DrupalCon Barcelona 2024: An Annertech Perspective
For us, every DrupalCon is special. Annertech is a distributed company – we don’t even have a head office – so DrupalCon is a time for us to come together, to see the people we spend so much time with over video calls in real life, and to really connect as a team. There were so many highlights for us this year. Here are some of our favourites:
We Sponsored DrupalCon and the Contribution Room
Annertech has been attending DrupalCon since 2008, and first came on board as a sponsor in 2016. DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 marked our third consecutive year as a platinum sponsor, and we know how lucky we are to be in a position to do this.
Our booth in the exhibition area gave us a place to hang out and chat, to meet new people, and see old friends who popped by to say hello. It’s one of our favourite things about DrupalCon. Thank you to all of you who came to chat with us.

We also sponsored the contribution room. This is such an important part of DrupalCon – it’s where all the action happens, where Drupal is enhanced and improved, and we’re delighted to be able to sponsor it. A huge thank you to all the developers and mentors who passed through the room this year – nearly 300 contributions were logged on Drupal.org during DrupalCon Barcelona.
Trivia Night
It may happen on the last night of DrupalCon, but it’s by no means last on our list. We love Trivia Night, and not just because we are involved in the organising. This year’s edition took place at L’Estació Espai Gastronòmic – and it was so full (nearly 200 attendees) that the runners had trouble getting through the tables to fetch the answer sheets. If you missed out on Trivia Night this time round, hopefully, we’ll see you next year for some Vienna-themed questions (spoiler alert).

We had Five Presentations!
This was a bumper year for Annertech sessions—Director of Technology Alan Burke presented two based on our Qualifax and Brand Orange projects, Managed Services Director Anthony Lindsay spoke about the Love Essex microsite, account manager Karen Leech took us through movements we can do at our desks, and frontend developer Tony Barker was part of the Initiative Leads keynote address.
- 'Over 15000 courses and almost 1000 different providers: Developing and maintaining a custom course marketing system' by Director of Technology, Alan Burke
Ireland’s further education portal, called Qualifax, provides prospective students with information on courses offered by almost 1,000 further education providers across Ireland.
Alan showed how we streamlined the process for gathering, maintaining and distributing information on educational opportunities throughout Ireland, and how we used Drupal to deliver this.
- 'The circular economy: Creating a unique search experience to facilitate an environmentally friendly community' by Managed Services Director, Anthony Lindsay
Annertech’s Managed Services Director Anthony Lindsay introduced the audience to the new Love Essex website (it hasn't gone live yet), a microsite dedicated to responsible, environmentally friendly waste management.
Anthony spoke about how the end-user was at the very core of the creation process for this unique approach to functionality, education, and guidance.
He demonstrated how Drupal was used to transform the editorial experience from a spreadsheet-fuelled nightmare to an easy-to-manage system that sparks delight.
- 'Being well at your desk (and beyond): Practical accessible bitesize activities to support your life-work balance' by account manager Yogi and Shiatsu practitioner, Karen Leech
We loved this session. Karen’s professionally gentle yet humorous approach to the movements got us into the groove, reminding us how important it is to keep moving, especially when we spend long hours at a desk. She was supported by Tom Bamford, who demonstrated alternative movements for those with limited mobility.
- 'Orange – Using Drupal to foster communities around an external Digital Asset Management system' by Director of Technology Alan Burke
All of telecommunications company Orange's digital assets are stored and maintained in a third-party Digital Asset Management system called MasterMedia. Alan discussed how the Annertech team integrated with this system to deliver the powerful search interface required for the project.
He also spoke about how Drupal’s Layout Builder was extended to facilitate fine-grained access control, when it makes sense to use Drupal’s search API, and when it is more practical to leverage frontend tooling.
- Initiatives lead keynote
Frontend developer Tony Barker spoke during the massively popular initiative's lead keynote, a Drupal CMS takeover, which was delivered to a packed auditorium.
Tony heads up the Drupal CMS Media Management track, which covers how this new version of Drupal will handle images, documents, videos and audio.
We watched in awe as he took us through his carefully prepared presentation, detailing how he believed media should be handled and what could feasibly be done ahead of Drupal CMS’s release in January 2025.
New Drupal Association board member Stella Power joins Platform.sh for ‘Coffee Chronicles’
Managing Director Stella Power was selected for the Drupal Association board. Her new role was ratified at the public board meeting at DrupalCon Europe. We are thrilled for her—it is a great opportunity for her, and we know she is excited about contributing more to Drupal and the community.

Stella also joined Platform.sh at their booth to chat about how Annertech leverages Platform.sh to integrate its dev tools and get the best performance for clients’ websites.
The Volunteer App
Last but not least, one of our favourite additions to DrupalCon this year is the Volunteer App, created by Annertech developer and volunteer coordinator John Cook (this was his sixth time doing this mammoth task)!!
Quite a few Annertechies volunteered in 2024, and this app was a game-changer for us all. It made it much easier for volunteers to know when their next task was coming up, and a handy checklist showed exactly what was expected.
It also gave the coordinators an overview of which tasks still needed volunteers, which ones had been assigned, and which ones had been completed. Well done, John. We’re looking forward to working with Version 2.0 next year.

Did you miss us?
Thank you to everyone who organised, volunteered and attended DrupalCon Barcelona. It was an unforgettable edition of our favourite event of the year. If you missed us, we’re quite easy to chat to. Simply head over to our website and drop us a line.
