Dries Buytaert

DrupalCon Nara just wrapped up, and it left me feeling energized.

During the opening ceremony, Nara City Mayor Gen Nakagawa shared his ambition to make Nara the most Drupal-friendly city in the world. I've attended many conferences over the years, but I've never seen a mayor talk about open source as part of his city's long-term strategy. It was surprising, encouraging, and even a bit surreal.

Because Nara came only five weeks after DrupalCon Vienna, I didn't prepare a traditional keynote. Instead, Pam Barone, CTO of Technocrat and a member of the Drupal CMS leadership team, led a Q&A.

I like the Q&A format because it makes space for more natural questions and more candid answers than a prepared keynote allows.

We covered a lot: the momentum behind Drupal CMS, the upcoming Drupal Canvas launch, our work on a site template marketplace, how AI is reshaping digital agencies, why governments are leaning into open source for digital sovereignty, and more.

If you want more background, my DrupalCon Vienna keynote offers helpful context and includes a video recording with product demos.

The event also featured excellent sessions with deep dives into these topics. All session recordings are available on the DrupalCon Nara YouTube playlist.

Having much of the Drupal CMS leadership team together in Japan also turned the week into a working session. We met daily to align on our priorities for the next six months.

On top of that, I spent most of my time in back-to-back meetings with Drupal agencies and end-users. Hearing about their ambitions and where they need help gave me a clearer sense of where Drupal should go next.

Thank you to the organizers and to everyone who took the time to meet. The commitment and care of the community in Japan really stood out.