GitHub Universe Returns with a Virtual Two-Day Program

GitHub's annual developer conference, GitHub Universe, takes place October 27-28. This year's virtual event will cover topics including developer productivity, security, open source communities, and enterprise cloud. To help attendees plan their schedules, we spoke with this year's hosts, Lorena Mesa and Jarryd McCree, about their roles, what they're watching, and their advice for speakers.

Meet the Hosts and Their Focus Areas

Mesa works as a Data Engineer on the dependency graph team, which sits within GitHub's data security and productivity group. She also serves on the leadership team of the Octogatos, GitHub's LatinX employee community. McCree is a Staff Product Manager leading the identity and access management team.

Both hosts named developer productivity as a highlight of this year's agenda. Mesa, who also works extensively in open source, is keen on the Communities track, where she expects conversations around governance, sustainability, and social impact. McCree said he's eager to pick up practical tips he can apply immediately in his own work.

Sessions the Hosts Are Bookmarking

Mesa, a self-described Python enthusiast, is looking forward to updates on Python support in GitHub Actions. She also wants to learn about improvements aimed at making GitHub more accessible to open source contributors.

Mesa's pick: Advanced GitHub Actions

McCree highlighted the breadth of Codespaces content. GitHub's engineering team has moved the majority of github.com development to Codespaces, and he noted the conference will share tips and lessons learned from that migration.

McCree's picks: Getting started with Codespaces; Coding in the cloud with GitHub Codespaces and VS Code

Enterprise and Security Highlights

For enterprise customers, McCree pointed to the general availability of enterprise managed users (EMU), which brings the scalability of GitHub Enterprise Cloud together with administrative controls for managing users and code.

Bookmark: Live QA: What's new with GitHub Enterprise

McCree also expressed excitement about GitHub Mobile, seeing it as a flexibility win for remote-first organizations.

Bookmark: Discovery, productivity, and getting work done on the go with GitHub Mobile

On the security side, Mesa called attention to continued investment in GitHub Enterprise Advanced Security.

Bookmarks: Enforcing information security policy through GitHub Enterprise; Modern application security CISO perspectives

Advice for Speakers and Attendees

With more than 50 speakers on the roster, both hosts offered encouragement. Mesa reminded speakers that technical hiccups happen, especially in remote formats, and urged them not to worry if something goes off-script. McCree encouraged speakers to enjoy the moment and the global audience that public speaking at an event like this provides.

For attendees, Mesa advised against heavy note-taking during live sessions. The conference will have more than 40 sessions available on demand, so attendees can rewatch anything they miss. She also noted live audio translations will be available in seven languages. McCree highlighted the on-demand access to all speaker content following the day one keynote, calling it a "choose your adventure" format that lets attendees tune into any of the sessions at their own pace.

Attendees can register and browse sessions on the GitHub Universe website.