Four Takeaways from DrupalCon Europe 2023
Reflections from DrupalCon Europe 2024 – Lille, France
I attended DrupalCon Europe for the first time in many years, held this year in the beautiful northern French city of Lille. We had a great time, and I have distilled my thoughts on the event into four major takeaways.
1. Drupal is an Overlooked Gem
Drupal founder Dries Buytaert’s signature keynote, the DriesNote, is always a highlight of DrupalCon—and this one was no exception.
In something of a departure from his usual format, Dries shared an allegorical fable. In the story, Drupal is a character who wonders why young technologists are leaving for more "exciting" technologies, each represented as a town—places like Reactopia and Contentopia.
However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that these towns only appear more attractive from a distance. Upon closer inspection, many of them are actually more difficult to inhabit and maintain than Drupal.
The narrative culminated in a hopeful message: initiatives like Project Browser, Auto Updates, and an improved Layout Builder are revitalizing the platform and poised to bring developers back to the ecosystem they once left.
2. Innovation Is Breathing New Life into Drupal
DrupalCon remains a showcase for innovation, and this year was no exception. The Next-Drupal and decoupled space continues to be a shining star within the community.
Next-Drupal Progress
- Wunder has contributed a Next-Drupal Starter Kit to accelerate setup of decoupled sites.
- The starter kit is open-source and invites community collaboration.
Headless CMS Showdown
One standout session was the "Headless CMS Showdown", which offered a live demo and comparison between:
- Sanity
- Strapi
- Directus
- Drupal
Drupal held its ground and impressed with a robust enterprise-ready solution. Two particularly notable projects highlighted in the session were:
- NodeHive – A SaaS-style enterprise backend for decoupled Drupal sites, offering a sleek editorial experience.
- Search API Decoupled – An effort led by 1xInternet to improve search performance and build speed for decoupled Drupal projects.
These community-led initiatives signal a renewed momentum and broader appeal for Drupal in modern development workflows.
3. Drupal Is About Focus and Sales
The CMS ecosystem is more competitive than ever. While Drupal remains powerful, its niche is becoming increasingly focused.
A long-running Drupal CEO Survey—conducted annually and discussed at the CEO dinner during DrupalCon Europe—continues to reveal a consistent trend:
Agencies succeed in Drupal through strong sales strategies and deep technical specialization.
This underscores the need for agency leaders to double down on market differentiation and client value delivery.
4. Drupal Recognizes the Need for Better Marketing
As always, DrupalCon Lille included updates from the Drupal Association, including leadership changes and new initiatives.
Leadership Transition
- Baddy Sonja Breidert officially transitioned off the board.
- Tim Doyle was announced as her successor.
Baddy was instrumental in stabilizing and growing the Association. Now, Tim steps in with a mandate to modernize Drupal’s marketing and communications.
New Marketing Initiative
A new initiative has been launched to:
- Update the way Drupal is described and positioned in the market.
- Modernize the language used to promote its features and strengths.
- Bring more “business” culture into the organization—aiming for relevance in both developer and executive circles.
Final Thoughts
We’ve missed you, DrupalCon Europe! It was definitely worth the trip across the pond, and we’re excited to see these community-driven efforts continue to evolve and grow.
Stay tuned—we’re just getting started.