Recap: TYPO3 University Day 2018 (T3UD18)

Thanks to the people behind T3UD18 for running a fantastic event - for your commitment, dedication and good planning. It was well-organized and ran so smoothly that it was easy to forget just how busy it kept some of us for quite some time in advance. We would like to extend our thanks to all guests who attended and to the sponsors for their generous support. We’ve gathered a few impressions from a couple of participators and organizers to give you a multifaceted insight into the event.

Jörg Hambuch from AdW in Mainz was the head of the organizational team. Looking back, this is what he has to say:

“In September 2017 we - that’s team members from the AdW in Mainz - took part in the TYPO3 University Day for the first time. It was hosted by the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da) and we were impressed by the great input we got there. Towards the end of the event, the organizers asked who would like to host the TYPO3 University Day 2018. My supervisor Torsten Schrade and I looked at each other briefly, raised our eyebrows questioningly, nodded to each other, and then raised our hands. That’s how the TYPO3 University Day came to be in Mainz this year.

Organizing things like hotel contingents, catering and finding a location for the evening event were clear to us from the start, but there was lots, lots more to be taken into consideration. It's important that the big things are initiated in good time, details can always be regulated further along the line.

I was part of the organizational team, and together with members of the TYPO3 Academic Committee and the TYPO3 GmbH we planned the T3UD18 and supervised steps towards it. The committee is made up of elected representatives of the universities and advised us on the organization. Our colleagues from h_da had many helpful tips for us, too. Jörg Ems was my internal guidance at TYPO3 GmbH. Many colleagues from my department ‘Digitale Akademie’ were involved, the AdW’s event coordinator, the caretaker, the service staff - everyone supported us and I'd like to thank each and every one of them! Special thanks goes to Sarah Pittroff, who gave me full support during the two days of the event, but more importantly in the whole process leading up to the happening. Even though she denies it, a great deal of the planning, the right decisions and the best ideas are to her credit. In addition, she also designed all of the event materials which show just how skilled she is as a communications designer. Thanks, Sarah!“

Jörg Hambuch said planning for T3UD18 started the year before, but the details didn’t come into focus until the start of this year. He told us more:

“During the planning we realized that there's lots more than meets the eye to making an event of this size come to be. This experience showed me just how complex event organization is; it pushed me to see beyond simple solutions.
For me, it was great that our co-organizers gave us such a free hand as a local host. The free reign we were given gave us the opportunity to plunge into the planning with heart and soul, and team members kept coming up with new ideas. It was the first time I coordinated and organized an event of this size. Now when I look back, I consider T3UD18 a success.”

Jörg Hambuch, Organizer of T3UD18,
Academy of Sciences and Literature (AdW) in Mainz

With the growing significance of ensuring professionalism in the IT area, TYPO3 certifications play an important role in the industry and can make the difference between your business winning or losing a pitch. To meet this market demand, the TYPO3 Education Committee offered on-site exams for the TYPO3 Certified Editor (TCCE), TYPO3 Certified Integrator (TCCI), the TYPO3 Certified Developer (TCCD) and the TYPO3 Certified Consultant (TCCC).

“For the first time at the TYPO3 University Day, live exams for all four types of TYPO3 certifications were offered and carried out as part of the program. Altogether 25 attendees stood up to the challenge, 13 from the private sector and agencies and 12 students. We’d like to congratulate all certified editors, integrators, developers, and consultants on passing their exams and wish the others best of luck on their next attempt, e.g. at the TYPO3camp RheinRuhr 2018 (T3CRR) in November.

With the release of the new TYPO3 v9 LTS on October 2, the Education Committee and SkillDisplay have now started revising the learning content and updating the certification questions”, says Tom Novotny.

Tom Novotny,
TYPO3 Education Committee

“Events like TYPO3 University Day aim at a stronger involvement of the educational sector in the TYPO3 project. It’s the third time in2code GmbH took part and we were pleased to actively support T3UD18 in Mainz as the Patron Sponsor and would like to express our thanks for the extensive brand exposure we received.

There were ever so many interesting keynotes, and we also had the chance to mingle and meet new people within the TYPO3 world. The talk given by Prof. Torsten Schrade was a special highlight of the TYPO3 University Day: ”Digital Cultural Heritage”. He addressed one of the challenges the Digital Academy faces in particular, namely the long duration of projects for up to 25 years. Open source software guarantees a permanently available operation here. Sandra Pohl and Mareike Manzke gave the speech “Hand in Hand” and shared their varied experiences from the past years. Alexander Kellner shared interesting insights in his talk ”TYPO3 Upgrade and Migration”. Many other talks in various areas rounded off the interesting agenda.

At the World Cafe, various topics and possible solutions were discussed, e.g. website release cycles. The tables were moderated by members of the TYPO3 Academic Committee, in2code GmbH and TRITUM GmbH.

Many thanks to Jörg Hambuch and his team for the perfect organization of the event.”

Marcus Schwemer,
in2code GmbH

“Once again, the World Café was a highlight of the TYPO3 University Day. Here, attendees split into teams for roundtable discussions to discuss relevant topics and collect valuable input to help shape the future of TYPO3. In preparation of the event,  participants had the opportunity to submit topics. The agenda included user administration optimization, accessibility, language options, user-friendliness in the backend, GDPR, and also the future of the University Package, which is a project of the TYPO3 Academic Committee. In addition to the planned agenda, the topic “event management” was also discussed.

First, all of the topics were presented and then the participants formed 10 groups and had the opportunity to discuss each topic for 10 minutes. Each table was equipped with a big notepad and pens to document ideas and results. After 10 minutes, each group moved on to the next table. Attendees flexed their creative muscles to address challenges with fresh insight and empty pages quickly turned into lists of concrete ideas.”

Björn Jacob goes on to say: “To be honest, I had never participated in a World Café format before. I moderated the topic "event management" and the results are impressive. All of the groups provided extremely valuable input, lively discussions and everyone was incredibly focused and solution-oriented. There was a great atmosphere and discipline in that everyone listened to each other and didn’t interrupt. It was just “Wow!“.”

Björn Jacob,
TRITUM GmbH

“In parallel to the T3UD18, SkillDisplay brought together students to join in their three-day gamification event MainzificRim, which led up to the TYPO3 Certified Editor Exam (TCCE).

The challenge of the gamification? To learn as many typical TYPO3 editor skills as possible in the short time at the TYPO3 University Day. To achieve this, every participant of the gamification event was provided with a TYPO3 instance hosted by jweiland.net. The basic structure of the crisis management platform had been built beforehand. Each student had to complete the website by adding content and adapting settings. The know-how for doing this was gained by achieving tasks in the MainzificRim adventure, which in turn were divided into four chapters with several missions each. To find out more about the challenges and the outcome read SkillDisplay’s article in our blog next Monday!

A big thank you goes to F7 Media GmbH, comwrap and TUGA for supporting the Student Days!

Christina Bornberg and Florian Weiss,
SkillDisplay