After a three-year hiatus, the Pizza, Bugs, and Fun (PBF) event, the epitome of community collaboration and bug squashing made a welcome comeback, embodying the vibrant spirit of the Joomla community. 

On the 26th of August 2023, approximately 150 Joomla enthusiasts, including veteran contributors and fresh faces assembled both physically and virtually in 19 different spots across the globe, ranging from Europe and Africa to North America and Asia.

The Heart of the Event: Joomla Volunteers

From 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., spanning a variety of time zones, the community members worked tirelessly, with a continuous online attendance of thirty to forty users at any given point, a testament to the undying spirit of the Joomla community.

A big thanks to our main sponsor IONOS who facilitated the event by providing a video server hosting multiple Joomla instances seamlessly. In addition, participants were treated to event swag from IONOS and a range of Joomla stickers to keep the spirits high.

Achievements Unveiled

Through collective efforts and dedication, the community successfully resolved 72 pull requests (proposed program changes) and finalised over 500 documentation edits. This massive contribution promises to add new features to the forthcoming Joomla 5 release, enhancing its robustness and setting a new standard in open-source excellence.

Volunteer Feedback

Feedback gathered post-event via a brief survey:

• A large percentage attended in person, cherishing the community spirit, while others joined online.
  
  
• There was a unanimous eagerness (100%) to participate in future PBF events, with community members looking forward to further collaborative experiences.

The Community Spirit

Despite the joy derived from community participation, we recognised the desires of those who missed having a nearby physical location. Going forward, we are keen to facilitate more venues to foster richer community engagement, enabling more volunteers to join in person.

Event Gallery

Acknowledgements

Our heartfelt appreciation goes to all the volunteer team members who helped to make PBF23 a success. A special salute to veteran team members, especially Christiane Maier-Stadtherr and Phil Walton and newcomers to the team, Olivier Buisard, Yann Gomiero, and Rick Spaan for infusing fresh energy and perspectives into the community.

And last but by no means least, a special mention to Hannes Papenberg and Dieter Ziller, our first-time organisers, who curated the invaluable issues list.

Thank You to our main Sponsor, IONOS

We acknowledge the support of IONOS, who played a role in the seamless technical facilitation of the event. Their contribution to hosting Joomla instances was vital and their sponsorship is much appreciated.

IONOS is the leading European digitization partner for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). IONOS has six million customers and is active in 18 markets in Europe and North America with a globally available platform.

With its web presence & productivity offerings, the company acts as a "one-stop store" for all digitization needs from domains and web hosting to classic website builders and Do-It-Yourself solutions, from e-commerce to online marketing tools. In addition, IONOS offers cloud solutions for companies that want to move to the cloud as their business evolves.

IONOS also offer optimised web hosting specifically for Joomla, check out their Joomla Packages 

Stay in the Loop

To stay updated with the latest happenings and be a part of the upcoming PBF event, we invite you to join the PBF channel on Mattermost and check out the official website regularly.

Here's to more community-driven success, innovation, and of course, pizzas!