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Earlier this year I made the difficult decision to step down as Events Recipe track lead in the Starshot initiative. Having successfully delivered the requirements for a 1.0 release of Drupal CMS, I decided my skills and expertise could have more impact elsewhere.

I loved the opportunity to collaborate with so many of the best minds in the Drupal community. But there was important work needed on a different initiative, the Drupal Event Platform.

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• Read more about The Drupal Event Platform: a new stage of evolution
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It’s frustrating when your Drupal site isn’t performing the way it should — and that frustration often turns into real business impact. Your website should attract traffic, grow your audience, build trust, and convert visitors into customers. So when that’s not happening, the natural question is: what’s holding it back? Isn’t Drupal a powerful platform capable of delivering outstanding results? It absolutely is — when you tap into its strengths.

The countdown has begun! As we look forward to the highly anticipated DrupalCon Vienna 2025, it’s time to spotlight why this event is more than just a calendar highlight, it's an epicenter of open source innovation, community collaboration, and professional growth.

This blog kicks off a special series where I’ll be sharing insights, technical takeaways, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of what you can expect in Vienna this year. Whether you’re a developer, a technical architect, a site builder, or simply Drupal-curious, there’s something here for you.

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, Drupal continues to stand strong as a powerful, scalable, and secure open source CMS trusted by governments, enterprises, NGOs, and universities worldwide. But what makes Drupal thrive is not just the code — it’s the community.

And DrupalCon is where that community comes to life.

In 2025, as AI, composable architectures, and privacy-first designs redefine the web, DrupalCon Vienna will serve as a timely intersection. A place to explore how Drupal is embracing these shifts and how you can leverage them for your projects.

If you’ve ever walked the streets of Vienna, you already know its unique mix of historic charm and modern innovation. This isn’t just a beautiful city — it’s a European leader in smart city tech, accessibility, and sustainability, values that deeply resonate with the Drupal community.

Expect:

• A world-class conference venue at the Austria Center Vienna
   
• Easy access via international flights and public transport
   
• A cultural experience that complements the learning — museums, concerts, and yes, Sachertorte!
   

DrupalCon Vienna 2025 will host an impressive lineup of sessions, panels, workshops, and contributor sprints designed to meet the needs of developers, architects, and engineering teams. Here are just a few themes you can expect to dive into:

With Drupal CMS on the horizon, this year’s DrupalCon will be the best place to understand:

• Experience builder: A game-changer for site building
• Deep dive into AI-driven site creation
• Site templates: Accelerating time to launch
• Marketplace strategy: Drupal.org's commercial frontier
• Community & leadership access
• Improvements to configuration management and project scaffolding
   

Modern front-end frameworks like React, Vue, and Svelte continue to gain ground. Learn:

• How to build performant decoupled sites with Drupal as a backend
• How JSON:API and GraphQL are evolving
• Best practices for managing APIs, caching, and frontend security

Whether you're building for scale or speed:

• Explore GitOps workflows, Docker-based stacks, and automated deployments
• Learn from real-world case studies on performance monitoring and load testing
• Participate in hands-on DevOps labs and tool demonstration
   

The web is for everyone. Discover:

• Accessibility audits and automated testing tools
• How inclusive design benefits your bottom line
   

While the sessions are packed with value, the real magic happens in BoFs, sprints, informal discussions, and hallway chats. DrupalCon Vienna will offer:

• Mentored contribution sprints for first-timers and veterans alike
• BoFs (Birds of a Feather) meetups for shared interests like multilingual, security, or frontend design
• Community Initiatives Updates where you can directly contribute to Drupal’s evolution
   

DrupalCon is also a rare opportunity to connect with module maintainers, core committers, and agency leads in person. These conversations often spark the next big idea or solve long-standing challenges.

You might be wondering: “Is DrupalCon for me?”
 If you fall into any of the following, the answer is a big yes:

• You’re a developer or technical lead working on Drupal projects
• You manage a digital platform built on Drupal and want to stay ahead of the curve
• You’re a site builder or themer looking to sharpen your skills
• You’re part of a marketing or product team looking to explore Drupal’s potential
• You believe in the power of open source and global collaboration
   

As someone who has attended past DrupalCons and contributed to the Drupal community for years, I can honestly say that no other tech event matches the energy, passion, and openness of this one. Every DrupalCon I have attended has not only made me a better developer, it’s helped me become a better collaborator, mentor, and leader.

There’s something uniquely inspiring about sharing space with hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people who genuinely care about building a better web.