You’re in need of a Drupal website, but where do you begin?

In this powerhouse panel, we’ll be addressing aspiring clients and how to bridge the communication gap between clients and those who speak Drupal by tackling some of these common questions:

• What should you look for in a technical team to make your vision happen?
• What questions do you ask when starting the process with engaging a large agency, small webshop, in-house team, or jack-of-all trades Drupal implementor?
• What’s expected of you during a project, and how can you help the process?
• What sort of communication and conversations that are unique to planning, building and deploying Drupal solutions should you expect?

We're looking to educate, inform, and share what we know so that YOU can have a better grasp of what to expect before, during and after a significant Drupal project.

We hope to demystify the many Drupal nuances and gotchas, and provide the community with a lot of perspective on how Drupal implementers communicate best with stakeholders, and vice versa.

Several items we aim to cover:

• Learn how to speak Drupal to communicate effectively
• Common Drupal challenges and how to mitigate risk
• Important things you must know before choosing a Drupal agency
• How to effectively scope your project for accurate and comparable budgets
  Agency, contractor or employee - or a combination of all three - which is the right choice for you?

Whether you’re a client or an up-and-coming project manager, this panel hopes to elucidate the blurry world of client-side management in the Drupal-sphere.

About the Panel

Molly Byrnes of Phase2 has a special flair for bridging the gap between Drupal geekspeak and client priorities. Her intuitive project management skills and ability to detect assumptions in a client's voice translate into successful Drupal projects across the board.

Anne Stefanyk of Kanopi Studios is experienced in managing all facets of a business and has a technical understanding allowing her to interface with engineers. Her ability to understand client needs and translate them into functional Drupal websites leads to project bliss.

Andrew Ward of Kalamuna works exclusively on client side management as account manager and primary point of contact. He strives to set proper expectations. He’s also been the absolute worst client ever and will share his years of experience in that hazy realm.

Vivek Goel of Four Kitchens has been a Drupal developer for many years and has recently taken over as project manager for support clients. His insight into hands-on Drupal development and management will be a big win for panel attendees.