2024 Umbraco US Festival Recap

The Umbraco US Festival 2024 was a dynamic gathering of developers, marketers, and digital professionals, all eager to dive into the latest trends in content management and digital experience. Held in Chicago, right in the backyard of our Naperville headquarters, this two-day event was packed with insightful sessions, hands-on workshops, and countless opportunities to connect with fellow Umbraco enthusiasts.

As both a Gold sponsor of the Festival and Platinum Partner, the Diagram team took full advantage of the festival’s unique blend of learning and community engagement. From diving into cutting-edge features on the Umbraco platform to discovering practical strategies for boosting digital engagement, the event provided invaluable insights that we can’t wait to bring back to our own projects.

Beyond the knowledge, what really stood out was the sense of community. Whether it was the excitement over new tools or the conversations between sessions, the energy at this year’s festival made it clear that Umbraco is not just a platform—it’s a thriving community dedicated to innovation and collaboration.

I was thrilled to learn more about the acquisition and rebranding of uMarketing Suite to Umbraco Engage. As a uMarketing Suite partner, this is an exciting development for both our clients and us. This tighter integration into the Umbraco platform will further enhance our ability to deliver personalized marketing strategies, powerful analytics, and deeper customer engagement.

Additionally, experiencing the Umbraco community in person was phenomenal. The passion and commitment to this platform were clear, and the connections I made were invaluable.

But rather than just offer my perspective, I want to share some meaningful insights and key takeaways directly from our team members who were on the ground, soaking in all the festival had to offer.

Jenn Stytz, UI Designer

"It was great to learn about some new ways to improve our sites, especially from a content editor's perspective. We put a lot of effort into making sure the end user of the site has a great experience, but in many ways, content editors are another important type of user for our sites."

Sam Thomson, Web Developer

"Umbraco is quickly becoming a go-to content management system. At this point, there's not much it can't do, and everything is built to be incredibly user-friendly. All of which is made possible by an amazing open-source community."

Dennis Kardys, Director of Design and Production

"The Umbraco US Festival was a refreshing event. The sessions were a well-curated mix of technical and strategic content. Most remarkable was the overwhelming sense of community. In the Umbraco-led talks, there was a palpable sense of pride in their product and excitement about its future.

Yet, off-stage, Umbraco team members—including executive leadership—showed genuine interest in talking to and getting feedback from their partners and customers. What a welcome change from the corporate bravado typically shown at these types of conferences. I left inspired and made a few new friends along the way."

Steve Stanley, Development Team Lead

"Unlike other events in the web space, the Umbraco US Festival was centered around community. One of my favorite parts was the puzzle in the common area. As someone who sometimes has trouble starting conversations, this provided a very natural way to socialize and get to know others in the community."

Chris Osterhout, SVP of Strategy

"Having attended the Umbraco US Festival, it's clear that Umbraco is continuously expanding its footprint in the US market. Their roadmap is thoughtfully designed to reduce the time to value for their customers, making the platform even more attractive for organizations looking for efficient and adaptable solutions.

In contrast, seeing the business limitations imposed by other platforms—such as the recent decision by WordPress.org to block WP Engine from accessing its resources—it's evident that Umbraco's values would never allow such negative impacts on their customers. Umbraco's open and collaborative approach stands out, offering a true partnership that respects and empowers its users."

Bill Casey, CEO

"Umbraco's commitment to growth and innovation is an exciting journey to be a part of. In addition to growing the US market, Umbraco is focused on addressing the need for an affordable, flexible, and easy-to-use product that serves mid-market and enterprise clients without breaking the budget on license costs. Exciting advances in headless options, marketing suite integration, cloud offerings, and more show that Umbraco is focused on becoming a leader in web CMS and digital experience platforms."

In addition to attending and sponsoring, we were also part of the program, with three of our team members presenting. Here’s a recap of the knowledge we shared:

Blake Watt: Best Practices for Planning Scalable Websites:

"A properly planned CMS architecture that takes advantage of Umbraco’s powerful features and strikes the right balance between structure and flexibility is the secret to a scalable and easy-to-use website."

Chris Osterhout: Headless CMS: Is It the Right Choice for Your Organization?:

"As 'headless' gains traction, businesses debate its relevance and benefits for their unique digital strategies. This session demystified the concept of headless CMS and explored its benefits and challenges."

Dennis Kardys: The Practical Web Accessibility Playbook:

"The relationship between accessibility and project stakeholders is complicated. It’s time to wrangle this mess and reframe our relationship with accessibility. Good design is accessible design, period. In this talk, we broke through the logistical barriers to good, accessible design."

While the sessions were packed with knowledge and inspiration, we were just as thrilled to see attendees take full advantage of everything Chicago has to offer during their downtime.  Whether it was catching a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, indulging in deep-dish pizza at Pequod's, grabbing burgers at Au Cheval, or strolling along the lakefront and the Chicago River, everyone made the most of the Windy City experience.

All in all, the Umbraco US Festival 2024 was a huge success for our team. We’re heading back to the office armed with new ideas and connections, excited to implement the insights we gained into our upcoming projects. We can’t wait to see how these learnings unfold in our work in the months to come. If you'd like to learn more about the topics of our presentations, get in touch. We're happy to share the slide decks or answer any questions.

Photos:

The Diagram Team! 

Chris "Headless" Osterhout, Diagram SVP of Strategy

Dennis Kardys, Diagram Director of Design & Production

Blake Watt, Diagram Technical QA Engineer & Certified Umbraco Master

Filip and Chris!

Hey, it's Dennis again!