Guest Article: Codegarden '24 Review with Ben Tudball

In the months leading up to the Codegarden '24 conference, the Umbraco Meetup groups in Australia ran a competition to send one lucky winner on an all-expenses paid trip to Odense, Denmark for the conference in June. 

Initiated by Robert Foster, founder of Your IT Team, the competition aimed to bring the Australian Umbraco Community together and promote greater collaboration and awareness of Umbraco as a CMS, and the community at large.

Robert instigated the Umbraco Meetups in Australia 10 years ago as of May this year, firstly in Melbourne, then Sydney, and eventually assisted with the setup of the "Brisbane Umbraco Unicorns Group" (BUUG for short).

At Codegarden '23, in discussion with others, the initiative to send someone to Codegarden '24 who potentially wouldn't have that opportunity normally, saw a great response with more people attending throughout the year than average.

Ben was that lucky winner having attended every meetup in Brisbane for the year.  Prior to his trip, Ben had never set foot outside of Australia.  This is his story...

The Lucky Winner!

Hi, my name is Ben. Let's take a journey to the Codegarden '24 event in Odense, Denmark.

From August 2023 to March 2024, any guest attending at an Australian Umbraco Meetup in-person in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane, were given the opportunity to enter their name into the draw for an all-expenses paid trip to Codegarden '24 held in Odense, Denmark. My odds increased due to attending two meetups; it was my name that was drawn.

Your IT Team's very own Robert Foster-Williams is a co-host organiser of Australia's Umbraco Meetups. He has always spoken fondly about previous Codegarden events.

Ben's Journey to Codegarden

The flights were long with plenty to keep you occupied. Food was provided every couple of hours. Catching some sleep while flying during the night was unorthodox but manageable. Wearing an eye mask helped block out the brightness from headrest LCD screens.

The stop over at Dubai International Airport was bustling. It certainly is an international passenger hub. This is where I met up with Joseph, from Your IT Team.

The passport validation upon arriving at Copenhagen Airport was a much slower process than anticipated. I almost missed my pre-booked train ride through the countryside to Odense. The airport had similar delays when departing back to Australia.

The weather in Odense triggered memories from my childhood: brisk, cold, windy days living in Victoria during Winter. In June, it is Summer in Denmark. Thankfully it warmed up on Friday on the final day, perfect for the post-event guided city tour of Odense.

Odense is a delicate and quaint city. Friendly people with no fuss or frills going about their business. Definitely not glum or intense, exuberant or imposing. No surprise that the Umbraco HQ and Codegarden reside in Odense.

The booked accommodation was a private small room at the Milling Plaza Hotel, a vintage hotel without any run-down feeling. The staircase circled a central old-style elevator. The room felt cosy, and sleeping there was peaceful. The stay included buffet breakfast that offered ample variety, with a welcoming grandeur to the dining space.

Of the 3 hours that I spent in Copenhagen, I was in awe of the subtle curves to the historic nature of this city. A 360-degree splendour. My visit definitely needed longer than 3 hours.

Codegarden's first impressions

The first impression arriving at Codegarden '24 was the friendly, joyful, relaxed welcoming. Hi 5's and smiles all round. This set the tone for the entire conference.

After registering and obtaining my lanyard and first-timer badge, the event kicked off. Starting with the Keynote, highlighting the major talking points for Umbraco over the past year, and what's to come.

Something that resonated was announcing Umbraco as the Umbraco CMS Platform. Umbraco truly is a platform and spot on to distinguish it as such.

Umbraco provides purposeful building blocks as its foundation for developing highly customisable web experiences. I have found that newcomers to Umbraco often wonder how it compares to other content management systems, soon to discover that Umbraco is in a calibre of its own.

Never a dull moment; a conference with Bull Riding, Hammerschlagen, Silent Zone, Pull Request, Social Space, swag shop, chilled bottled water and beverages, instant coffee and tea, a dedicated barista, gluten-free dairy-free meal alternatives, never a queue for a toilet, each stage having double screen displays for presenters, and groovy music to alert the next talk is about to start. A conference well planned, orchestrated and catered for. Everything light-hearted with no room for tension.

Codegarden's Highlights

Something strictly forbidden from Codegarden is sharing what goes on at Bingo night on Thursday. I have likely already crossed that line! Let's just say it is an experience like no other and definitely memorable. For me, a defining moment that encapsulated the entire Codegarden experience was the captivating lap lead by Umbraco CEO Kim Sneum Madsen with a trailing marching band and flutists playing the theme to Indiana Jones. Pure class!

The Australian attendees were all invited on stage to say hello at the UmbraCoffee Part 1 live session.

Each talk that I attended was well presented. To highlight a few talks that were pertinent for me:

Umbraco Deploy: A Deep-Dive into Migrating Between Major Versions.

Ronald Barendse presented the nitty-gritty of Umbraco migration, an area often overlooked in projects and agency processes. His talk revealed some of the options currently available for migrations, including the migration advancements built-in to the recent Umbraco releases.

Umbraco Awards Show

An inspirational awards show. Amazing winners, many worthy contenders. A fun evening.

Deep Dive on Umbraco Cloud Deployments

During Robert Foster-Williams' talk, we all went on a deployment journey to the Umbraco Cloud. He presented the talk without a script, relaying straight from experience and a live demo.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Improving the Architecture of an Existing Site

I could relate to every aspect of Heather Floyd's well-presented talk. The architecture of an existing Umbraco website can gradually compound and require your own dedicated clean-up session. Thanks to Heather for sharing her insights. Clean-up sessions are a must for the lifetime of every Umbraco project.

How to Handle Anything - Improving Your Ability to Creatively Solve Problems & Thrive Through Change.

Mary Lemmer delivered her talk with such joy, highlighting everyday improvising occurrences, particularly relevant in web development. Her audience engagement and interactive exercises were fun and enlightening.

Meeting New People

The day before the conference started, I met Joshua Campbell, a member of Your IT Team, who currently resides in Amsterdam.

During the conference, I enjoyed numerous friendly conversations with people from different countries around the world, each bringing their unique professional background and developer experience.

I even had an enjoyable conversation with the workers in the coffee van, in appreciation of them making and serving fresh coffee all day with no break. They openly shared some perceptive observations with their business model and how they travel 3 hours each day to work at the conference. Then I had a long chat with an Odense local, Mikkel, about Denmark's first-class bicycle road infrastructure. He mentioned the grand underground carpark beneath Copenhagen city.

All while the next talk had already started, that I missed attending. But that is what happens at Codegarden, valuing and cherishing the connections with people. Thankfully all the talks were recorded, and will become available for viewing sometime in September 2024.