2026 festival recap

On Tuesday, September 22, the Dutch Umbraco community came together at STOOM in Apeldoorn for the first edition of the Dutch Umbraco Alliance Festival.

Around 100 Umbracians, an afternoon filled with talks, and above all, plenty of conversations. That was exactly the goal: to bring the community together again, share knowledge, and connect with one another.

And we succeeded.

Building the Community Together

The festival was organized by developers from TRES, iO, ilionx, and Conclusion Experience. Different organizations, one shared goal: to create something for the Dutch Umbraco community.

The fact that the festival sold out quickly confirmed that there was a real need for an event like this.

The first conversations started as soon as everyone arrived for coffee, tea, and a tasty cookie. Familiar faces reconnected, new connections were made, and experiences were shared.

There was also plenty of time to catch up during the break between sessions. And after the final session, the afternoon naturally continued with drinks. More conversations, new friendships, and sharing memories.

For us, that is exactly what a community event is all about.

From the Future of Umbraco to AI

The afternoon kicked off with Where Umbraco Goes From Here, where Lotte Pitcher and Sebastiaan Janssen shared insights into the latest developments within Umbraco and the role the community plays in shaping them.

AI, MCP, and new developments within Umbraco were all part of the discussion, but one point stood out above all: the community has a real influence on the direction of the platform. Feedback, ideas, and contributions from developers genuinely make a difference.

Next, Luuk Peters showed us how AI has changed his day-to-day work as a developer. His session, Took Some Convincing: How AI Changed the Way I Work as a Developer, wasn't about one specific tool, but about adopting a different way of working. AI can help with code, ideas, and repetitive tasks, while the developer remains responsible for the decisions.

Thimo Koolen took us into the world of .NET Aspire, showing how it can help make local development environments more organized and manageable. While the topic wasn't specifically about Umbraco, it was highly relatable to many developers in the room.

We wrapped up the content-packed programme with Richard Soeteman and Headless not Clueless. Through practical examples and a live demo, he showed how to work with the Umbraco Content Delivery API and the choices that come with a headless approach.

One Session We Still Owe You

Unfortunately, not everything could go ahead as planned.

Dave Woestenborgh was going to share his experiences with the new Umbraco Search during its alpha phase. Unfortunately, Dave had to call in sick.

It was a shame, as we were really looking forward to hearing about his experiences. So, we'll be keeping this session on the agenda for another time.

The Community Kept Going

Perhaps the best thing about the festival was that it didn't stop when the final session ended.

Afterwards, photos, LinkedIn posts, and detailed recaps started appearing from attendees and organizations. And we are genuinely happy about that.

Because of this, the festival is not just our own recap. It's a collection of stories from the community itself: what people found interesting, which conversations stayed with them, and how they experienced the day.

To everyone who shared something: thank you. Your photos, posts, and recaps give the festival a life beyond the event itself and beautifully show how diverse and enthusiastic our community is.

What's Next?

For us, September 22 was above all a confirmation: the Dutch Umbraco community is here. There is a real need for knowledge, for meeting each other, and for having a place to share experiences.

And we’re happy to help make that happen. We started this together, and we’re going to keep it going.

With meetups, new initiatives, and another edition of the festival. But of course, we can’t do this without you. If you’d like to speak at a future event, or if you have ideas for the next one, please let us know.

For now: thank you for being there, for sharing your stories, and for bringing all that energy.

See you at the next one!

#H5YR 💙