Speaking
Mike is an avid speaker and does multiple speaking engagements each year. Previously Mike has spoken on podcasts, at local meetups, a number of international conferences, etc.
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
TBD
Past Speaking Engagements
North America DrupalCon 2024 (Portland, OR) - May 2024
How to use automated tools to upgrade your site from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10x
43% of the entire Drupal community is on Drupal 7. Drupal 7 end of life is coming in 2025. Acquia recently open sourced our migration automation tool, Acquia Migrate: Accelerate (AM:A) to help the community get to D10 and prepare for D11. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a migration newbie, learn how to leverage AM:A to automate your content migration, give you the confidence to be a migration expert, and help keep your application on the latest version of Drupal Core.Drupal GovCon 2023 (Bethesda, MD) - November 2023
Why is this so hard? Let's make Lando and DDev Easy
Starting a new project with a new team is always harder than it really should be. Why? Well maybe the new team is using DDev and you're used to Lando. Or maybe they are using a web-based product (like an Acquia Cloud IDE, Github Codespace, or Gitpod).Regardless, acclimating a team to a set of developer tools is a thing that always takes much longer than it should! So, in this session let's try to break down some of those walls and talk about the containers that make our lives easier (or harder, depending on your week).
Acquia Engage 2023 (Boston)
DrupalCon 2022 (Portland) - April 2022
Government Summit Monday, 25 April 10:20a-11:50am (Lightning Talks) - Code Maintenance & Drupal 10
While code maintenance isn't always the most compelling aspect of a project, it can be one of the most important. Let's talk about maintaining your code base and how it can prepare you for future updates, especially the upcoming Drupal 10.
Let's Do It Live: Setting up all the Development / Devops Tools for a New Drupal Projects - Tuesday, 26th April 11 :00 - 11:50a
You know all the buzzwords... Dependency Management, Version Control, Continuous Integration, Virtual Environments. But do you know how to work with all of them? This session will setup all of the necessary technologies for a new Drupal 9 project. We'll start with a composer scaffold, setup the necessary git parameters and ignore rules to work with composer, provision a VM, integrate front end technologies via NPM, and more!Acquia Engage (Remote) - October 2021
DrupalCampNYC 2021 (Remote) - October 2021
Cloud Dev EnvironmentsCloud Dev Environments (CDEs) give you full fledged IDEs like VS Code and PHP Storm in your browser and some can also integrate with your Local Dev Environments.
With CDEs, you can onboard developers within a day, do pair programming, remote debugging, and spin up a new fresh dev environment in minutes if anything goes wrong.
This session looks at the pros and cons of Cloud Dev Environments, how they're being used by developers, and how different vendors are adopting this technology into their product offerings.Drupal GovCon (Remote) - October 2021
Lightning Round: Setting Up All the DevOps Technologies for a Drupal Project
You know all the buzzwords... Dependency Management, Version Control, Continuous Integration, Virtual Environments. But do you know how to work with all of them?This session will setup all of the necessary technologies for a new Drupal 9 project. We'll start with a composer scaffold, setup the necessary git parameters and ignore rules to work with composer, provision a VM, integrate front end technologies via NPM, and more!
Abandon Ship: Tips for Exiting Drupal 8 Before the November 2021 End of Life
The time has come! Drupal 8 is going end of life VERY soon (just a few weeks after the end of this conference). If you and your organization are still running D8, you are about to lose security coverage (which is a big problem). This session is all about the last minute, mad dash to the finish to get you and your site across the line and into Drupal 9 before the end of Drupal 8!
Writing Clean / Secure / Performant Code
In this session we'll look at PHP examples for Drupal 9 modules, examine how a "functionally" written module can be improved with things like Dependency Injection, performance / security review, coding standards, etc. We'll also dig into why these things are so important and why to some folks (like me) it might mean the difference in you getting hired to do a job (if you can demonstrate these concepts) and not getting the call back.
Acquia Lightning End of Life: How to Uninstall and Transition to a New Installation Profile
Acquia Lightning has been a cornerstone of the Drupal Community since Drupal 8's release. However, thanks to significant advancement in Drupal core's own capabilities, many of the features Lightning once provided no longer come from the profile itself. As a result, Acquia has decided to end of life the profile.Drupal4Gov Webinar Series (Remote) - August 2021
Preparing for Drupal 10
This talk is all about making sure you have the basics in place to stay on top of Drupal updates from the community (both security and feature), planning for Drupal 10 (or any other Drupal update), and some of the involved technologies and tools. We'll also talk about non-technical strategies and best practices to keep the rest of your organization in the loop and inline.Drupal4Gov Webinar Series (Remote) - May 2021
Behind the Curtain: How we Built and Run the Drupal GovCon Website
In this session we'll have a look at the Drupal GovCon code in the repository, walk through out development methodology, review our deployment process, and answer questions.DrupalCon North America Gov Summit (Remote) - April 2021
Migration Panel and Migration BOF ModeratorDrupalCon North America 2021(Remote) - April 2021
Acquia Booth Talks on Devops and Drupal 8=>9 UpdatesDrupalCon Europe 2020 (Remote) - December 2020
https://vimeo.com/drupalassociation/download/488718878/7788957be9
The best way to continue the growth of Drupal as an open source project is to build successful Drupal applications that help organisations accomplish their digital goals. In this presentation, you’ll learn best practices for improving the migration, development, management, and optimisation of Drupal sites and understand what tools Acquia offers to make each of these stages even easier.Drupal NoVA 2020 (Remote) - November 2020
Getting Started with Behat in Drupal
Let’s be real: very few platforms have the test coverage that they want to have. It’s never too late to start fixing that. Thankfully, with Behat testing Drupal is easier than ever and there is no excuse to not at least dip a toe in to get the ball rolling.Acquia Engage 2020 (Remote) - October 2020
Switch: Tips for Moving from D7 to D9
Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 is a big jump. (After all, D9 is nearly a decade newer!) This session is all about preparing for that move, and ensuring it’s as simple and hassle-free as possible. In this session, we’ll provide answers to the big questions: How should you review your code? What should you focus on in your content? What's new in D9 that you need to know about? We’ll also have time for Q&A with Acquia’s Drupal superstars, Angie Byron (AKA webchick) and Mike Madison.Drupal GovCon 2020 (Remote) - September 24th - 25th, 2020
My First IDE
IDEs are an incredibly powerful tool. They are also an incredibly complex and intimidating tool if you've never used one (or are new to them). However as you tread more into Drupal 8 and 9, an IDE is a critical tool that will drastically impact your ability to write functional code. The difference in code quality / functionality / usability written in an IDE vs. code written in a text editor (e.g. Sublime) or terminal (e.g. VIM) is obvious and on more than one occasion I have "fixed" broken code that someone else wrote just by opening it in a Drupal project in my IDE and reading things that the original developer's "other tool" didn't show!Automated Visual Regression Testing
Accessibility is a critical component of any modern website (and double so for government sites). This session is all about building a safety net for your site / platform to ensure that you do not regress the accessibility of your site as you continue to make improvements, fix bugs, develop new features, and apply updates.Drupal4Gov Webinar Series 2020 (Remote) - August 2020
Future Proofing Your Site / Platform for Drupal 9
Mike Madison of Acquia will take you through the ins and outs of getting ready for Drupal 9 through future proofing your sites.Acquia Engage 2019 (New Orleans, LA) - November 2019
Future-proofing Your Digital Platform
The tech world is always changing and evolving. New tools come out. Software updates. How can you stay ahead? In this track we’ll provide you with the tools and strategies to get ahead. This track will include a a checklist for how to prepare yourself for Drupal 9.Talking Drupal Podcast #220 - July 2019
In episode #220 we learn about Acquia's open source product, BLT, from Mike Madison.Drupal4Gov Webinar Series (Remote) - May 2019
Configuration Workflow in Drupal 8
Configuration is a key concept in Drupal 8 that sits at the intersection of backend development, dependency management, theming, site building, and (in)sanity. Already the community has seen several significant shifts in the recommended "best practices" and with the announcement of a second configuration management initiative, there is no clear end in sight!DrupalCon 2019 (Seattle, WA) - April 2019
Stop Blaming Your Boss
Look, it’s easy to say “my organization doesn’t do X” where X is automated testing, continuous integration, local development, version control, or any other myriad of modern development standards (that you really should be doing). In fact, if your organization isn’t doing some/all of these things, that DOES make it really hard for you to do them. But that doesn’t mean you can’t (or shouldn’t)!Mid-Columbia PRSA March Luncheon (Richland, WA) - March 2019
Overcoming the Challenges of Virtual Collaboration
Wether you’re working from home occasionally or full-time, while on business travel or as a freelancer, we all work remotely at some point. Our speakers bring decades of experience to maximize your virtual collaboration.Drupal GovCon 2018 (Bethesda, MD)
Configuration Workflow in Drupal 8
Configuration is a key concept in Drupal 8 that sits at the intersection of backend development, dependency management, theming, site building, and (in)sanity. Already the community has seen several significant shifts in the recommended "best practices" and with the announcement of a second configuration management initiative, there is no clear end in sight!
Drupal 8 Development Methodologies
Everything (nearly) about Drupal 8's development process is different than it was in Drupal 7. Some of it is a "little" different and some of it is so totally different you wouldn't recognize it as belonging to the same software. That's ok! Different isn't scary, it's just... different.MiniCamp Atlanta 2018 (Online)
Where to Dive in with D8 DevOps
Taking an organization that has historically done Drupal 6 / 7 and moving into Drupal 8 is a big step. There are drastically different platform requirements (PHP Version, supporting new technologies like Composer, etc.), the API has changed into an object oriented model (requiring a more in-depth knowledge of PHP and coding standards than Drupal 7 ever required), troubleshooting and debugging can't just be accomplished with the Devel module, there are multiple ways of managing configuration (each with their own set of pros and cons), and many Drupal 7 modules either don't exist in 8, don't work in 8, are in core in 8, or some combination! There are a lot of changes to keep an eye on.Srijan Wednesday Webinars (Online) 2018
Using Drupal as Data Pipeline for Digital Signage
Digital signs are a completely different creature than standard websites, mobile applications, or really just about anything else you might be building. In particular, delivery mechanisms for digital signage must be perfectly engineered to ensure fast, accurate, and consistent data flow.DrupalCon 2018 (Nashville, TN)
Beyond Websites: Drupal as Data Pipeline for Digital Signage
Digital signs are a completely different creature than standard websites, mobile applications, or really just about anything else you might be building. Every stage of digital signage project must be customized and tailored specifically to this medium. In particular, delivery mechanisms for digital signage must be perfectly engineered to ensure that fast, accurate, and consistent data will flow. Unfortunately, even with the API first nature of Drupal 8, Drupal itself isn't sufficient to facilitate all necessary steps to deliver data to a sign. Worse, by adding in additional technologies, you muddy the waters even farther and make testing that much more difficult!Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit 2018 (Portland, OR)
Beyond Websites: Drupal as Data Pipeline for Digital Signage
Traditionally when people talk about Drupal as a tool they immediately think websites. However, thanks to Drupal 8's API first approach and modern javascript frameworks, Drupal can easily power experiences beyond the traditional web. As more data rich APIs become available, Drupal can be used to accumulate data, identify a variety of devices in an Internet of Things network, and then route data to the appropriate places. More, Drupal’s own rich content management capabilities can still be utilized to enhance this datastream, making it that much more relevant based on location, language, or a myriad of other metadata stored in the CMS. In this presentation we will demonstrate how to use Drupal 8 to power a real-time signage system and discuss the techniques you need to build your own!Drupal GovCon 2017 (Bethesda, MD)
Drupal 8 Development Methodologies
Everything (nearly) about Drupal 8's development process is different than it was in Drupal 7. Some of it is a "little" different and some of it is so totally different you wouldn't recognize it as belonging to the same software. That's ok! Different isn't scary, it's just... different.
Easing into Drupal 8 Development
One of the biggest struggles for me personally when I began working with Drupal 8 was understanding all the moving pieces that were required to really take the leap. The idea of trying to wrap my arms around everything required to get 8 up and running, all while trying to work on a new project was particularly daunting.DrupalCon Baltimore 2017 (Baltimore, MD)
Traditionally when people talk about Drupal as a tool they immediately think websites. However as Dries demonstrated during DrupalCon New Orleans 2016, Drupal 8 can power experiences beyond the traditional web. As more data rich APIs become available, Drupal can be used to accumulate data, identify a variety of devices in an Internet of Things network, and then route data to the appropriate places. More, Drupal’s own rich content management capabilities can still be utilized to enhance this datastream, making it that much more relevant based on location, language, or a myriad of other metadata stored in the CMS. In this presentation we will demonstrate how to use Drupal 8 to power a real-time signage system and discuss the techniques you need to build your own!Drupal GovCon 2016 (Bethesda, MD)
Ensuring Quality through Automated Visual Regression Testing
Deploying a site is easy; having confidence that it works as intended after the build is hard. In this talk, we will outline our automated build workflow and show how we have integrated automated testing to ensure that builds don’t break sites. This process focuses on two critical steps: verifying functionality, which is accomplished using more traditional test suites like Behat and Selenium, and verifying the actual look/feel of the website, which is accomplished with a visual regression test performed by Wraith. These testing suites allow us to quickly pinpoint errors that might have slipped through all but the most rigorous manual testing. Only after all of our tests are complete can we merge branches and move on to the next step.