It’s been nearly 15 years since I’ve been back to Europe and to the UK, and never before for a CiviCon (in London), so I didn’t quite know what to expect. Up until about 11:00am on Wednesday, I’d felt quite prepared. But then Tim Otten told me that I was giving the welcome speech and was introducing the keynote speaker. I thought he was joking. After that small oversight on my part, I spent much of the rest of the day preparing to open the conference in front of an international audience. Nothing like pressure.
Surprisingly, that pressure never materialized. From the opening speeches to the closing session, everyone was welcoming and seemed genuinely enthused to be there. And that makes all the difference. Combine a complex and impressive topic with good speakers and an audience that’s willing to listen, and you have a great mix for a conference. So, what 3 things stood out most for me?
-
Extension showcase
It was amazing to see what people are doing with CiviCRM and how they’re extending and improving the system for their needs. Perhaps most impressive is how they’ve given back to the community by making the extensions available for all to download. For me personally, the extension showcase reinforces the broader CiviCRM roadmap that is focused on platform-wide improvements that will make development within the system easier. 4.7 is currently in development, however I find myself already looking forward to the future releases that include more flexible forms and Bootstrap. -
Roadmap session
4 Core Team members were present for this session, fielding questions from the technical to the very broad in nature. It was nice to both see the interest in the direction of CiviCRM as well as have an opportunity to provide more insight into how the project operates. It’s easy enough to download and use the software without knowing much more, so from a Core Team perspective, it’s good to see users deepen their commitment as they learn more about the project. -
I wasn’t alone as a 1st time attendee
Just over 140 people attended CiviCon London, a fairly substantial portion of which for the first time. This is fantastic to see considering that a primary objective going forward for CiviCRM is to dramatically grow the ecosystem. It also provides a great forum for new users and long time participants to connect, share experiences and perhaps help sharpen the skills for new users such that they can maximize their use of CiviCRM quickly and effectively.
While it’s difficult to compare to previous CiviCons (since this was my first one), the responses received so far have been positive with a great deal of appreciation for the range of topics and the opportunities to share knowledge and experiences. If you use CiviCRM, then you know how complex it can be. Presentations like the CiviCRM Lightning Talks provide a great opportunity for a number of organizations to quickly showcase their work and demonstrate the wide range of capabilities inherent in the system. Needless to say, this was a well attended session that, like the extension showcase, generated a lot of buzz.
All in all, CiviCon London was an impressive mix of people and sessions, resulting in a genuinely great experience and we hope a profitable event (we’ll publish a financial breakdown once the numbers are in). There’s always room for improvement and we’re already beginning to discuss ways to mix it up for next year to improve attendance and to bring more Civi users to the conference and into the community. As nice as the conference was, I believe everyone would like to see it grow and to expand CiviCRM to new users throughout the UK and Europe.
Special thanks to all of the volunteers and sponsors for helping put CiviCon London together. It’s a ton of work to make events like this happen. Great job! Looking forward to next year!
Gold Sponsors
Circle Interactive
Compucorp
NFP Services
Veda Consulting
Silver Sponsor
Bronze Sponsors
CiviCoop
Civi-Go
GMCVO Databases
Northbridge Digital
White Fuse Media
Additional Sponsors
Yoti Party sponsor
Google Lunch sponsors
CiviCon Volunteers
Owen Bowden Bloodwise
Jon-man Cheung GMCVO Databases
Oliver Gibson Northbridge Digital
Jaap Jansma CiviCoop
Sean Kenny Circle Interactive
Graham Mitchell MC3
Russ Pearson Circle Interactive
Parvez Saleh Veda Consulting
Aidan Saunders Veda Consulting
Jon Screaton Compucorp
