Two chances to demo your open source project on a big stage

May is Maintainer Month, and GitHub is marking it by opening applications for two live demo opportunities at major developer conferences. Whether you maintain a widely used tool or are nurturing a side project that’s finding its audience, both events are designed to put your repository in front of thousands of developers.

Open Source Spotlight at WeAreDevelopers World Congress

The first opportunity takes place at the 10th anniversary of WeAreDevelopers World Congress in Berlin, July 9–11, 2025. The conference regularly draws more than 15,000 engineers, contributors, and tech leaders. GitHub is bringing back its Open Source Spotlight — a dedicated space on the show floor where you can run live demos and talk through your project with attendees.

The crew is all here & already having some great conversations about @OpenFeature & #featureflags @github's Open Source Spotlight booth @WeAreDevs World Congress 🌎

Be sure to drop by Exhibit Hall 2.2 to say hello 👋 pic.twitter.com/cJSgRIRX4f

— DevCycle (@DevCycleHQ) July 18, 2024

Selected projects receive a live demo space in GitHub’s booth, two free exhibitor passes, and direct visibility with the conference’s thousands of developers and decision makers. Applications close May 31.

One note for the ambitious: GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke is keynoting this year’s Congress, and he’s known to stop by booth spaces — your project could end up just a few feet from his talk.

Open Source Zone at GitHub Universe

The second opportunity is the Open Source Zone at GitHub Universe, taking place October 28–29, 2025, in San Francisco. This dedicated corner of the conference is built around celebrating the open source community. Last year’s zone featured projects ranging from browser-based VR to open source AI tooling.

Photograph of @dmarcos casually bending reality with A-Frame in the Open Source Zone last year ✌🏻
@dmarcos casually bending reality with A-Frame in the Open Source Zone last year ✌🏻

Projects selected for the zone get booth space with power, Wi-Fi, and two free passes to the event. Travel stipends are available for those coming from farther afield. Applications for this event close July 31.

For maintainers who love talking shop, these events offer a rare chance to spend hours nerding out with the people who actually use your work.

Built by maintainers, for maintainers

Maintainer Month is about recognizing the work that keeps the internet running, and both events are meant to give that work a wider audience. Whether your project is a Python package, hardware firmware, or an AI development tool, the goal is the same: getting it in front of other developers.

Questions about whether your project is a fit can be sent to [email protected].