Myrna Gönnemann
As one of the few non-exclusive German-speaking TYPO3 events, it provided space for international collaboration and exchange. Over three days, attendees shared knowledge, explored new trends, and strengthened the growing open-source community.
All sessions from Friday and Saturday are recorded. You can watch them on the TYPO3 Web Camp Venlo YouTube channel.
Thanks to Jonathan Iroulin for the pictures.
Thursday: A Warm Welcome & City Exploration
The event kicked off on Thursday, 13 February — not Friday the 13th, thankfully! No bad luck here, just a fantastic start to an inspiring weekend. TYPO3 certification exams provided an opportunity for developers and editors to validate their skills, while a guided city tour let attendees discover the charming city of Venlo. The evening brought everyone together at Café Central for a wonderful warm-up.
Friday: Learning and Sharing
Unlike other camps, Friday at Web Camp Venlo is not in classic barcamp style but instead is dedicated to planned talks from experts. Carefully selected speakers presented on a range of topics including accessibility, MySQL database management, AI, the latest TYPO3 features and UX-design.
The day started with Paul Iske’s keynote, which balanced humor and insight to highlight the importance of learning from failure. His talk, Brilliant Failures: Working together, failing together, learning together, was both entertaining and thought-provoking, leaving attendees with a new perspective on how mistakes can lead to innovation.
The program also placed a strong emphasis on the next generation of (TYPO3) professionals, with many young experts — both from within and outside the community — taking the stage. Their presence highlighted the event's commitment to fostering innovation and future talent. Among the attendees were students from Fontys University, who joined to watch the talks and connect with the community.
The day concluded with an engaging panel discussion on The Future of Sustainable Open Source, featuring Emiel Brok, Fabrice Mous, Jeffrey A. "jam" McGuire, Juliette Reinders Folmer, Lenny Moskalyk, and Mathias Bolt Lesniak. Their insights on sustainability and the evolution of open-source projects sparked some lively discussions that continued well into the evening networking event.
Speaking of networking: Because knowledge-sharing is best accompanied by good company, the evening wrapped up with a party celebrating the milestone of 10 years of Web Camp Venlo!
Saturday: The Barcamp Experience
Saturday was all about participation. With the bar camp format, anyone could propose a session — whether it was a deep-dive technical talk, a discussion on best practices, or an Ask Me Anything session. The result? Content shaped by the attendees themselves.
This year’s sessions tackled a variety of important topics, including accessibility in web development, AI-driven workflows, and optimizing website performance. Participants shared insights on ontological thinking in design systems, best practices for deploying projects with GitLab, and the latest strategies for content import in TYPO3.
One thing was clear: The open-source community thrives when people step up, share their expertise, and collaborate. From my personal perspective, it was a successful start to the TYPO3 event year, thanks to everyone who made the event possible. I'm already looking forward to next year, 12–14 March 2026!
