A festival programme that updates itself.
For the Big Bang AI Festival, we rebuilt the website on TYPO3 and are continuously developing it further. Since 2026, a custom TYPO3 extension has regularly imported speakers and programme from the external event platform. As a result, the festival team does not have to maintain this information additionally on the website.
When the date is fixed but the programme is not.
The Big Bang AI Festival is an event of the Hamburg-based DUP Media GmbH. The bilingual website bundles programme, speakers and information about the rooms and leads to ticket purchase.
While the event date is fixed early on, the programme continues to develop until shortly before the start. Speakers are added, talk times shift and rooms change. These changes should appear on the website promptly without having to maintain the same information several times.
At the beginning of 2025, we took over technical support. First the focus was on the rebuild on TYPO3, in the following festival year on the automated transfer of the programme data.
From system change to automated programme maintenance.
The implementation took place in two steps: system change in 2025 and automated programme maintenance in 2026.
System setup and migration
We transferred the existing website to TYPO3 and converted the existing appearance into responsive templates. This included the bilingual content structure, forms and consent management.
Speakers and programme for 2025
For the first festival year on TYPO3, we developed our own content elements for speakers and programme items. Filters by topics and categories as well as a free-text search made it easier for visitors to find their way around. The editorial team could maintain all content directly in TYPO3.
Consolidation of the domains
We merged thirteen existing domains into one central main address and set up redirects for existing links and campaigns.
Connecting the event platform for 2026
For 2026, we developed a custom TYPO3 extension that regularly imports speakers, talks and rooms via the API of the external event platform. This eliminates duplicate maintenance of the programme.
Locally stored programme data
Imported programme data and images are stored locally. The website can therefore also display this state when the event platform is temporarily unavailable.
Programme and speakers at a glance.
The existing design as the basis for the system change.
There were only a few months between the start of the project and the festival. We therefore separated the technical rebuild from the redesign and largely retained the existing appearance. This made it possible to define the scope for the first step clearly.
For the start, we used TYPO3 12. The extensions required in the project for forms, content containers and consent management were not yet consistently available for TYPO3 13 at the beginning of 2025. We therefore opted for the version with which the required functions could be implemented by the planned date.
The automated programme connection followed for the next festival year. This allowed us to implement the system change and the extension of data maintenance one after the other.
Maintain programme data centrally.
Speakers, talks and rooms are planned in the external event platform. Our TYPO3 extension uses its API to regularly import speakers, talks, topics, formats and rooms.
This keeps programme maintenance in one place. The website takes over the data and displays it in the corresponding views.
We have taken several precautions for the transfer and display of the data:
- Locally stored programme state: the data is stored in TYPO3 and not queried from the event platform on every page view. If the platform is temporarily unavailable, the website shows the last successfully imported state.
- Images and caching: the required image material is also kept locally. After an import, the affected caches are renewed so that transferred changes appear on the website.
- Step-by-step import: the API data is retrieved and processed in subsets. This allows even extensive programmes to be imported step by step.
Changes to the imported programme data are made in the event platform: their current state is applied at the next successful import. The editorial team continues to maintain all other website content in TYPO3.
The framework in figures.
How we help with comparable projects.
A changing programme on your website?
Do you want to take over event data automatically or develop your existing website further? We clarify with you where the content is maintained and which connections make sense. We align the implementation with your event date.
