So, last week was quite a big week, really. Both for me personally, more of that in a moment, and for the Drupal project as a whole, I think.
DrupalCon Europe has always held a very special place in my heart as it has been that place where I get to meet, at least once a year, so many people who are very important to me. From my very first large tech conference, DrupalCon London, held in Croydon only a couple of weeks after the riots there in 2011, through to its most recent iteration, DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026, I’ve been along for the ride as an active participant.
I first began to volunteer at DrupalCon London, which mainly seemed to be directing people towards the right room for talks and counting how many people were in each room.
These days, I find myself helping to coordinate the key activity that brings new people into active participation in the project: Core Contribution Mentoring. Honestly, Thursday was one of the best we’ve had with a great ratio of capable mentors helping first time contributors to drive issues forward. We made a difference.
But I should jump back a little, to before DrupalCon Rotterdam even began, before we took the Eurostar under the English Channel…
I had received two little secrets that meant a huge amount to me. The first of those was that we would be holding the next DrupalCon Europe in Edinburgh and I would have the honour of being part of the group to introduce this news. We worked on scripts, sourced Scottish treats to bring along, and generally had a great time bringing joy to all.
Then there was the other secret. The one that came in an email completely out of the blue. I learned that I would be one of the three “Women of Drupal” for 2006, alongside the fabulous Antonella Severo and Nikita Aswani. Honestly, I know anything like this is always an honour but this really knocked me for six, I was completely taken aback by it. At a time when my country questions my very existence, it becomes even more of a big deal to be recognised by such an award. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those that nominated me – it means the world.
I really wanted my dear friends with me when it was awarded, without it necessarily being pre-announced, and there was one dear friend who has always supported me in the Drupal community who had to leave early so I just had to tell her in advance.
Of course, when I told Justine, I kind of knew she would just sit there and fizz until she told other friends, so I got the word out where it needed to be ;-)
Knowing now that Justine would ensure my friends and colleagues would be there, I also managed to ensure that two other friends I’ve had the joy of knowing virtually my whole time in this project, Karen and Tom, would come as a group into the ceremony. I even managed to get the wonderful Hilmar to come in, too. “Oh look, there’s spaces near the front, why don’t we sit there?”
The ceremony was fun but, damn, I struggled to keep a dry eye!
Of course, after the Edinburgh announcement and the Women in Drupal ceremony, everything else became a little bit of a blur. There were many hugs and many, many great conversations but one thing did stick in my mind; Dries’ callout around advocacy of Drupal.
Dries is absolutely right, the Drupal Drupal people know is quite different to what the rest of the world thinks it knows, prompted by old history. We have a really, really great product that has come together precisely because of the love every drop – every one of us – has put into it. We need to be proud of that and shout it from the rooftops. A FOSDEM rooftop will make a good start…
But, finally, going back to DrupalCon for a moment, it really does bring love in every drop. Much of that comes from the love that is put into it by the team at Kuoni. They really do get it and I hope we get to bring love to more people in years to come.
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