Keynote Session - Creating a Culture of Giving in Your Organization

Open source software is no longer a trend - it has helped revolutionize the technology industry and impacts almost every facet of our life and work in some way. This includes everything from where we host web properties, to how we browse the internet, and how content management platforms like Drupal are powering digital experiences for global enterprises.

Yet, key questions remain around how we can sustain open source projects after they reach a certain “tipping point.” In general, the current open source models have struggled to scale. The ecosystem tends to be supported by motivated founders, service providers, altruistic volunteers, and adopters of the software that create jobs. In this session, we will explore Mediacurrent’s personal journey to discovering the value of creating a culture that gives back to an open source community (Drupal).

Mediacurrent’s two founding Partners, Dave Terry and Paul Chason, are life-long friends who in 2007 realized a shared vision of starting a digital agency predicated around open source software. Today, Mediacurrent is one of the most successful Drupal-centric agencies in the world.  Mediacurrent has architected, supported and launched hundreds of websites, guiding some of the most name recognizable brands in the world to adopt an open source and Drupal-based digital  strategy. Along the way, they also realized how important it was to create an agency culture that contributes back to the open source community.

The objectives of the session will be:
*  To educate attendees on “why” giving back is so critical to your organization
*  Inspire organizations to contribute back and isolate what is and is not working
*  Illustrate the value that organizations gain by contributing to open source projects
*  Highlight Mediacurrent’s own use case around creating a culture that gives back to Drupal