You want it? You got it! Drupal for Content Creators to debut online in June!

You want it? You got it! Drupal for Content Creators to debut online in June!

FFW Marketing
AfFFW Marketing
april 29, 2014

This June, the FFW Center of Excellence is debuting the brand new Drupal for Content Creators class as part of our week-long Spring into Drupal Training Blitz event. The admin side of a Drupal site is as customizable as what we show our site's visitors. This training is meant to give the non-technical stakeholder--such as an editor or marketer--the insight they need to imagine their ideal Drupal editing environment and find the voice to ask for it.

A couple weeks ago I piloted a training concept at NYC Camp, and the response was wonderfully enthusiastic. I am very excited to share with you that this June, we will debut a new full-day class that I have had under development for the last few weeks--Drupal for Content Creators!

For a very long time--years, really--I've wanted to see some kind of training emerge that would help end users like editors and marketers to use Drupal. When I've brought it up to other business-side folks, they were into it, too.

All too often, Drupal sites are built with wonderful features and experiences for site visitors, but the people who are creating the content and managing the site are left with a barebones toolset that can be cumbersome and frustrating.

It doesn't have to be this way.

The admin side of a Drupal site is as customizable as what we show our site's visitors. It can be themed, reports and dashboards can be customized, and there is a vast array of contributed modules and plugins that can provide advanced features and tools to admin-side users--if they only knew what was possible and how to ask for it.

This class is meant to help.

Who is it for?

Drupal for Content Creators is geared toward a different audience from most other Drupal training resources. While freelance developers who "do it all" for their clients can certainly benefit, this class has non- and less-technical stakeholders like editors, marketers, and business-side project owners in mind, as well as the business analysts helping them to translate their needs into project specifications.

Learning objectives

The class targets four areas of learning:

  • Getting familiar with basic Drupal content tools
  • Understanding "the Drupal way" of customizing an experience
  • Touring a sample of enhancements that are available through contributed projects
  • Learning to understand one's own needs and communicate those needs to the tech team

The emphasis is on "easy wins"--features and tools that are either part of Drupal core or available through contributed projects and do not require custom module development.

Why is this needed?

Outside of customized private training, which generally occurs after a site is launched, few learning resources are presently available to non-technical Drupal users. As a result, content and marketing stakeholders often enter into a Drupal project blindly...they don't know what to expect, what is possible, or what is practical.

Because of this, their voice tends to be very muted when it comes to their own needs, aside from possibly emulating tried-and-true features from their existing system. A good agency can make sure that common needs are addressed, but if the stakeholders can't envision or describe specific needs or features, they are not likely to make it into the spec.

And if doesn't get spec'd, it doesn't get built.

By the time these users get their hands on Drupal and start to recognize where improvements could be made, it is often too late in the project to secure the necessary resources for those changes.

This lack of understanding can result in disengagement, apathy, and ultimately poor adoption of the system by the very people tasked with using it to create value. The end result is a HUGE missed opportunity to create a content and site management environment that empowers editors, creators, and marketing staff rather than holding them back.

This training is meant to give the non-technical stakeholder the insight they need to imagine their ideal Drupal editing environment and find the voice to ask for it.

Ready? Go!

The official debut of Drupal for Content Creators is happening Tuesday, June 17th, as part of our weeklong Spring into Drupal Training Blitz event. Spring into Drupal provides a well-rounded introduction to Drupal that will help you to prepare for new projects or give a feature boost to your existing site. Classes online and interactive, and will take place from 10am to 5pm ET each day that week.

You can explore the offerings and register here.

Happy Drupaling!


PS - I'm in the process of finalizing the course content. If you have thoughts on what should be included or would like to share your experiences, I've got a quick little form posted here. As a thank you, respondents will receive a 25% off discount code (displayed on the confirmation screen after form submission).