Red Leaf Media

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the first Purdue/Lafayette Drupal meetup. There were nine people there, which is pretty remarkable to an Indiana smaller-town meetup. Two guys from the English department showed up. They have actively used Drupal in many of their courses and are actively looking for more ways to use it. They will be vital components of our attempts to push Purdue further towards Drupal. In addition to the English teachers, two graphic design students from Purdue attended. Both of them are relatively new to Drupal but seem to have some interest in learning more. There were also two guys from Haan Marketing and Communications in attendance. They are actively using Drupal in much of the web work with Haan and seem extremely enthusiastic about Drupal. Doug Vann was also in the house. He is a strong contributor and evangelist to the Drupal community. It was especially cool that he brought free books and t-shirts courtesy of companies such as Acquia and Lullabot. Doug is a fun guy who I consider a friend. Lastly, Elvis McNeely was the "leader" of the meeting. I had brief communication with Elvis in the past and was looking forward to meeting him. He seems to have a strong passion for Drupal and promoting it within the Purdue community. Having tried to persuade the Chemistry department to use Drupal myself, we have a lot in common.

I look forward to the next meeting of the group, and I will invite several other Drupalers to attend. It will be interesting to see what comes of the group and if we can make an impact on the heavily red taped Purdue.