Wednesday at Drupalcon Atlanta 2025: The creativity, knowledge sharing, and collaboration continue

The second full day of sessions at DrupalCon Atlanta 2025 offered another exciting lineup of talks packed with insights, strategies, and inspiring stories from Drupal experts across the community. From practical tips on improving content management workflows to discussions about privacy, AI, and open-source governance to strategies for ui design to production applications, each session provided valuable takeaways for developers, marketers, and site builders alike. 

Whether you were exploring emerging technologies, enhancing collaboration strategies, or learning from real-world success stories, this day was yet another powerful reminder of Drupal's versatility and the strength of its community; highlighting its willingness and efforts to contribute back, raise each other up, and share in the positivity and progress.

 

The Neurodivergency SuperPower - How Diverse Teams Function Better

Early in the day, we explored the vital role neurodiversity plays in building high-performing, inclusive teams. As today’s modern work environments continue to evolve, successful organizations are recognizing the unique contributions of neurodivergent individuals—those with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other cognitive differences. These team members bring fresh perspectives, creative problem-solving approaches, and specialized skills that can significantly enhance collaboration and innovation.

Drawing from both personal experience and research, the talk highlighted practical strategies for creating supportive, neuro-inclusive workplaces. We discussed how to cultivate environments where every team member feels valued and empowered to contribute their best.

Attendees gained insights into how embracing cognitive diversity leads not only to stronger team dynamics and productivity, but also to greater empathy and long-term organizational success.

 

Keynote: The Choreography of Innovation and Lessons from the Stage for Bold Thinking

In this inspiring keynote, Yamilée Toussaint, MIT engineer, dancer, and founder of STEM From Dance, drew powerful connections between the worlds of dance and technology to explore how true innovation is choreographed, not just constructed. She shared how principles like agility, collaboration, improvisation, and resilience—central to dance—are also critical to driving bold thinking and breakthrough ideas in tech and digital development, including work within the Drupal ecosystem.

By blending personal stories, professional experiences, and lessons from both the stage and the lab, Yamilée encouraged attendees to embrace creativity and iteration as essential tools for solving complex problems and navigating change. Her talk resonated deeply with Drupal site builders, designers, and developers, reinforcing that innovation in web platforms doesn’t just come from code, but from the mindset and rhythm we bring to our work. The session challenged everyone to lean into their unique creative processes and rethink how they collaborate to build better, more impactful digital experiences.

From Community Initiative to a Drupal CMS Track: The Dashboard Module 

In this session, we shared the journey of the Drupal Dashboard module—an initiative that began several years ago with the goal of improving the Drupal user experience by introducing a centralized, customizable interface for accessing essential tools and information. As Drupal matured, it became clear that users, especially site administrators and content editors, needed a more intuitive way to interact with the system. The Dashboard aimed to fill that gap, offering a modern, streamlined and default experience from the outset, the moment users log in.

We discussed how the module first took shape in the contributed space and how its direction evolved with the emergence of Drupal CMS (formerly Starshot). The talk covered the progress made so far, the adjustments needed to align with the new platform vision, and the roadmap for what's ahead. Attendees also learned how the Dashboard enhances user engagement, simplifies common tasks, and improves overall satisfaction with Drupal sites. Finally, we encouraged community members to get involved and help shape the future of this important initiative.

From Idea to Publish: Building a Custom GPT to Power Your Content Pipeline

In this session, we explored how ChatGPT has evolved from a buzzword into a powerful tool for improving content workflows—especially in the context of building high-quality Drupal websites. Consistent, scalable, and on-brand content is critical to the success of any digital experience, and we showed how a custom GPT, tailored to an organization’s unique needs, can play a key role in achieving that. Drawing from experiences at CKEditor, the presenters shared how developing a custom GPT dramatically increased content output—by up to 10x—while maintaining both accuracy and a consistent brand voice.

Attendees were walked through the process of creating and fine-tuning a GPT model for content tasks, including how to build reusable content templates that support scalability without sacrificing quality. Real-world examples demonstrated how a custom GPT can go beyond simple automation, helping ensure that content is not only produced faster but also more accurate and impactful.

By the end of the session, participants left with a solid understanding of how to design and implement a custom GPT using OpenAI tools—and how to integrate it into their Drupal content workflows for improved quality, consistency, and efficiency.

Maximum Efficiency by Embracing WebOps Mindset 

In this session, we took a deep dive into the world of WebOps and its critical role in building and maintaining high-quality Drupal websites. As digital experiences grow more complex and expectations for speed, accessibility, and reliability continue to rise, efficient website operations have become essential for success. The presenters discussed how WebOps differs from traditional DevOps by focusing on the full lifecycle of website delivery—from development to content updates to performance optimization—and how automation across this lifecycle can significantly improve outcomes for both users and teams.

The talk covered key areas of WebOps automation, including performance tuning, SEO optimization, accessibility checks, visual regression testing, and real-time monitoring. We demonstrated how to build efficient workflows using CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions, and how integrating AI tools can help identify performance and accessibility issues early. We also showcased methods for incorporating visual regression testing directly into development workflows to catch UI bugs before they reach QA.

Deployment strategies, including tagging and impact monitoring, were discussed alongside tools for tracking site health and performance in real time. Additionally, we shared how integrating platforms like GitHub and JIRA can streamline task management for both developers and project managers. The session concluded with a look at Polymer, an open-source WebOps Manager, and real-world examples of how these practices helped an enterprise unlock new levels of efficiency and site quality.

Planning a Takeover: A Success Story in Implementing Storybook, Drupal 10, and Layout Builder 

In this session, the MIT Sloan Web Development team shared how they successfully planned and delivered a complete “Homepage Takeover” of a Drupal 10 site in just 12 weeks. This project introduced a new content type, a suite of custom components, and a streamlined editorial workflow—all designed to support high-impact, time-sensitive content updates. Given the complexity and visibility of a homepage, the effort required careful coordination across design, development, and stakeholder teams to ensure quality and flexibility without compromising performance or editorial control.

We walked through the process from concept to launch, highlighting the collaboration between product managers, designers, developers, QA specialists, and content editors. A key focus was the teams' "Hourglass Workflow"—a unique approach that began with small, reusable front-end components built in Storybook, expanded into a full content type, and then reversed the process on the backend using Drupal Layout Builder to structure and assemble the final product.

Throughout the talk, we discussed lessons learned in managing complex projects, aligning teams, and leveraging modern Drupal’s capabilities to create scalable, high-quality digital experiences. Attendees came away with actionable strategies to apply in their own projects, especially when working under tight deadlines with cross-functional teams.

WordPress to Drupal: A Migration Survival Guide 

In this session, we benefitted from insights from a real-world migration project, where a site was transitioned from WordPress to Drupal—a shift that often feels daunting for teams accustomed to WordPress’s visual page builders. However, the session demonstrated how Drupal CMS offers the best of both worlds: a powerful, user-friendly content editing experience combined with the stability and flexibility of Drupal core. This approach is especially critical for organizations seeking long-term scalability, structured content, and editorial efficiency. Additionally, the talk looked at how Paragraphs, Layout Paragraphs, and Style Options were leveraged to create a modular page-building experience—aka the “Lego pieces” approach. 

Instead of relying on rigid templates or bloated page builders, a system of reusable components was designed that gave content teams creative control while maintaining design consistency. Along the way, we explored strategies for improving admin UX, mapping and cleaning legacy content, avoiding design sprawl, and empowering editors without sacrificing quality. Attendees left with a practical roadmap for tackling WordPress-to-Drupal migrations and a deeper understanding of how Layout Paragraphs can support flexible, high-quality Drupal websites.

Driving Today's CMS with Tomorrow's Artificial Intelligence 

In this session, we explored how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are no longer just buzzwords in the content management world, but active drivers of innovation—especially in flexible, open platforms like Drupal. As digital experiences continue to evolve, organizations must deliver personalized, adaptive, and intelligent content to stay competitive. We discussed how Drupal, known for its strong content architecture and omnichannel delivery capabilities, can be transformed into an interactive ecosystem when enhanced with AI technologies.

The session provided a guided walkthrough of several AI-enabled modules in the Drupal ecosystem and demonstrated how they can make websites feel more intuitive, personalized, and responsive. We covered core concepts like sentiment analysis, entity extraction, topic segmentation, and language translation, and showed how these capabilities could be used to enrich editorial workflows and drive smarter content strategies.

Highlights included hands-on demos using APIs and practical use cases for integrating sentiment analysis into real-time content monitoring. Attendees left with a foundational understanding of how AI and ML can be effectively applied within Drupal to create high-quality, future-ready digital experiences.

Honey, I Shrunk The Marketing Budget: How to Improve Your Website in a Challenging Economy 

In this session, we addressed a growing challenge faced by marketing and web teams—shrinking budgets paired with rising expectations. Whether in higher education, where enrollment numbers are under pressure, or in nonprofits, where the need for donations continues to grow, organizations are increasingly looking to their websites to drive measurable results. The message is clear: do more with less. But the path forward isn't always obvious.

We shared practical strategies for improving Drupal websites even with modest resources, focusing on areas where small changes can make a big impact. The session included quick-win optimization tips, methods for cultivating a culture of continuous improvement, and approaches for demonstrating real organizational value through data and storytelling.

Attendees learned how to communicate the importance of their work in a way that could help secure future investment and support. By grounding the session in real-world scenarios, we aimed to equip teams with the tools and mindset needed to maintain high-quality digital experiences—regardless of budget constraints.

 

Jumpstart Your Drupal Projects with Recipes: Simplifying Configurations and Speeding Up Go-to-Market 

In this session, we shared how Forum One transitioned from using custom modules and install profiles to fully embracing the Drupal Recipes ecosystem to streamline project kickoffs and reduce go-to-market time. Originally, they built a set of internal tools that included common components like accordion and WYSIWYG Paragraphs, sensible security defaults, and other foundational configurations to quickly get Drupal sites up and running with best practices in place. These starting points were essential for maintaining consistency, security, and usability—especially on sites where time and budget were limited.

As Drupal Recipes gained traction, the team began migrating internal configurations into this new format. Leading up to this talk, they successfully moved several of their defaults—such as baseline Paragraphs, CKEditor configuration, metatag setup, and environment-specific defaults for Pantheon, Platform.sh, and Acquia—into reusable Recipes. The talk demonstrated how to create a simple Recipe, import it into a Drupal site, and use it to scaffold reliable, high-quality site foundations.

Attendees left with practical examples, insights from our experience, and a clear understanding of how Drupal Recipes can help kickstart projects faster, enforce standards, and ensure a smoother path to launch.

Mastering Drupal’s Core Site Building Features: The Keys to Flexible Content Management 

In this session, we explored the core site-building features that make Drupal such a powerful and flexible content management system—especially for teams aiming to build dynamic, content-rich websites without heavy reliance on custom code. These features are essential for ensuring Drupal websites are scalable, easy to manage, and tailored to content needs. We focused on practical use of content types, fields, taxonomy, blocks, views, and Layout Builder, and how these tools work together to create structured, organized, and highly customizable digital experiences.

Through real-world examples, this session demonstrated how to structure and categorize content, build dynamic content lists, and design flexible layouts that empower content creators and site administrators. This session was particularly valuable for site builders, content strategists, and anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of Drupal’s configuration-driven approach. Attendees left with a clearer sense of how to harness Drupal’s built-in tools to build robust platforms that adapt to changing content and business requirements—all without the added resource-intensive effort of writing custom code.

This is a limited sample of the many meaningful sessions and lightning talks offered on Wednesday at Drupalcon Atlanta 2025. Each of today’s sessions brought incredible value to the Drupal community by delivering practical solutions, innovative ideas, and inspiring success stories that will shape the future of Drupal projects. Attendees gained actionable insights into improving content workflows, advancing site-building techniques, and navigating emerging trends like AI and digital privacy. 

By fostering collaboration, sharing real-world experiences, and exploring innovative strategies, the day reinforced Drupal's role as a powerful platform and strengthened the bonds within the global Drupal community.