In a few short weeks I'll be headed on the road once again for two great events: Twin Cities DrupalCamp and OSCON. On the surface these two events couldn't be more different. One is intimate, inexpensive, and full of Drupal. The other is big, an investment, and has hardly any Drupal. Seems like an obvious win for Twin Cities DrupalCamp, right? Well, let's dive a little deeper into what makes OSCON worth the price tag.
At 3,000 people, OSCON is about the size of a typical North American DrupalCon. At DrupalCon you bump into the creators of your favorite module, but at OSCON you bump into the creators of just about everything. OSCON provides a wonderful opportunity to meet and mingle with some of the greatest open source minds. If mingling isn't really your thing, spend the morning attending sessions and letting the experts pour information into your brain. Then, at lunch, sit at a different table each day and be that person who asks the table, "What interesting sessions did you go to this morning?" and "What are you going to this afternoon?" With a few simple questions you'll start a great discussion. And you'll get an uncensored look at what topics are hot and worth your time in open source these days.
The conference features a range of tracks that will be of interest to Drupal folks. You'll want to check out: PHP, Business, HTML5 and JavaScript. The keynotes also take an interesting twist at OSCON: they're only 15 minutes long. It sounds short, but it's just enough to blow your brain wide open with possibilities. I'll be giving a Community presentation at OSCON this year about giving and receiving actionable critiques: Was It Something I Said?. (If you're at all interested in human dynamics and ways to solve common clashes in the issue queue or elsewhere, this is a must-see.)
If you're sold on attending OSCON but still need to obtain approval, check out the handy conference resource Convince Your Manager. I look forward to seeing you there.
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