DrupalCon retrospective & thoughts on the future of Drupal

In the buildup to this year's DrupalCon EU, I was asked to write about my event experience for those who couldn’t join us in Barcelona.

My first DrupalCon EU involvement dates back to 2017 and the event in Vienna, the city that will be hosting the conference again in 2025. True, there were two virtual events in that time, as well as one that was organized by Drupal Germany in 2018 and was carrying the name of Drupal Europe. I had a blast at every one of those events since 2017, admittedly not so much at the virtual ones, but there’s not much we could do about that.

I intended to write about the event itself, but during and especially after the conference my train of thought took a turn. Instead, I will focus on three important moments, one spanning a couple of years, the second one happening just after the DrupalCon and the third one being with us somewhere from the end of 2022.

The first one, a trend that we have witnessed for a couple of years now, is the dwindling numbers of attendees at DrupalCons and other Drupal events. As mentioned already, my first DrupalCon was in Vienna, back in 2017, back then with almost 1700 attendees.

Just for reference, the same year DrupalCon NA was in Baltimore and there were almost 3300 Drupalists there. In 2019, the last before the pandemic hit, the numbers went slightly down, to 3000 for the North American edition and 1500 for the Europe edition.

We returned to in-person events in 2022 just in time for DrupalCon in Portland with close to 1300 attendees and later that year in Prague with close to 1200 participants. Those numbers haven’t significantly increased in the past two years except for Drupalcon NA where there were around 1400 conference goers in the last two editions.

If we are to extend the observed period beyond my years in Drupal, going back 10 years, the downward trend is even more obvious. And worrying. For reference, the DrupalCons in Amsterdam 2014 and Barcelona 2015 attracted 2300 and 2000 attendees respectively. One might argue that the number itself is just one aspect and might not tell the whole story, but still…

Let’s look at the benefits of attracting a big(ger) audience:

• A bigger audience allows for more diverse perspectives and discussions, enriching the overall learning experience for all
• A larger audience amplifies brand visibility and increases the likelihood of post-conference buzz
• A larger group of attendees increases the variety and number of networking opportunities
• More attendees lead to higher ticket sales and increased interest from sponsors who want exposure to a larger, more diverse audience.
• A larger number of attendees makes the conference more attractive to top-tier speakers and sponsors, boosting the event's prestige and making future editions easier to organize at a high level
• A large attendee pool fosters a more dynamic environment for collaboration, offering a greater diversity of ideas
• The bigger the audience, the wider the promotional reach for vendors, exhibitors, or sponsors, and even the event itself in the long run
• The larger the conference, the more influence it has in shaping industry trends and creating momentum for change
• A larger attendee base helps solidify a sense of community on a broader scale, engaging more stakeholders, creating more shared experiences, and solidifying relationships within the field

The second matter I would like to focus on is the recent developments at Acquia. I will try to evaluate those strictly from the viewpoint of Acquia being one of the biggest (if not the biggest) driving forces behind the success and evolution of Drupal.

In an official message shared with its partners on Thursday, Oct 10, Steve Reny, Acquia CEO & President, highlighted the details of the company’s internal announcement, stating that we “may notice changes in our Technical Account Managers, Professional Services, Support teams and AE’s.” Without going into further detail, I believe it is safe to say those are the people who have significantly contributed to the Drupal project.

Let’s emphasize the fact that Acquia employees are often heavily involved in the Drupal community, contributing to modules, sponsoring events such as DrupalCons, and working to expand Drupal’s capabilities and reach. Acquia plays a key role in supporting the Drupal ecosystem.

While the Drupal project remains community-driven and open-source, Acquia contributes code, funds, and resources to its continued development. The company actively supports Drupal Association initiatives and contributes to Drupal’s core codebase and modules, ensuring the Drupal project remains viable and sustainable over the long term. The loss of a significant number of Drupal contributors could potentially negatively influence the future roadmap of the Drupal project.

In his latest retrospective from early 2024, Dries Buytaert summarized some of the trends that could shape the CMS and DXP markets in 2024 (and beyond). Many of us – including Dries – were looking positively at the developments, tech companies were expecting modest growth regardless of the high interest rates. But with the stubborn inflation to which central banks responded with even higher interest rates, the optimism quickly vaned. What did that mean for an average Drupal agency? This is where we come to the third important aspect.

Around Q4 of 2022 and Q1 of 2023, the number of (available) projects on the market started going down. Bear in mind that this was true for other CMSs and DXPs alike, we have all shared the same boat. The ones who were willing to invest in their online presence were quite more careful about what they were planning to do and to what extent.

And because those were rarer, the number of competitors grew significantly. Just now in Barcelona I spoke with a CEO of a Drupal agency based in the US, and what he told me confirmed my assumptions.

In the past, there used to be 10 or 15 digital agencies bidding for an RFP. In the last year, that number grew to a staggering 60, sometimes even more. Feelings aside, imagine a potential client having to evaluate 60 different proposals and reach a beneficial decision. It's harder than it seems. And imagine an agency owner aware of the fact that they are competing against 60 other teams. Even just statistically, the possibility of winning such a bid drops substantially.

I have outlined three challenges we face. By we, I mean the Drupal community. Let me just add here that it goes with saying that I sympathize with everyone who has found themselves in a tough spot in the past couple of years because of what’s happening in our industry.

I would like to focus on opportunities to overcome the outlined challenges in future articles. The outlook is positive, Drupal is turning 24 in January 2025 and as a young adult is in its peak health and fitness. Additionally, the continued development of critical thinking, abstract reasoning, and decision-making skills makes young adults more capable of considering multiple perspectives and weighing complex information.

At least that is what I remember from the days when I was 24.

Photo credit goes to Bram Driesen; check out his full DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 photo album.