A festival programme that updates itself.
For the Big Bang AI Festival, we rebuilt the website on TYPO3 and continue to develop it. Since 2026, a custom TYPO3 extension has imported speakers and the programme every hour from the external event platform, so the festival team does not have to maintain this information separately on the website.
When the date is fixed but the programme is not.
The Big Bang AI Festival is an event run by Hamburg-based DUP Media GmbH. The bilingual website brings together the programme, speakers and information about the stages, and leads visitors to ticket sales.
While the date is fixed early on, the programme keeps evolving until shortly before the festival starts. Speakers are added, talk times shift and talks move between stages. These changes should appear on the website promptly without the same information having to be entered more than once.
We took over technical support at the beginning of 2025. The initial focus was the rebuild on TYPO3; in the following festival year, it was the automated transfer of programme data.
From system migration to automated programme maintenance.
The work was done in two stages: the system migration in 2025 and automated programme maintenance in 2026.
System setup and migration
We moved the existing website to TYPO3, initially reproducing its design 1:1 in TYPO3 templates. This included the bilingual content structure 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 for stages, topics and categories and a free-text search helped visitors find their way around. The editorial team maintained speakers and programme directly in TYPO3.
Domain consolidation
The festival's other domains redirect to the main address www.bigbangfestival.de. We also set up redirect management in TYPO3 so that individual URLs can be redirected as needed.
Connecting the event platform for 2026
For 2026, we developed a custom TYPO3 extension that imports speakers, talks and stages hourly via the API of the external event platform.
Locally stored programme data
Imported programme data and speaker photos are stored locally. This means the website can still display them if the event platform is temporarily unavailable.
Programme and speakers at a glance.
The existing design as the basis for the migration.
We initially reproduced the festival website's existing design 1:1 in TYPO3; a redesign was not part of the brief. The technical basis is TYPO3 12.
We redesigned and implemented the event calendar. For the 2025 festival, it was built as a custom content element in which the editorial team maintained programme items with stage, time and speakers in TYPO3. For the 2026 festival, we connected the calendar to the external event platform: since June 2026, it has been pulling in speakers and talks via the platform's API.
Maintain programme data centrally.
Speakers, talks and stages are planned in the external event platform. Our TYPO3 extension uses its API to import speakers, talks, topics, formats and stages. The import runs every hour and can also be started manually if needed.
This keeps programme maintenance in one place. The website picks up the data and displays it in the relevant views.
We have taken several precautions for transferring and displaying the data:
- Locally stored programme data: the data is stored in TYPO3 rather than queried from the event platform on every page view. If the platform is temporarily unavailable, the website shows the last successfully imported version.
- Speaker photos and caching: the speaker photos are kept locally. After an import, TYPO3 clears its caches so that the imported changes appear on the website.
Changes to the imported programme data are made in the event platform and applied with the next successful import. The editorial team continues to maintain all other website content in TYPO3.
For the BIG BANG AI FESTIVAL, we need a website that grows with our requirements. With HMH, we have a partner who thinks along with us, reliably implements our wishes and makes our team’s daily work easier. We particularly appreciate the fast response times, the personal exchange and the uncomplicated collaboration.
The project in numbers.
How we help with similar projects.
A changing programme on your website?
Would you like to import event data automatically or develop your existing website further? We work out with you where content should be maintained and which integrations make sense, and we plan the implementation around your event date.
