Proposal: Community-run Devrooms at IndiaFOSS

IndiaFOSS Conference
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I’ve been discussing this idea privately with a few folks at the anniversary meetup,
and thought I’d post here as well to get wider feedback.

I went to FOSDEM last year, and I really liked the devroom concept. If you haven’t been,
FOSDEM happens across 2 days at a university, with a main stage, which works same as
most conferences. However, FOSDEM also supports a lot (~70) of community-managed
devrooms (which happen across different classrooms in the campus). Each devroom
is essentially a small focused mini-conference run by a small community of volunteers.

In addition to the CFP for the conference, the FOSDEM organizing team also puts out
a “Call for Devrooms”. Among the many communities that were selected, a few were:

Rust, Ruby, Virtualization, Web Performance, PostgreSQL, RISC-V, Python, Open Hardware,
Nix, Mozilla, Matrix, Kernel, LLVM, HPC, GCC, Free Java, Emulators etc. [Complete List]

Devrooms are a mini-conference that runs on a shared-responsibility model:
FOSDEM takes care of the infrastructure & logistics (such as recording,
crowd-management, CFP management). But the community organizers for the
devroom take care of the programming (CFP selection, and scheduling).

The Devrooms run in parallel to the main conference track (except for maybe
the opening keynote).

See the FOSDEM 2025 Call for devroom and the Devroom Manager Manual 2024 for a better idea.

The NIMHANS venue already has 2 unused classrooms on the first floor, which
can seat ~50 people, and we can run 2 devrooms on each day in each devroom
for a total of 8 devrooms (maybe we can do a pre/post lunch split). We can also do asymmetric devroom durations (3/4 hours for the pre/post lunch).

If this sounds interesting, here’s what we need to do to make this a reality:

  1. IndiaFOSS Organizing team needs to figure out scheduling for the devrooms.
  2. A Devroom CFP needs to be published for the community alongside the main conference
    CFP.
  3. Clear guidelines for the devrooms (what kind of talks are acceptable,
    the CoC, and what responsibility are handed over).
  4. The Community needs to
    step up and propose devrooms that they’d like to see.

Think of running a devroom like running a small conference for your community
within IndiaFOSS. Sounds interesting?

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Its a great idea and i would love to volunteer to make this happen next indiafoss!

We were discussing this idea for MumbaiFOSS 2.0 some time back but due to a few venue changes and lack of bandwidth, we had to put away the idea.

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I like the idea of the devroom. The conference is going to be bigger this year, so the increased content is a plus. It’s a good way to involve more of the community, with focussed topics guiding people towards better submissions even. It’s flexible enough to include broad topics and niches (hardware obviously comes to mind, but then I could easily imagine compilers, kernel, music - these already have dedicated communities).

I am veering towards asymmetric devrooms (day 1 second half, day 2 first half). Like 4 devrooms over 2 rooms. Why ? Easier to start with a smaller number I guess. Also if a topic is big enough to have a devroom, at-least one talk related to each devroom topic might get selected for a main stage talk. Having that talk before the devroom itself begins may be one way to schedule talks.

Last year the CFP went out in June sometime, so let’s say the call for devrooms goes out 30-45 days in advance of that to provide enough time.

Logistics need to be worked out of course - including having more reviewers (part of devroom proposal?). In 2024, the 2 rooms used for workshops weren’t recorded or streamed. Devrooms would run reviewed talks. At a minimum we need to record them and ideally livestream. That is more logistics and costs…

These are just my thoughts without discussing with anyone else, btw. Over the next week or two we should have a much clearer picture.

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  1. Sounds like a great idea! I support dong this.
  2. I would also recommend starting small - between 2 and 4 - and that’s because picking a devroom/host places a significant amount of trust in the host, especially if the host is partially or fully responsible for the program during the conference. I would like to start small also because we already have enough trouble with video recording and post-processing as it is and adding more than 2 to 4 tracks could be a significant financial expense (I’m speculating here though)
  3. If this goes through, I’ll be submitting an application for a FOSS in Science devroom :grimacing:
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Sounds like a great idea, please expect official updates on this soon!

We have been discussing the possibility of a third day (more specifically a day 0) for IndiaFOSS. The rooms in NIMHANS are not great for hosting workshops (lack of internet, tables etc.) and a different day + venue for workshops solves that problem. That will leave these rooms empty during the conference and devrooms are a perfect opportunity to utilise this space.

Agreed. As Nemo pointed out, we have two rooms on the first floor which means we can only host a maximum of 4 devrooms over 2 days.

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@Nemo Here is a draft “Call for Devroom” we have come up with. Do have a look. Happy to clarify on any aspect.

Deadline for comments on this call for devrooms is Feb 28th, 2025. We intend to float this around starting March 1st 2025.

[DRAFT] Call for Devrooms for IndiaFOSS 2025

IndiaFOSS 2025 is a two day celebration of everything in and around FOSS, happening on 20th and 21st September 2025. This is the 5th edition of the event, expected to draw an estimated 2500 attendees including developers, students, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and volunteers.

This edition of the conference will feature devrooms - an exciting idea that originated from the community itself. These are essentially half day mini-conference tracks (3 hours programme duration) inside the conference. The idea is that this puts more of the conference contents in the community’s hands. This is modelled loosely on devrooms that FOSSDEM conference has. During the conference, Devrooms will run in parallel with the main conference.

Devrooms may be proposed by a self organizing group in the community. Devrooms are based on topics relevant to a broader subset of the community, or a special interest topic, etc. Devroom proposals are being solicited in advance. The conference committee will review and select 4 devroom proposals.

The call for proposals (CFP) for IndiaFOSS 2025 will be a generic CFP that will mention and link to separate CFPs for each selected devroom. The conference talk submission page will accept talk proposals both for the main track, as well as selected devrooms (these will show up as “tracks”). Anybody may propose sessions for any track.

Each devroom must be represented by two managers (2 for redundancy). These managers are responsible for the following:

  • Finalize a CFP for their devroom.
  • Circulate the CFP in their community or interest group. The Programme Committee (composed of the co-chairs of the conference) shall let selected devrooms know when to do this.
  • Review and finalize proposals to create the devroom programme, in a timely manner. We recommend starting rolling reviews 2 weeks after the CFP is issued.
  • Work with the Programme Committee to finalize the schedule.
  • Run the devroom according to the schedule during the conference

Devroom managers may also rope in additional volunteers to help review proposals. During the conference, devrooms shall be recorded and live-streamed. Each devroom may also have up-to two volunteers to help with the logistics of running the devroom, including:

  • Coordinate with selected speakers to ensure everything runs smoothly and on time
  • Introduce speakers
  • Work with video recording and live streaming POCs
  • Work with other conference volunteers for important tasks (beginning of sessions, administrative stuff, etc)

Each devroom shall be held in a 35 seater room.

Devroom Proposals

Devroom proposals shall be posted on the FOSS United Forum in a thread dedicated for this purpose (LINK). The person who posts a devroom proposal will be deemed the primary contact for the devroom, and also a devroom manager.

A devroom proposal must include the following:

  • Devroom title
  • Details of two managers
    • Name of each manager
    • Short intro and reason/motivation to run the devroom. Please highlight any prior experience running/involvement in events or conferences
  • Some indication that the devroom would be able to generate enough content for the entire 3 hour slot (“proof of feasibility”)
  • Number of volunteers requested for the devroom
    • Proposal reviews (max 2). Names of the reviewers need not be published on the forum at this time to preserve anonymity, but the Managers must have decided the names by the time they propose the devroom.
    • Logistics volunteers for the devroom (max 2). Names can be decided later.
  • CFP for the devroom talks. CFP must include the scope of the talks recommended for this devroom.

FOSDEM 2025 - Schedule has some ideas for devrooms.

Key Dates

  • Call for devrooms opens on : March 1st 2025
  • Last date to submit devroom proposals : March 31th, 2025
  • Intimation of devroom proposal acceptance: April 15th, 2025
  • Devrooms to start circulating their CFP : May 1st, 2025 (Same date as CFP open for IndiaFOSS)
  • CFP end date : June 30th, 2025
  • Devrooms to finish reviews and finalize sessions for their devroom : July 15th, 2025
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I like the draft overall, and the commitment to recording + live-streaming the devrooms as well. :1st_place_medal:.

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This sounds like a pretty nice idea. I attended an “unconference” event in San Francisco which had a similar concept:

  1. Only a small number of registrations are approved for the unconference. There were only around 50-60 people in the room.
  2. After arriving at the venue, the host introduced us to the concept and put some papers and markers in the middle. Invited people to pick up papers and add a topic that they would like to discuss.
  3. There was a 12x5 grid bulletin board/wall, corresponding to the 12 rooms and 5 hours of the event. If you have a paper with a topic in it, you go ahead and stick it to some cell of the grid.
  4. Once the grid is full, topic owners review the board and see if they want to merge their topic with someone else’s. This opens up new cells - which can again be used by newer topics of discussion.
  5. At the end of the unconference, every topic owner provides a 2-minute summary of what their topic was about, what themes were explored in the discussion and what were some of the key results or action items based on the discussion.

It was a much smaller event than our flagship IndiaFOSS event, but it happened more often (once every 2 months).

We can conduct something like that as a POC of whether or not we are able to effectively run such an unconference/devroom.

I hope this was helpful.

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I wonder why you got the impression that devroom is an un-conference ? … If something in the text is unclear, do let me know. I will fix that.

devrooms aren’t un-conference tracks, btw. That’s why we have provision for up-to 2 extra reviewers (devroom managers are likely to double up as reviewers as well). So it’s pretty much a mini-conference inside a conference. The conference committee will review the “call for devrooms”, and 4 shall be selected depending on their devroom proposal, including a discussion. Talks proposed to devrooms (each is treated as a conference track) are also reviewed as usual.

Plug: In un-conferences, there is no selection as you have noted. Since you mention it, I also help run Barcamp Bangalore, and it’s happening on March 8th. Feel free to add a session/register! In this barcamp you may propose sessions in advance as an FYI to others. Final session scheduling happens on paper wiki that you are already familiar with.

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Hey Shree, thanks for the response.

I felt that these were close enough concepts and hence shared my experience of an unconference as similar to the devroom experience. But clearly, you have seen (and organized) both of these and know them much better than I do.

I have added the Barcamp Bangalore even on my calendar, but the website is not taking registrations. If I can register, it would be awesome. (I could see Amit, from the Absurdist group, on the landing page - so I am sure I’d love the unconference).

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Have sent you the required info via DM. Please check there.