The world post-Covid has made us so used to video conferences, livestreams and podcasts that we could almost forget the value and the benefits of in-person face-to-face events.

JoomlaDay USA 2025 just happened - a wonderful hybrid event that this year was held in Washington, D.C. - an event that combines in person workshops and after work experiences with the rest of us out in disparate parts of the world.  In its 3rd year as a Hybrid (out of 5 years since inception), this event has grown over the years to 2025 being a 3 day event ( + 1 fun day on Saturday for those attending in person ).

Talking with first time in-person attendees on their experiences brought to the surface some interesting and common thoughts, here are their insights and anecdotes...

David H. first came into contact with Joomla back in 2011, around Joomla 1.5 days and later became involved with Joomla when he became involved with the Toronto Camera Club and its html website. In trying to help the club, he came across Elisa Foltyn who helped with the design of the Joomla 4 site, using YOOtheme. Along the way, David developed a couple of WP sites but came back to Joomla finding it more logical, more flexible, and without the need for so many plugins.

Elisa had encouraged David to come to JoomlaDay in-person events, but the timing previously didn't work with his schedule.

2025 was the year where all of the stars aligned and David was able to come in person - mostly to meet people he had come across in the community, such as Elisa. He also wanted to shore up and solidify his foundation of knowledge that he had built-up until now... and if he could get a couple of technical issues solved at the same time, he figured that would be a nice bonus.

David participated in the full day Intro to Joomla 5 class which occurred on April 23rd. "It was really great - the combination of Laura Gordon and Todd Woodward’s different styles, and their ability to communicate the information made the full day workshop engaging and stimulating.

Of course, David also attended the standard workshop tracks on April 24th and 25th which brought a lot of knowledge in various areas - some were just right in terms of length, a few sessions could have been longer as the material led to many questions...

He found the people open, helpful and all about helping each other and you guessed it: he did get that help for those technical issues ;)

What David particularly appreciated about the conference took place outside of the workshops and all day classes - the social aspect of the conference - the dinners, the time at the bar, and the Saturday outings really made the event worthwhile and helped to establish more personal relationships.

It was this aspect that David found invaluable and that he looks forward in a future edition - and hopes that other Joomla curious or enthusiasts will benefit from as well!

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Rahul K. comes to us from the world of Mini-Orange where he has worked for 4 years.  He is part of the internal Drupal and Joomla combined team at Mini Orange and as a sponsor of the JoomlaDay USA event and first time attendee (virtual or in-person), he wanted to participate to connect and learn more about this active community.

He heard about JoomlaDay USA 2025 through Laura Gordon and Adam Melcher.  Rahul has attended large industry events where you come in contact with hundreds if not thousands of people where the contact with each person is at best superficial and where it is truly difficult to have an impact and meaningful connections. This is part of what appealed to Rahul, a more intimate and far less superficial event with an expected ~ 60 in person and another 40 remote participants where he could truly interact, learn and understand the struggles and needs of the community.

“You’ll find at least 1 person that will be glad to help you with your problem,”

"Through the sessions on Thursday and Friday and the side social events my expectation was not just met but far exceeded by the quality of the exchanges…"

He walked away from the event, feeling totally accomplished and that the event was very worthwhile… and so much so that based on the success of this participation, he is positive about possible participations in future JoomlaDay and other Joomla community events. What else can you ask for ;) 

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Lisa Keyser is our last interviewee... a long time Joomla user since Joomla 1.0. She was one of the first members of Robin Clapp’s Small Business virtual JUG which started back in June 2022… While she attended JoomlaDay USA 2023 virtually, this 2025 JoomlaDay edition was her first in person event… 

Thankfully this time being in the Washington, D.C. area, it was only about an hour drive and the timing in her busy schedule worked out perfectly to allow her to attend 2 days!

Joomla is her platform of choice (obviously ;) ) and the one she uses when customers need a new website built. Lately, she has also found herself taking over the maintenance of many Wordpress site for new clients and is hoping/looking forward to rebuilding some of those in Joomla over time ;). 

"For me, I definitely prefer in-person events over virtual ones... and I would have gone earlier to JoomlaDay USA events in person had there not been schedule conflicts before… I am a people person and in-person face-to-face interactions are my preference."

The collaborative nature of in person sessions is particularly great and something that you can’t necessarily get if you are working online...

“Nothing really beats meeting people face to face - you get so much more in person - deeper experiences!”

"When you are virtual it is easier to skip a session, to get distracted and then afterwards forget to come back to the replays - you’re much more present and focused in person at each of the sessions..."

I sat with Tim for example and it was so fun and nice to mix Joomla, work and personal life and meet other peoples’ spouses, significant other etc… it allowed me to deepen my connections!

"I feel that these memories have made a much more significant impact and will last longer in my mind..."

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Being able to pop-in to a virtual event or a quick video-conference of course has the advantage of simplicity and speed but life is more about making lasting connections and it is hard to beat the value, the feeling and the benefits and the camaraderie that you get from attending an in-person Joomla event.

I hope to meet some, many, all of you at some future JUG, JoomlaDay, J and Beyond or why not even Joomla World Conference!