In 2007 at Drupalcon Barcelona I had this crazy idea: what if we organize Drupalcon in Hungary, maybe even in Szeged. I talked with Gabor about my idea and he became my partner in crime. That year there were no other proposals, and with some initial reluctance and a good deal of convincing by Gabor, the board of the DA decided to go along and let us organize Drupalcon Europe in 2008. The rest is history.
Organizing an event this size, is a lot of work and I don’t remember much from the event itself. But after the dust settled, it turned out that a lot of people really liked Szeged. In fact, for years people have kept on telling me and Gabor how Szeged was the most awesome Drupalcon ever. The same people also kept asking when we would organize another event in Szeged. So when Gabor told me that we didn’t yet have a city for the Drupal Dev Days in 2014, I took the bait.
Several months of planning and research later, it’s now certain that the Dev Days will be in Szeged. We have an amazing team that has backed up the idea, with people from both the Hungarian and the international community. This time around there are a lot more people deeply involved in the organization.
Just like in 2008 we have been facing the same questions about Szeged not having it’s own airport, potential language issues and the like. Just like in 2008, We are very much aware of those issues, and we are preparing to turn these bugs into features.
We think Szeged is the perfect Drupal Dev Days destination: since the cost of living in Szeged is really low (e.g. you can have lunch for under 4 EUR) it should be really easy for a lot of people to stay the whole week. If you don’t have time to sprint then come and co-work with us. It will be an experience you don’t want to miss.
We also have some really crazy ideas about how we are going to promote the event, keep your eyes open at Drupalcon. We also have a bunch of ideas for making it as easy as possible for our attendees to get started with Drupal 8, be it as site builders, developers, or documentation writers. If you are looking for an event to get started with Drupal 8, the Drupal Dev Days in Szeged is going to be the best possible, cost-effective investment you can make.
