Today marked the kick-off of Drupal North 2019, and Evolving Web is excited to be a part of it for the 4th year in a row. Day 1 was packed with trainings, summits (for the 1st time!), and networking opportunities. Here were the key takeaways we saw:

Drupal is for everyone

In the "What is Drupal?" and "Qu'est-ce que c'est Drupal?" trainings by Evolving Web's own Trevor Kjorlien and Adrian Cid Almaguer, everyone from developers, to project managers, to graphic designers and more, took part in a hands-on demonstration on how to build a site with Drupal.

Nobody wants a website

A website is just a tool for you to achieve your larger goals. Whether that be building a community, selling a product, getting donations, providing information, or anything else, your website has to be designed with your goals in mind. That being said:

Focus on what your audience wants, not what you want

Your website should always be making your audience's life easier and give them what they are looking for as quickly as possible. It's important to step out of your own shoes and into theirs in order to have a good understanding of want they want so you can cater to those needs.

Students really love chocolate

While sharing her experiences in getting students to participate in UX/UI studies, Joyce Peralta from McGill University explained that sometimes it's the small incentives that can be the most effective. Through many attempts, she found that students could be easily swayed by a simple table full of chocolate bars situated in a prime location in the library. Simple but effective!

Drupal North started off on a great foot and we're looking forward to the next two days of sessions. If you're attending, make sure to check out presentations from our team:

  • Drupal UI Patterns (Thursday at 11:15am)
  • Decoupling Drupal with React Native (Thursday at 2:45pm)
  • Fast UX Feedback for your Drupal Project (Thursday at 3:45pm)
  • Drupal Project Estimation, for Fun and Profit (Friday at 2:45pm)Otherwise you can follow along with us on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check back later for more updates on Day 2 and 3 of Drupal North.