Drupal in a Day” at DrupalCon Vienna: the workshop, the chaos, and why we’d do it again

If you’ve ever organized anything community-driven, you know this feeling.

You start with a nice idea. A clean plan. A calm timeline.

And then… reality shows up with a calendar and says: “Cool. You’ve got one month.”

That’s pretty much how Drupal in a Day at DrupalCon Vienna 2025 happened for us at acolono (and in our roles with the Drupal Austria Association, as Chairman and deputy). One month to help bring a beginner-friendly, hands-on Drupal workshop to Vienna. One month to find instructors, reach students, handle comms, and somehow not forget the basics like “a room that fits humans.”

Spoiler: it worked. It was a bit chaotic. And yes, we’d absolutely do it again.

First, what even is “Drupal in a Day”?

Drupal in a Day is basically the “come as you are” on-ramp into Drupal.

It’s beginner-friendly and hands-on, and the goal is simple: in one day, participants go from “never touched Drupal” to building a working site, understanding the core concepts, and knowing where to go next in the community. 

It’s closely connected to the Drupal Open University Initiative, which is all about bringing Drupal into higher education and making learning materials openly available. 

And the vibe is very much: learn by building, laptop open, instructors and helpers in the room. 

A typical day includes things like:

• setting up an environment (or using a prepared setup)
• installing Drupal
• creating content types and fields
• building pages with layout tools
• working with menus, blocks, basic theming concepts
• understanding “the Drupal way” of configuration, roles, permissions
• getting a first look at contributed modules
• and connecting to the community, so you’re not left alone afterward

So yeah. Not a lecture. Not a sales pitch. A real workshop.

The “slow burn” idea that started it all (end of 2024)

Here’s the funny part: we didn’t start with “Drupal in a Day.”

Back in late 2024, Criz and I (Nico) were already thinking about a Drupal CMS Starter Day. The idea was to show people for free what Drupal CMS can do, with multiple sessions and speakers doing real use cases.

We even knocked on doors (hello Kuoni - company behind organizing our Drupal Cons in Europe) to explore venue options. But at that point it wasn’t really “graspable” yet. Room costs, logistics, a bunch of unknowns… the usual event reality check.

So it sat there as a good idea that needed time.
(And honestly, some things just need time. And then suddenly it needs to move superfast.)

Then DrupalCon got closer… and the timeline got spicy

About two months before DrupalCon Vienna, we got a message from Lenny Moskalyk, Delivery Manager at the Drupal Association.

The question was basically: Can you support a Drupal in a Day in Vienna?

Different concept than our original “Starter Day,” but the goal was the same: bring students and interested newcomers closer to Drupal. So of course we said yes.

And then the math hit us.
We didn’t have three or four months. We had about one month to really pull it together.

An earlier planning phase would’ve made this easy. But hey, where’s the fun in that.

The heroes: Hilmar + Martin said “we’ve got this”

Pretty quickly, it became clear that Hilmar Hallbjörnsson (drupalviking) and Martin Anderson-Clutz (mandclu) would take the teaching lead for the day.

That was huge. Because when you’re inviting beginners and students, you need instructors who can explain complex stuff without making people feel lost or silly. And you need people who can keep a room moving when 90 laptops decide to behave differently.

They did exactly that.

The one-month sprint: marketing, universities, helpers, materials… all at once

This is the part where you either laugh or cry. We mostly laughed. Sometimes both.

In that single month, we had to:

• get the word out to students and interested people (marketing across multiple channels)
• research universities and find the right contacts
• produce marketing materials
• recruit helpers
• coordinate all the little operational details that nobody sees, but everyone feels - how about food?

And yes, we did this next to our agency work, building our ACOLONO stand at the Con, planning the Splash Awards and Community Party at Palais Wertheim while also helping DrupalCon in our roles for the Drupal Austria Association.

Also, some people assumed this would be a small event.

We did not.

When registrations start climbing… and suddenly you need a bigger room

At some point we crossed 40 registrations really fast and realized: okay, people are actually coming.

Then we crossed 100 and had to set a boundary, because rooms are not magical expanding objects.
And then we still ended up with around 120 registrations. Registration was stopped.

We needed more space, adjusted plans, and tried to keep everything smooth for attendees (while internally doing that calm-face thing where you’re totally fine and not at all designing a certificate at midnight).

In the end, the day landed at about 90 certificates handed out, which is honestly a pretty great “completion signal” for a workshop like this. 

The day itself: learn-by-building in the best way

The workshop followed that simple, effective principle: learn by building. 

People installed Drupal, created content structures, built pages, explored Drupal concepts, and got their first look at the ecosystem. 

And maybe the most important thing: participants didn’t just leave with “we did a tutorial.”

They left with:

• a working Drupal site they built themselves
• a mental model of Drupal’s key concepts
• next steps and community paths
• and that feeling of “okay, I can actually do this” 

Plus: a certificate confirming they completed the workshop and gained a solid understanding of the basics. 

What people said (aka: the quotes that made our week)

This is the part that makes the chaos worth it.

One teacher who attended with students put it perfectly:

That’s it. That’s the whole point. Let people experience Drupal as something approachable, powerful, and actually fun.

Big thanks to the helping hands

Events like this are never “organized by one person” (even if one person is holding the spreadsheet like it’s a life raft).

So thank you to the many helping hands during the event, especially Sinduri Guntupalli, Ingo Zehenthofer, Jeremy Chinquist, Fei Lauren, Guzman Bellon, Michaela Jurcekova and everyone else who jumped in to support attendees and keep the day running.

And of course, huge respect to Hilmar and Martin for leading the workshop in a way that made beginners feel welcome and capable.

Also the company from Hilmar "Um að gera" stepped in as the main sponsor and also helped for making food for the attendees happen. 👏

One of the nicest parts was seeing the three most influential Drupal agencies in Austria, including acolono, pull in the same direction. Thanks Drunomics and Lowfidelity for all the help making it happen.

Why we’d do it again (even with the chaos)

Because it works.

Drupal is powerful, but a lot of students and newcomers simply don’t encounter it early. Drupal in a Day lowers that barrier with a guided first experience and a clear path into the community afterwards. 

And once you’ve seen a room full of students go from “never touched Drupal” to “wait, I built a site today” “I see where Drupal has its strengths”… you kind of want to make that happen again.

If you want to help teach, improve the material, host a day at your local event, or connect Drupal to universities, the best entry point is the Drupal Open University Initiative. You can also connect via Drupal Slack in #open-university-initiative.

We are already helping and transferring knowledge for the next Drupal in a Day at DrupalCon  North America 2026 (Chicago, USA) Thank you Kwasi Afreh (kafreh) for taking this on help to organizing it.

And if you’re thinking: “Could this work in our city too?”

Yes. It really can.

(Just… maybe give yourself more than one month. Actually, scratch that. It can work in a month. But you’ll earn that coffee afterward.)