Under the Barcelona Sun: A Recap of Our Team’s Journey at DrupalCon Europe 2024

Authored by Nadiia Nykolaichuk.

Our team is back from one of the most radiant and inspiring DrupalCons ever. Bathed in Barcelona’s golden sunlight, the event was a perfect blend of informative sessions on cutting-edge Drupal trends and unforgettable connections with a fabulous community of people. We’re thrilled to share our recap of DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 with you, focusing on its brightest highlights.

Flying to DrupalCon Barcelona: where the sky meets the sea

With our team spread across the globe, DrupalCon is the perfect opportunity for some of us to reunite in person. Airplanes departed from various corners of the world, all headed towards the same breathtaking view — Barcelona’s skyline meeting the shimmering blue Balearic Sea. As if to bless the occasion, a rainbow greeted us upon arrival, a sure sign that something truly special was about to unfold.

Women in Drupal: award received by our colleague!

A truly special event occurred on the first day of DrupalCon Barcelona. In a packed auditorium, our HR & Operations Manager, Alla Petrovska, enjoyed a well-deserved moment of glory as she was officially honored as one of the most impactful women in Drupal, filling us with immense pride.

“Women in Drupal” is an important award in the Drupal community that acknowledges exceptional women across three categories: “Define,” “Build, and “Scale.” Alla received her award in the “Scale” category, which celebrates women who bring either a project or a company to the next level.

Indeed, Alla is thriving within our company and contributing to its growth. She is also a volunteer, a contributor, and the co-organizer of DrupalCamp Kyiv — a Drupal event that is currently on hold because of the war but, hopefully, will resume in the future. Alla is a person who never loses hope or dedication, and this is truly inspiring. Stay tuned for an entire interview with Alla on our blog shortly. 

Promoting Drupal: our speaker takes the stage!

Among the multitude of insightful sessions on the hottest Drupal trends at DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, there was one that our team could not miss. Our team’s Vice President of Marketing, Rosie Gladden, took the floor alongside two fellow thinkers, Paul Johnson and Emma Horrell, to present the ultimate toolkit for promoting Drupal.

Certainly, Drupal requires more promotion in the competitive CMS landscape for end users to fully understand its true advantages. How can one be an authentic Drupal ambassador globally? Rosie knows from firsthand experience!

We were proud to attend this impactful session and saw that it really resonated with the audience, sparking a lively Q&A. Rosie’s knack for presenting didn’t come as a surprise to us — she has previously spoken at DrupalCon Portland, DrupalCon Pittsburgh, and delivered numerous internal presentations for our team.

We're excited to further explore opportunities to promote Drupal using the tips from this session. These include writing case studies on drupal.org, speaking beyond the Drupal community, mentoring new Drupal users, and more. Fantastic work on such an important mission, Rosie!

Driesnote: time for Starshot and AI to shine

The Driesnote is always one of the most anticipated highlights of DrupalCon, but this time, it was especially exciting. The creator and project lead of Drupal, Dries Buytaert, unveiled some jaw-dropping innovations in the works.

Many people might have heard about Drupal Starshot — a breakthrough initiative to create a new Drupal CMS on top of Drupal core that would be genuinely easy to use out of the box. Dries revealed that the Starshot project was now officially called Drupal CMS, and its 1.0 version was targeted for release on Drupal’s birthday — January 15th, 2025. Its key strategy is to be the gold standard for no-code website building and empower non-technical users to create exceptional digital experiences.

When Dries showed a demo of the upcoming Drupal CMS, it looked unbelievable. Drupal recipes, or pre-packaged feature sets (like multilingual support, events, advanced SEO tools, and so on), will be added to a website in one click.

To top it all off, the Drupal CMS is officially integrating AI in line with the “responsible AI principles.” Website owners will be able to ask AI to create features or make the adjustments they need on their Drupal site — in simple terms, with no need to know Drupal terminology. In Dries’ demo, AI did things like renaming a content type, creating a taxonomy vocabulary, changing image requirements, and even migrating content. This is just a glimpse of what was shared during the Driesnote, which truly warrants an entire article (or two) to cover all the exciting developments.

Great moments of fun and connection at DrupalCon

As always, we enjoyed the vibrant atmosphere of DrupalCon which inspires people to connect, have fun, and get to know one another. The event’s adorable mascot, a friendly salamander, and the colorful mosaic logo added to the playful and welcoming vibe. But, above all, it was the radiant smiles of fellow Drupalers that made the experience unforgettable.

One of the special moments was meeting Michael Anello, co-owner of DrupalEasy. It was a pleasure to thank him in person for sharing our articles and providing such warm feedback.

Discovering Barcelona’s gems with our amazing team

The irresistible allure of this year's DrupalCon host city left us no choice — we simply had to experience Barcelona. We admired its intricate architecture, savored its flavors, soaked up the golden sunlight, and even enjoyed a bird’s eye view from the slopes of Tibidabo Mountain, flying high on the aerial drone helicopter — one of the amusement park’s thrilling attractions.

There's no better company for exploring the city than our team of Drupal experts. So like-minded yet diverse, brilliant yet kind, we shared an unforgettable experience together. We tried to learn each other’s languages, exchanged best wishes, and even played games to get to know each other better. Some team members even adjusted their plans just to spend a day or two with us — a gesture we’ll always cherish.

See you in Vienna!

We were already missing each other before our planes even departed in different directions. But the countdown has begun for the next in-person DrupalCon Europe — and the destination is already set. We can’t wait to reunite with our team and the Drupal community in the beautiful, historic city of Vienna, Austria! Until then, stay tuned for more Drupal insights on our blog, and let’s keep the momentum going!