CMS Connect 25
Thanks to everyone who joined us in Montréal
Our 2nd annual summer edition of the international conference dedicated to the global content management community was a big success!
To quote Florian Keitgen from B13 who joined us all the way from Stuttgart, Germany:
“CMS Connect 25 offered a refreshing change of perspective. Rather than buzzword fireworks, there were many honest conversations about the benefits, risks and real-world use cases of AI. AI is not 'the future' — it's already a tool in the toolbox, alongside great UX, clean code and well-structured content.”
Read more in his recap: AI Is Here – As a Tool, Not a Promise of Salvation.
Two more conference reviews:
Joel Varty from Agility CMS wrote this post: I Taught a Little and Learned a Lot at CMS Connect 25
Matt Garrepy from CMS Critic shared Why CMS Connect 25 was ‘Super’ in Every Way
Here’s a few more notable blog posts and useful summaries from the conference:
Briana Sim on the 2nd block of speakers:
”Each one can be its own keynote!”James Sun shares some of the highlights:
”an exciting time to be in this field with AI gaining traction”Joel Varty on the accessibility presentation by Lucy Greco:
“you need a REAL PERSON in mind when building accessible experiences“Joyce Peralta on how might AI impact the way we create digital content in higher education?
Kevin Emond on AI hot takes, content structuring, and accessibility insights
Nabil Orfali on the analyst opening by Matt Garrepy with three key takeaways and discussion points
Sean Wright writes on questions as the answer
It all happened on August 5 - 6 in Montreal and the conference program has links to slides. You can also browse the conference photo album. Use the photos as you see fit.
From the conference opening with Cathy McKnight and Matt Garrepy
Deliverables and summaries from the working groups:
Content Unimodel – Can We Standardize Content Modeling? by Marc Salvatierra
Queen Bees: The Resurgence of Repositories in the Age of AI by Deane Barker
The conversation continues in the CMS Experts community. The next CMS conference is CMS Kickoff 26 in Florida in January and then there is also CMS Summit 26 in Frankfurt in May.
Finally, save the dates for CMS Connect 26:
August 4 - 5, 2026 in Montreal
Join us and be a part of the conversation.
Congratulations to Joel Varty from Agility CMS for winning the CMS Idol contest!
World-class speakers
Allison Abraham (CA)
Managing Director Americas at Valtech
Joyce Peralta (CA)
Manager, Digital Communications at McGill University
Greg Dunlap (US)
Director of Content Strategy at Bixal
What is CMS Connect?
Don’t take our word for it
“great to hear from iconic leaders in the content management system industry” - Joyce Peralta, Manager Digital Communications at McGill after attending CMS Connect 24
Based on popular request from our community, we launched CMS Connect 24 last year as a North American summer edition of our conference series.
As a recap, Mark Garrepy from CMS Critic wrote about the heart of content, open source, pragmatic AI, IA and more.
Good times on the boat trip at CMS Connect 24 with Gavin Colborne, Janus Boye, Joyce Peralta and Anders Hansen.
The sessions are without the usual sales and marketing pitches. There’s also plenty of time for conversations, so that you can bring actionable insights back to your desk and your projects.
It is an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. A friendly mix of vendors, agencies, analysts and customers who get together to learn, network and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better digital experiences right now and for the foreseeable future.
Who’s joining us?
Thanks to all who have made the commitment to learning and networking. We’ll keep this list updated as we get nearer the conference.
At the conference you can learn from practitioners from ICANN, McGill, Minto, Novartis, TELUS and several others.
Among the vendors and open source projects attending are ai12z, Agility, ButterCMS, Claris AI, Conscia, Contentstack, HCL, Jahia, Kentico, Kajoo.ai, Kontent.ai, Magnolia, Pantheon, SearchStax, Shopify, SimpliCity, Squiz, Staffbase, TinyMCE, Umbraco and Uniform. As you can see, it’s not just the usual CMS vendors, but also from the larger ecosystem.
On the agency and consulting side you can meet 9thCO, B13, Bixal, BizStream, Blend Interactive, Crowd Favorite, dotfusion, Evolving Web, Inorbital, Kingsway Digital, Konabos, Leadpulse, MNP, Toumoro, Valtech and Verndale. Talk to them about what happens “when the rubber hits the road” and they’ll help you towards 2025 project success.
Among the analysts joining us are Cathy McKnight from Seventh Bear, Mark Demeny from MACH Alliance, Matt Garrepy from CMS Critic and our host Janus Boye from Boye & Co in Denmark.
Conference partners
Venue
The conference is held at Montréal CoWork, a place we selected for its uplifting atmosphere and environment conducive to creativity, new ideas and teamwork. It was also the venue last year and this year they added a new space, so that we can accommodate a few more participants.
The lounge at CoWork, a good place to hangout and continue the conversation in between sessions
It’s located in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, a hip part of Montreál. Surrounded by quirky shops, colorful buildings with twirling iron staircases, and third-wave coffee shops. There are nearby hotel in all price ranges. Many of us are staying at the Sonder around the corner.