DrupalCon 2026

DrupalCon was in Chicago this year. I arrived Sunday morning and after connecting with a couple of coworkers we hit a nearby Irish Pub where I was able keep an eye on the Purdue game as we ate. I attempted to go for a walk in the afternoon but it was right around freezing with a bitterly cold wind coming off the lake. I made it about 2 blocks before meeting friends at the hotel pub seemed like the more sensible idea. After a team dinner me and two coworkers headed to Buddy Guy's blues club, where we enjoyed a local blues band and a surprise appearance by Buddy Guy himself.

Monday was training day and I wasn't doing any training or optional industry sessions so I mostly worked. Efficiency was marginal as the in-room WiFi was useless, so I worked down in the lobby of a conference hotel where I knew hundreds of people. But I did get the stuff done that I needed to do done, leaving me free to focus on the conference. The conference kicked off at 4 PM with the opening reception, where I was on booth duty. That evening I took a couple of coworkers to the Billy Goat Tavern where we had steak sandwiches and chips (no fries!) and several rounds of Old Styles. I gave them the full Chicago experience, LOL. Also, I'm apparently the dive bar guy now, so I'm responsible for dive bar night at all future conferences. As someone (not me) might say on LinkedIn, I relish the opportunity to bring my coworkers meaningful cultural experiences and I deeply appreciate the trust they have placed on me with this mission critical responsibility.

Tuesday was day 1 of the full conference experience. As I do every year, I circled some sessions I wanted to attend, then missed them all as I was always in an interesting conversation when the session was starting. They are all recorded so I'll catch up over the next weeks, err months. As always my brain was completely full after a day of talking with so many smart and interesting people.

Tuesday night was the big gala celebrating 25 years of Drupal. I've been a part of the Drupal community for half of those 25 years. Given the price of the gala at $125 a person, I thought it was a sit down dinner event, especially since the company bought a table. Instead it was a fancy happy hour. There was plenty of food, so I didn't go hungry. One of the food options was Barbie tacos. Now, all tacos are good tacos, but these things were perfectly sized to fit in Barbie or Ken's hand. I imagine they used tweezers to add the filling to the taco wheel. After the party I went back to the room and bed as I had to get up early to lead the 2nd annual DrupalCon birding expedition. Wednesday morning 7 people met me at 6:45 AM to go birding. We watched common song birds in Grant Park and got good looks at Red Breasted Mergansers and Horned Grebes on the lake.

Day 2 of the conference was the same as Day 1. Lots of interesting conversations, with 2 days on the conference floor starting to catch up with me, or at least catch up with my back. There did seem to be more optimism and energy than in recent years. That is saying something given the year most Drupal agencies have had.

Wednesday night we had an invite only party for customers, prospects, and friends of the company at a speakeasy. After that we retired to the hotel bar, where I lasted 1 Guinness before retiring for the evening. This is my third consecutive DrupalCon where I didn't see midnight. 10 years ago I saw sunrise on the way back to the hotel once.

Thursday was go home day. I started by birding again, because it was a beautiful morning. After that, I packed up and worked from the lobby for 90 minutes before heading to the airport. I was worried about the security lines at Chicago Midway, but in typical Drupal community fashion, there were Slack threads with airport line updates from those who had left earlier. It took me 3 minutes to get through the pre-check line. I'm typing this on my phone on the flight home.

The conference was at the downtown Hilton, and I must say it was my least favorite DrupalCon hotel. As mentioned earlier, in room WiFi was useless. Also, the prices were stupid expensive. I grabbed a diet Coke from the shop in the lobby and they charged me $8. My expenses were covered, but that kind of captive pricing just offends me. So every morning I made a one block walk to Dunkin' for coffee and a donut instead of of overpaying for a coffee in the hotel. Screw them.

DrupalCon next year is in Orlando. I'm already looking forward to it. But next up is DrupalCon Asheville in July, followed by Drupal GovCon in August.