An Unforgettable SymfonyCon in Vienna

SymfonyCon is the ultimate international conference for developers, lead developers, experts, and more who use Symfony. Every year, the community gathers for two days of captivating technical conferences to talk about the latest news in Symfony. The conference is preceded by two days of workshops, which took place on December 3 and 4.

Fascinating talks on Symfony

SymfonyCon is always a great opportunity to celebrate the new developments in Symfony, PHP, and many other tools that are related.

And this year was no exception! We were treated to an overview of the latest advances in frameworks, the PHP language, and many Symfony-related projects. Over the two days, 3 separate rooms hosted a series of engaging talks. There were so many amazing topics covered, from machine learning to code refactoring, Symfony best practices to security by Nicolas Grekas, etc.

Fabien Potencier's keynote on Twig

The conference kicked off with Fabien Potencier's inaugural keynote, who chose to talk about Twig, the template engine used by default in Symfony.

The topic was particularly timely, as Twig marked its 15th anniversary this year and was created in Austria. Fabien demonstrated that Twig is still more relevant than ever today! Twig makes it easier to have a single-page application than to use a native JavaScript application, which is often too heavy and complex for the needs of a Symfony project.

And the keynote slides are now available for free online!

3 talks by the SensioLabs team

The SensioLabs technical team presented three fantastic talks and gave a pre-conference workshop.

The workshop was an introduction to Symfony UX 🎨 , led by Simon André. Simon also had a talk at the conference, where he described the amazing progress of Symfony UX in 2024: "Symfony UX: 2024 Highlights and What's Next".

Adrien Roches and Hubert Lenoir gave a great presentation about GotenbergBundle, the bundle they helped develop. "The Missing Gotenberg Bundle. Components, Assemble!” And finally, Mathéo Daninos presented his incredible talk, "Component Thinking with Symfony," on cutting-edge Symfony UX applications.

An afternoon track by Smile

For the first time, our cousins from Smile (e.g. SensioLabs is part of the Smile group) hosted a room for the entire Friday afternoon.

Speakers gave us an interesting insight into the exciting work Smile is currently doing in three key areas: responsible digital, Gally, and artificial intelligence for developers.

A big round of applause for all the speakers, especially those from SensioLabs and Smile. We were so inspired by your presentations and we're excited to see what you'll do next! In a heartwarming show of support, many speakers wore SymfonyCasts socks 🧦 on stage in honor of Ryan Weaver, who was unable to attend the event in Vienna due to illness. It was a truly moving gesture!

We left Vienna with so many new ideas and we learned so much to use in our development projects!

A fun-filled, entertaining conference

In addition to the talks, SymfonyCon is also a community reunion. We saw a lot of familiar faces and met new developers.

The first SymfonyCon in Central Europe in a long time

This year, we were thrilled to welcome many participants from the regions around Vienna: Austria, Germany, and Central Europe. It was a joy to reconnect with many members from the community, some of whom we hadn't seen in Brussels last year! We also had the pleasure of meeting new faces.

The whole team of SensioLabs Deutschland came to Vienna. It was a great opportunity to catch up and strengthen ties between French and German colleagues.

A splendid conference venue

The conference was held in the colossal Austria Center Conference Center, situated in the ultra-modern UNO City district on the banks of the Danube River. The conference rooms were spacious and comfortable, with warm wooden decor and excellent acoustics.

The sponsor hall was huge, with plenty of space for all participants to be accommodated without creating too much of a crowd effect. As a Diamond Sponsor, SensioLabs had a large stand in the sponsor hall.

Our stand had a theme: the festive spirit of a Christmas market 🎄 , evoking the joyous atmosphere of Vienna during the winter season ❄ . We set up a gorgeous decorated fir tree and garlands to recreate the enchantment of Christmas! During the Thursday lunch break, we also offered participants a typically Austrian sweet specialty that they simply had to try: Kaiserschmarren, a light pancake batter served with a red fruit coulis. A delicious, comforting dish to warm your heart and soul on a cold Viennese winter's day!

Games and challenges for participants

During the conference, we held a series of exciting challenges and games. We had a blast organizing Symfony and PHP testing sessions, a Code in the Dark, a bug hunt, and a prize draw!

As always, developers could test their knowledge with 20 questions on SensioLabs University Platform, our e-learning platform for learning Symfony and PHP at their own pace. This year, we introduced a new challenge: Code in the Dark. In just 15 minutes, participants had to develop a project.

Another addition to this year’s conference was the bug hunt 👾 , which took place throughout the conference area. To take part, participants had to scan giant QR codes representing a bug documented in Symfony. It was also a great way of raising SymfonyCon attendees' awareness of the importance of documenting bugs and notifying the core team in the event of their occurrence.

The winners of our games went home with the new Symfony plush, the SymPony, a Symfony mug, or an iPad. Congratulations and thank you to all participants!

SymfonyCon in an iconic Viennese setting

In December, the city of Vienna is transformed into a winter wonderland, with magnificent illuminations and a plethora of Christmas markets! On the first evening, part of our team had the opportunity to visit the Christmas market in front of the city hall (Rathausplatz). And of course, there were all kinds of amazing souvenirs, mulled wine, waffles, and so much more! There was something for everyone in this enchanting setting! We were even lucky enough to attend a classical music concert at the foot of the huge fir tree, which was an incredible experience!

After the ultra-modern UNO City, SymfonyCon took us on a journey back in time with the Community Evening at the Vienna Museum of Natural History 🏛 on Thursday evening.

The Natural History Museum is situated right in the heart of the city, on the Ring Avenue. It's a gorgeous historical monument that left us speechless with its sheer size and richness. The museum was privatized just for us! We were thrilled to have access to the magnificent collections devoted to insects, as well as the restaurant café where a small orchestra was playing. The evening's sponsor, Ibexa, provided champagne for the participants. A huge thank you to Ibexa!

We felt like we were in on a special, magical moment in the heart of the Austrian capital.

We've just got back from SymfonyCon after an amazing few days and we're still over the moon! It was so inspiring to feel the incredible energy of the whole Symfony community.

Well done to the conference organizers 👏

We're already looking forward to next year's event in Amsterdam on November 27 and 28. You can get your early bird tickets here.