Only 2 months to go until Spark… which is equal parts exciting and slightly terrifying as of 20 January. There’s a lot to do, but thankfully, this is very much a team sport.
The speaker line-up is officially live, and we’re excited to share what’s in store at this year’s conference! After months of planning, we’ve brought together an inspiring collection of industry leaders, Umbraco MVPs, and community voices ready to ignite new ideas, challenge conventional thinking, and help you level up your developer skills.
What to expect...
Umbraco Spark is designed for developers, tech leads, and digital innovators who want to stay at the forefront of Umbraco and modern web development. This year’s talks span deep technical explorations, practical hands-on demos, forward-thinking perspectives, and even a few fun, unexpected insights — all in one main conference track.
Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store 👇
Niels Lyngsø – What’s Next in the Backoffice: Explore the future of the Umbraco backoffice, including collaboration tools, shared content workflows, and live feature demos straight from the product roadmap.
Carl Sargunar – DDoS My Desk: Load Balancing Live and Uncut! A playful yet practical hands-on session where Carl recreates a load-balanced environment and demonstrates cloud scaling strategies — with audience participation and plenty of learning by doing.
Georgina Bidder & Matt Sutherland – A Website, an Email, and an AI Summary walk into a Bar… A creative deep dive into how generative AI is changing search and product discovery online — and what it means for optimisation in a post-traditional search world.
You’ll also hear from:
- Kevlin Henney on quirky and profound insights into software development
- Mike Masey on what happens when AI builds an accessible tool
- Richard Jackson compares cloud philosophies across major providers
- Joe Glombek on how community engagement supercharges your team …and more speakers bringing both breadth and depth to the day.
These sessions are perfect for anyone looking to expand both practical skills and big-picture thinking in Umbraco and web development.
And if you can believe it, that’s still not all!
👉 Check out the full line up here.
Plenty is happening beyond the talks, too:
- Pre-party at Roxy Lanes: Join attendees the night before for games, friendly competition and if you're willing, Karaoke... Meetup page launching soon! Get ready to sign up.
- Harbour Run: Feeling energetic? Join some of the community for a relaxed, social 5K run around Bristol on the morning of Umbraco Spark! Meetup page is on its way!
- Pre-Spark Umbraco Hackathon & Package Jam: Join fellow developers the day before Spark for the Umbraco Hackathon and compete for the coveted Spark Award at the Package Awards during the conference. Sign-ups are now open.
- After-party: details coming soon, but it’s bound to be a blast!
What are you waiting for?
Regular tickets are £125 + VAT until 31 January or until they sell out. Availability is limited, and we’re already seeing strong demand, so now is the perfect moment to secure your place.
Attend Spark for Free
One of the things we’re most proud of this year is our Opportunity Programme, made possible through our partnership with Mike Masey at Huskey. This programme is all about breaking down barriers and opening Spark up to a wider and more diverse audience
Thanks to this programme, free tickets are available for individuals who might otherwise find it difficult to attend — including but not limited to:
- Women and nonbinary people
- People of colour
- LGBTQIA+ individuals
- People with health conditions or impairments
- Junior or early-career devs
- Anyone facing financial barriers to attend a tech conference
We especially encourage self-applications and nominations for people who would benefit from the experience but might not usually have access to industry events like this. Successful applicants receive a full ticket — with no label or badge identifying it as a sponsored ticket — and can join in all the talks, networking, hackathon, and social events just like any other attendee.
The Opportunity form closes 28 January 2026, with responses by 30 January — so don’t wait! There are only 2 tickets left, so apply or nominate someone today!
A Big Thank You to Our Sponsors
We couldn’t do this without our amazing sponsors. A warm welcome to TinyMCE and RSK, joining our sponsor family alongside Aspire Systems, Moriyama, Mentor Digital, and Gibe Digital.
👉 Interested in sponsoring? Reach out at umbracospark@gibedigital.com
We can’t wait to see you at Umbraco Spark 2026! 👋
