Joomla Unconference 2026: a great success!

Last Friday, 25 September, around 35 Joomla users gathered in Breda for the Joomla Unconference 2026. It was a really enjoyable day full of knowledge, experiences and discussions. When we arrived, the programme hadn’t been finalised yet. We put it together on the spot.

At 10.00 am, Rick Spaan briefly explained what an Unconference is and how we would go about the day. We adopted the Unconference concept from the German Joomla community, which  has been organising a Joomla Unconference in Essen (Germany) for years.

From 10.15 am, anyone could suggest a topic: something you wanted to know more about, or something you could talk about yourself. We wrote our suggestions on a Post-it note. Each participant was then allowed to allocate five ticks (as we had five time slots) to the topics they found most interesting.

Based on those votes, we put together a programme featuring three concurrent sessions per time slot. Topics covered in the main hall included AI, Linux, performance and Joomla AI with MCP. The other two halls covered topics such as difficult customers, front-end editing, project management and leaving Big Tech. This meant everyone could choose and follow the topics they found interesting.

The sessions I attended

My day began with Using AI to build and maintain a website. We discussed how AI can assist with website development and shared experiences regarding its practical applications.

After that, I led the session Linux for website builders myself. I talked about the basics of Linux and powerful terminal tools that enable website professionals to migrate websites more quickly, troubleshoot issues and carry out maintenance – all without relying on a graphical interface.

After lunch, the session on performance optimisation focused on the choices that make a website faster. We shared experiences regarding hosting, web servers, optimised content and caching.

In the session Away from Big Tech, we discussed dependency, privacy and costs. The practical conclusion: for every service, look into European and open-source alternatives, and make the switch in manageable steps.

Finally, I attended Joomla AI and MCP. We shared experiences with MCP servers for Joomla. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that enables AI applications to connect to external data and tools. This allows you, for example, to instruct AI to carry out specific tasks on a Joomla website.

Enjoyable conversations outside the sessions too

Between sessions, there was time to chat further in the corridors. It’s precisely those kinds of spontaneous conversations that make a day like this so valuable. At the end of the day, we all went for chips and were able to carry on chatting for a while longer.

I thought the Joomla Unconference in Breda was a great success. The programme tied in with what the participants were interested in, everyone was able to contribute their knowledge, and there was plenty of opportunity to meet one another. As far as I’m concerned, this concept is definitely worth repeating!