Following two successful previous events, the annual Drupalcamp Bristol will pitch up its tents for a three-day event from Friday 30 June to Sunday 2 July. With each day having a different focus there are all kinds of Drupal-based activities going on, including keynote talks, discussions and importantly, time for a bit of socialising with other Drupal campers.
“With Drupal 8 adoption soaring, Drupal is being widely discussed and is high on the digital agenda”
To give us the low down we spoke to organiser and Drupal evangelist Tom Metcalfe (pictured left), who tells us, “With Drupal 8 adoption soaring, Drupal is being widely discussed and is high on the digital agenda. Simultaneously, Drupal developers’ skillsets are becoming more marketable as the core initiative takes advantage of exciting new web technologies. Drupal – and its community – has never been better-placed in the digital marketplace.”
The 2016 camp saw over 100 people gather to hear industry leaders speak on a range of topics, from beginners’ talks on how to find your way with Drupal 8 all the way up to scaling the platform to be suitable for large charities. This year, Friday 30 June is CXO day, Saturday 1 July is a developer-focused conference, and Sunday 2 July is all about code sprints.
Drupalcamp is also looking for speakers to take the stage. Tom says, “We’re open to new talk submissions and we’re very excited about the talks we’ve had submitted so far.”
“We tend to have a good mix of talks each year so all speakers are welcome!”
“We tend to have a good mix of Drupal specific talks and general web development/industry talks each year so all speakers are welcome! One of the best talks we’ve had recently was Leonie Watson giving a talk about the history of accessibility and then doing a live demo of a screen reader describing web pages for visually impaired users.”
Hosting Drupalcamp in Bristol gives the event the advantage of being surrounded by talented developers, as Tom explains: “Drupal has a hub in Bristol and the South West with lots of agencies and individuals doing great work with it. After seeing other Drupalcamps set up around the country (London, North West, Brighton) a few of us decided Bristol should have its own camp.”
Friday 30 June to Sunday 2 July, across multiple locations. Keep a look out for updates on their website, early bird tickets are on sale now via Eventbrite, alternatively, there are plenty of speaker slots available, and you can submit your application to with their online form.

Shona Wright
Shona covers all things editorial at TechSPARK. She publishes news articles, interviews and features about our fantastic tech and digital ecosystem, working with startups and scaleups to spread the word about the cool things they're up to.
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