DrupalCon is coming to Portland this month, and something tells me that things will be a little different than at the last conference held here in town. Portland hosted the first North American Drupal conference in 2005, attracting somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 attendees to the two-day event.For a hint of what's in store for us this year, consider last year's conference in Denver. More than 3,100 Web developers, themers, site architects, project managers, content authors, designers, front and back end developers, and other users and potential users of the Drupal open source content management platform gathered to exchange ideas, experience and insights.Portland remains a very active open source community, and we're primed to host the largest event yet put on by the Drupal Association. Over the course of five days, the DrupalCon experience will offer hands-on training, educational sessions, inspirational keynotes and contribution sprints, engaging Drupal users of every level every step of the way.Although DrupalCon has grown in size and scope since it made its North American debut eight years ago, the collaborative spirit of the event remains unchanged. And what else hasn't changed? Portland's love affair with microbrews.This year, we're partnering with OpenSourcery to give conference-goers a taste of Portland with an added attraction: pinball. After DrupalCon on Thursday, May 23, we'll gather at OpenSourcery to embark on a favorite local pastime: a Pinball Pub Crawl.If you want to join us, but are a pinball novice, don't sweat it. After all, what's a conference without a tutorial or two? Greg Dunlap (heyrocker) will lead a brief "how to not suck at pinball" course, and you'll get plenty of practice on one of four pinball machines at OpenSourcery before heading over to the mecca of pinball Ground Kontrol for three hours of free play.Shuttles will be running between the Oregon Convention Center, OpenSourcery and Ground Kontrol from 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. To really drink in the local sites and, yes, I meant that literally and figuratively OpenSourcery and Ground Kontrol are an easy walk apart with plenty of local watering holes with pinball attractions in between.RSVP or give us a jingle at 503-274-9905, ext. 506, to reserve one of the limited spaces available. Of course, you must be of that glorious age that allows for the enjoyment of local wine and spirits at least 21 to join.We hope to see you there, and we're looking forward to a fantastic week at DrupalCon!Blog Categories: EventsTags: drupaldrupalconpubcrawlopensourcery
