First day of DrupalCon SF is in the bag, and wow.  What a day!   This is the largest assembly of Drupal Geeks ever, and it's incredibly exciting to see so many people in the tribe. I missed the first session, which was a good thing, as I got some distressing family news that kept me mostly awake for the much of the second half of what would have been a good night's rest.  I went to the Open Atrium demo session, and was duly impressed with the functionality and ease of its use.  I skipped the third session, as I had back-to-back calls with CA team members (the business still needs tending) and was able to make our EPA.net presentation.  I think this was by far the most moving and inspiring session. I hope that Rose and/or Jenn will blog about this project, because it's truly remarkable.  

What started out as a website development inquiry has turned into an educational collaboration between EPA.net, CivicActions and the Zero Divide Foundation.  Together, we've been training a group of at-risk youth in East Palo Alto how to build Drupal sites, and run a web development business.  Hearing how this project has made a difference in the lives of kids had me welling up with pride and satisfaction in doing "Good" work.  

DrupalCon drew 3000 participatnts this year, and it was great to see and connect with people in the Drupal community I've come to know and love.   

One of the biggest surprises of the day came when I entered the darkened hangar-like space where Dries gave his keyonte.  There were a few seats at the end of a row, and I asked the person sitting behind if anyone was sitting there.  Turns out that the person I asked was a friend and colleague I'd met working on the first Emmy webcast in 1995.  It'd bee 15 years since we last saw each other. 

Similarly, I ran into another colleague from the same period of my life today as well. He and I worked at Apple together and co-founded a webcasting company in Los Angeles in the 90's.  I'd say it was a small world, but really, it's a huge community.  Drupal's grown by an order of magnitude or two since my last Drupalcon in Wahington, DC.

I think it's fair to say this Drupalcon marks a turning point in the life of the project. I've said this Drupalcon is where Drupal meets the enterprise. While that may be only a slight exaggeration, the evidence is surely pointing to large-scale enterprise adoption.

And yet, my favorite moment of the day was listening to a handful of at-risk youth talking about the impact Drupal has had on their future.  Like giving them one.