goodies will be available for purchase at the Drupal Store located in the Exhibit Hall. proceeds will benefit the Drupal Assocation.

Drupal Arcade
The Drupal Arcade is located in the Exhibit Hall, and features a variety of video and arcade games, pinball, and more. Whether you’re looking to meet friends or just hang out between sessions, the Drupal Arcade is the place to be! Sponsored by Rackspace.

There will also be a plethora of after-hours activities every night of the conference. In addition to the opening night party at the Field Museum on Tuesday, there’s also Wednesday night’s “Geek to Chic” fashion show being thrown by Lullabot, and Drupal Trivia Night on Thursday. Plus, Birds of a Feather and Coder rooms will be open late, enabling you to keep DrupalCon going well into the night!

Announcement Regarding Drupal.org Downtime on 2/24

On February 24, starting at 5pm CST (11pm UTC), Drupal.org will be down for a 12-hour maintenance window while the Drupal project migrates its code repositories to the Git version control system. In the works for more than a year, this is a huge and exciting step that will enable many more people to contribute code to the Drupal project!

We’ve worked with the team responsible for this migration to ensure that the DrupalCon Chicago site will experience only minimal disruption during this maintenance window.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • The DrupalCon Chicago site will be live during the maintenance window.
  • Ticket sales will remain open, but user accounts on the site will not be created or synched until the maintenance period is over.
  • Existing users may have difficulty logging in during the maintenance period.
  • Even if you have already purchased a ticket, you will see the "Buy Your Ticket" graphic on the site.

We want to thank you for your patience during this transition. For more information about the Great Git Migration, check out the sessions Git on Drupal.org: It's Easier Than You Think! and Git Phase Next: The Promised Land at DrupalCon Chicago!

We're Looking for Lightning Talks on Contributing to Drupal!

Many people don't contribute to the Drupal project because they believe the barrier to entry is too high or that they don't have the ability. Often times they don't realize that contributing code isn't that difficult or that contributing code isn't the only way. With this series of lightning talks we would like to show the various ways to contribute and how easy it is to do.

We are looking for 7 minute presentations on any of the following topics:

  • Contributing a theme, module, or install profile
  • Submitting patches
  • How to write documentation
  • Starting a local user group or running a DrupalCamp
  • Providing forum/IRC support
  • Using Git
  • Being a mentor for Google Summer of Code or Code-in

Submit your proposal today! We will accept applications until all available slots have been filled.

Learn From the Grandmasters of User Experience and Design at DrupalCon Chicago!

Design and user experience strategy, like the game of chess, is all about finding solutions to complex problems. At DrupalCon Chicago, some of the grandmasters of user experience and design will be presenting day-long pre-conference training sessions that will help you learn how to think several steps ahead when tackling your next Web project.

These experts include keynote presenters from past and present DrupalCons, as well as the lead user experience expert behind the recent re-design of drupal.org and the Drupal 7 administrative interface. This is a unique opportunity to learn from these world-renowned teachers in an intimate classroom setting.

Submit Your Application for Ignite at DrupalCon Chicago!

Ignite is a fast-paced, fun, presentation style that educates and entertains. This year Ignite is coming to DrupalCon Chicago! Eight presenters will be selected to offer their talks on the Day Stage on Tuesday, March 8, from 4:30-5:30pm.

Ignite talks give you the opportunity to share your fascinations and passions with the Drupal community. But, there's a catch: you are strictly limited to five minutes, and twenty slides, which advance automatically every 15 seconds.

If you've got a passion that you can't wait to share, check out this video, and then submit an application by February 21! Suitable topics include anything that may be of interest to the Drupal community and is not strictly limited to Drupal related material. Do you have a fabulous productivity philosophy to share? Perhaps some tech tips for splitting apart graphic files to make theming easier? Or maybe you'd like to tell others about personal health tips for coders? As long as you can do it in 5 minutes and 20 slides, submit your topic.

Ignite DrupalCon: enlighten us, but make it quick!

DrupalCon Session Schedule Announced

The DrupalCon Chicago organizing committee is pleased to announce that the final session schedule is now available! This list includes more than 85 sessions representing the full breadth and depth of the Drupal community’s knowledge and expertise.

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