Dries Buytaert Reflects on DrupalCon Nara and Community Priorities

Staff Reporter

Dries Buytaert and Pamela Barone — Jakub Piasecki / Flickr

DrupalCon Nara opened with a striking moment as Nara City Mayor Gen Nakagawa announced his goal to make Nara the most Drupal-friendly city in the world.

With only five weeks between DrupalCon Vienna and Nara, Dries Buytaert chose not to give a traditional keynote. Instead, he sat down for a live Q&A moderated by Pamela Barone, CTO of Technocrat and a member of the Drupal CMS leadership team. The format offered a more candid and conversational tone as they responded to questions from the community.

The session covered a wide range of current priorities for the Drupal project. Dries spoke about the momentum behind Drupal CMS, the upcoming release of Drupal Canvas, and plans for a marketplace for site templates. He also addressed the impact of AI on digital agencies and how governments are increasingly turning to open source to support digital sovereignty.

The week in Japan also served as a working session for members of the CMS leadership team. Daily meetings helped align priorities for the next six months. Dries also spent time in one-on-one conversations with agency leaders and site owners to better understand the challenges they face and the features they are asking for most.

Watch the keynote Q&A at dri.es/drupalcon-nara-keynote-qa and explore other recorded sessions from the event on YouTube.

Reference: DrupalCon Nara keynote Q&A by Dries Buytaert (19 November 2025)

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