Cruising to Drupalcon Denver

Last week, I went on my first cruise. It was tremendous fun. The weather was great, the food and drinks were tasty and, perhaps due to the the weather and cuisine, the people were great.

A personal accomplishment... For an entire week, I was without any phone or internet access. I could have bought them (and it was expensive), but I didn't. I was convinced that I would be going through withdrawal, similar to crack cocaine. Yet, no. I missed it, but not much. I guess I was ready for a vacation. I didn't carry my smartphone at all. Since I don't wear a watch, I didn't know what time it was most of the time, which really didn't matter!

The cruise experience. Anyway, I noticed something that I found interesting, but not surprising. As the 3,000 people arrived at the terminal and boarded the Carnival cruise ship, boarding proceeded as expected. Several thousand strangers shuffling through a process that wasn't entirely unpleasant. As we pulled away from dock, everyone was trying to figure out the ship, where everything was and what they will want to do. Over a period of days, people started to open up. They started feeling comfortable enough to just talk to folks they had seen around the ship. Perhaps they sang with them at the piano bar. (Long story.) Perhaps you had seen them sing karaoke. (Even a longer story.)

Everything changed on the last day at sea. Folks retrenched to talking to just the people they knew well. The upbeat enthusiasm was replaced with a restrained admission that the voyage would soon be over.

The Drupalcon Denver cruise experience. As the Colorado Drupal community (along with our global leaders) race to organize Drupalcon Denver, we have experienced the same feelings.

Fortunately, the Colorado Drupal community didn't start from a cold stop. Local monthly meeting across the state keep people in touch regionally. The IRC chat room (#drupal-colorado) and our annual Drupalcamp Colorado keep folks in touch across a relatively big state.

As we started our "Drupalcon Cruise", we all were trying to figure out what we wanted to do and how we fit in. After volunteering for a leadership role and an online meeting or two, it's really amazing how quickly new working groups and relationships are formed. Lately, new working groups (like Drupal Means Business) needed to come together and new volunteers to the 'Con stepped up and the entire process starts for each new person.

Truth be known, I'm probably one of the more forward people, reaching out to folks who haven't been involved in the past and inviting them to work on projects with me. Maybe its a fit, maybe not, but you don't know until you try.

My biggest fear is the end of the Drupalcon cruise. I found that I was sad when the Carnival cruise was ending and I also mourned the comraderie of "all being on the boat together". Understand that I don't want to have Drupalcon hosted in Denver every year. It's way too much work! Yet, it will be entirely too easy, and too likely, to have many of the Colorado Drupalistas lose touch.

At Drupalcon Chicago, I was the one who suggested that it was a shame that we all had to travel to Chicago to get representation from across the state of Colorado. Yet, outside of last summer's Drupalcamp Colorado, we haven't all gotten together again. That's as much my fault as anyone's.

Enough of this. I've got work to do. The Drupalcon Cruise is exciting and has expanded everyone's base of friends. I'll probably continue to volunteer for future events to recreate the feeling. If you have the opportunity to jump in on putting on a Drupalcon, don't hesitate. You will be glad you did.

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