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DrupalCon News & Updates: Why You Should Speak at DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026
Are you a Drupal enthusiast who’s ever thought, “I’m not expert enough to speak at DrupalCon”? You’re not alone. Imposter syndrome can affect even the most experienced developers, designers, and site builders. But here’s the truth: real-world experience matters far more than textbook expertise. Your lessons learned, project insights, and practical workflows are exactly what the community wants to hear.
Speaking at DrupalCon isn’t just about sharing knowledge. It’s a chance to grow personally and professionally. You’ll gain visibility in the Drupal community, advance your career through skill development and recognition, and connect with peers, mentors, and potential collaborators.
Don’t let self-doubt hold you back. If you’ve tackled real Drupal challenges, you already have a story worth sharing.
Photo by PdJohnson
What Makes a Great DrupalCon Talk ProposalWhen reviewers look at submissions, they’re seeking talks that are educational, clear, and actionable, not sales pitches. Here’s what makes a proposal stand out:
- Clear takeaway: What will attendees actually learn?
- Specific audience: Who benefits most from your talk?
- Drupal relevance: Make it explicit why this matters to the community.
- Avoid vague titles like “Drupal Tips & Tricks”
- Focus on outcomes rather than just features
- Be specific about your context, challenges, and solutions
Need inspiration? Here are some trending topics that resonate with the community and demonstrate thought leadership:
- AI and Drupal: How AI tools can enhance content creation and user experiences
- Decoupled & composable architectures: Building flexible, modern sites
- Accessibility & inclusive design: Making Drupal sites usable for everyone
- Performance at scale: Lessons from high-traffic projects
- Real client success stories: Challenges, solutions, and wins
- Content workflows & editorial UX: Improving efficiency and satisfaction
Your unique experience in these areas could spark the next great DrupalCon session.
ImagePhoto by PdJohnson
From Submission to Stage: How to Get SelectedWondering how your proposal moves from idea to spotlight? Here’s a peek behind the curtain:
- Choose the right track and format: DrupalCon has multiple tracks: technical, design, strategy, and more. Pick the one your talk aligns with.
- Craft a compelling description: Clearly state the problem, your approach, and what attendees will take away.
- Match difficulty level to audience: Beginners, intermediate, or advanced. Be honest to set expectations.
- Focus on practical value: Share actionable insights, not theory alone.
Remember, clarity and relevance are key. The more concrete your examples and lessons, the stronger your submission.
Call for Papers: Key Dates & How to SubmitDon’t miss your chance to speak at DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026!
Deadline: 13 April 2026
Tracks:
- Community Health
- Digital Sovereignty & Open Web
- Drupal CMS
- Development AI and Agentic Architecture
- Agency, Business & Marketing
- Success Stories and Innovation
- User Experience, Accessibility, and Design
Formats: Sessions (45 or 20 minutes), workshops (45 or 2x45 minutes), panels (45 minutes)
How to submit:
- Visit the DrupalCon CFP page
- Choose your track and format
- Write your title and description with clear takeaways
- Submit before the deadline!
Whether you’re a first-time speaker or a seasoned presenter, DrupalCon is the perfect platform to share your story, contribute to the community, and grow your career. Your insights matter, so step up to the mic and make your mark!
Matt Glaman: Dynamic type expressions in Drupal config schema
Drupal's config schema YAML supports dynamic expressions inside square brackets that resolve to values from the surrounding configuration data at runtime. Most developers have seen them — [%parent.type] in field formatter schema is a classic example — but few understand exactly how they work or when to use them.
I found a Todoist task from December 4th, 2024: \Drupal\Core\Config\TypedConfigManager::replaceVariable blog post. (Yeah, you do not want to see my "Overdue" list.) I have no memory of what I was working on that day or why I went deep on this. But past-me clearly thought it was worth documenting, so here we are. If you've ever stared at [%parent.type] in a schema file and just accepted it as magic — this one's for you.
Specbee: How to clean up your Drupal Taxonomy faster? Go with Bulk Term Delete
Talking Drupal: Talking Drupal #547 - Why Developers Don't Choose Drupal
In episode #547, guest JD Flynn joins us to discuss why developers don't choose Drupal, focusing on Drupal adoption, discoverability, and outdated perceptions from Drupal 6/7. JD cites survey data showing low interest among non-Drupal developers, arguing Drupal's biggest problem is invisibility and that developers often pre-filter it due to PHP stigma and friction getting started.
For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/547
Topics- Welcome to Talking Drupal
- Meet JD Flynn
- Co Hosts Introductions
- Module of the Week: Native Observability
- Production Overhead Debate
- AI Patches and Etiquette
- Live Stream and Topic Setup
- Why Developers Skip Drupal
- Invisibility and Discovery
- Perception and Onboarding Friction
- Composer and Leaving the Island
- Perception Gap and PHP Stigma
- PHP Perception Versus Reality
- Why Developers Avoid Drupal
- Selling Drupal to Clients
- Instant Demos With Drupal Forge
- Discoverability in the AI Era
- Content Strategy Beyond Drupal
- PHP Stigma and Performance
- Community Effort and Live Streaming
- Marketing Drupal Out of the Box
- Wrap Up and Where to Connect
Why Developers Don't Choose Drupal (And What We Can Do About It) - https://www.fldrupal.camp/session/why-developers-dont-choose-drupal-and-what-we-can-do-about-it JD's stream - http://twitch.tv/jddoesdev Drupal is Great! Its Perception Might Not be. -https://picozzi.com/notebook/2025/jan/drupal-great-its-perception-might-not-be Drupal Forge - https://www.drupalforge.org/
Guests HostsNic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Rod Martin - DrupalHelps.com imrodmartin
Module of the Week CorrespondentMartin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Native Observability brings real observability into Drupal. Trace requests, inspect execution, analyze performance, and explore runtime behavior — directly inside your application.
No core patches. No external dependencies required to get started. Just install, enable, and start seeing what actually happens inside your system.
The Drop Times: What’s Next for Drupal
DrupalCon Chicago 2026 outlined concrete developments already moving through the current cycle toward DrupalCon Rotterdam. The keynote highlighted progress in Drupal CMS, expanded site templates and marketplace functionality, and ongoing work on artificial intelligence features that are now transitioning from demonstration to implementation.
Drupal CMS 2.1 builds on Drupal Core 11.3 and introduces support for preconfigured site templates. The keynote demonstrated eleven templates available through a basic marketplace, all installable directly from the Drupal CMS installer. This signals that both template distribution and marketplace functionality have moved beyond concept into early rollout.
The Context Control Center now appears close to production readiness. The keynote positioned it as a central source of truth for brand voice, target audiences, key messages, product details, and editorial guidelines used by AI agents. In one demonstration, the system generated an on-brand page from a marketing brief, while a second example used Google Analytics data in a proof-of-concept workflow to improve content performance after publication.
Not all demonstrated capabilities are fully mature. Several features remain in alpha or beta stages as development continues toward DrupalCon Rotterdam. At the same time, increased AI-assisted contribution is placing pressure on maintainers, alongside a direct reminder that contributors remain responsible for the code they submit.
With that introduction, let us move to the major stories from last week.
CASE STUDYEVENT- DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026 Opens UX, Accessibility and Design Track for Submissions
- International Splash Awards 2026 Submission Deadline Set for 16 June
- Drupal Recording Initiative Seeks Support to Expand Global Coverage
- Drupal 12 Adopts Argon2id for Default Password Hashing
- Drupal AI Initiative Reports Growth and Product Progress Six Months After Vienna
- Canvas Multilingual Module Adds Translation Support to Drupal Canvas
- Lovable AI and Drupal Canvas Workflow Enables Rapid Page Assembly
Additional developments from across the Drupal ecosystem were published during the week. Readers may follow The DropTimes on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook for continuing updates. The publication also maintains a presence on Drupal Slack in the #thedroptimes channel.
Thank you.
KAZIMA ABBAS
Sub-editor
The DropTimes