Why?

Let's start with the beginning.

Once upon a time, a certain developer, who went to meetups and began to discover the wonderful world of conferences.
She had become a conference co-organizer since 2015-2016 and had several issues.

As an organizer:

• how to choose the right date for the conference, so that it does not fall at the same time as another?
• how to know the dates of upcoming tech conferences?

As a speaker:

• how to know the date of the next conferences as well as their CFP (call for papers)?

As an attendee:

• how do I know the list of upcoming conferences, in order to ask my manager if I can attend?

As a sponsor:

• how to know the list of upcoming conferences that I could sponsor?

Let's stop there this little story, the certain developer, it's me ^^.

How I started?

As an organizer, speaker, sponsor and attendee I needed to have a listing of upcoming tech conferences. So I searched the internet ... and found nothing.
I only found a few rare lists of specialized tech conferences, on Java for example, but these rare lists were not updated.

This is how in 2017 I decided to create a simple GitHub repository, a simple README file, on which I added information on events:

• their date
• the link to the conference
• the city
• the country
• information on their CFP: closing date and link
• information about Closed Captions

README's rendering:

And now, 7 years later?

I created and maintained the repository, on my side, month after month. Several years maintaining this small repository, first for me, as a speaker, organizer and attendee, then as a sponsor as well.
Year after year, a few contributors started adding new events, contributing more and more and just using the listing tech on a daily basis, personally as well as professionally.
And since 2021 and 2022, the contributions are bigger than ever ❤️ ... and a responsive website has even been created: https://developers.events/!

All the data listed in the README.md as well as in the archives of the previous years, is extracted in an all-events.json file, likewise for the information on the CFPs which is listed in all-cfps.json.
This data is scrapped by the website in React and displayed as a calendar 🙂.

You can click in a date to list all the events taking place that day. You can also click in a month to list all the events taking place that month.
You can also get the .ics file of a whole year.

"developers.events" now has 191 contributors, it may be a detail for you but for me it means a lot 🙂.

I even created a Docker Desktop extension with the listing of the tech conferences 🙂.

So, what I have learnt?

This tech conference listing project taught me:

• that even if it is only to help one or two people, spending time on which you believe, is worth it
• that a simple README file can take a lot of your personal time for years... oh yeah! 😆
• that it help me to increase my professional knowledge and skills on GitHub actions & releases
• that a simple Pull Request (PR) can change what you have in mind
• taught me that I could do PR reviews in every possible place imaginable (KubeCon keynote, bus, metro, train...) from my laptop, tablet, phone...
• to actively listen again and again to the community

• to quickly increase your skills in languages you don't know and yes... I'm going to have to start using React to improve the site 😆

• and... that having 1 or 2 active contributors is super important 💪

Managing a project alone for 7 years is not easy, you have to hold on for the long term, believe in it, so as usual, you have to be well surrounded to be able to keep your motivation and imagine what will be next 🙂.

As always, for me, it's the others who know best how to talk about this project so it's really important to be well surrounded, and to believe in your little project.

And what's next?

If you know conferences that are not yet in the repository, do not hesitate to create a Pull Request.

I you are a conference organizer, don't hesitate to add information about your conference and CFP. This is one more way to make your conference known.

If you use the repository, don't hesitate to also use the website which can be super practical, much more than reading a README file ^^.

If you have any ideas for improving the site, feel free to create an issue.
If you want to help, there are a few requests for new features that are easy to implement 😉.

And if you use the listing daily, personally or for your work, please talk about it around you ❤️.
The more the repository and the website will be visible and the more it can help people 🙂.

One more thing:

If you like this project, you can even sponsor it through GitHub sponsor.

Why?

Sponsoring will allow me to pay for the hosting and domain name costs of this project (I have a generous donor for 2 years but it would be great to help him too ^^) and for other Open Source projects I maintain as well if you want to.

Conclusion

Maintaining a solo project for many years is not easy but you will find that the power of communities is awesome.
Or how a contributor can transform your simple README file into a responsive website! 😱 And how new contributors can help you to motivate you to continue again and again 🙂.

My advice?

Do not give up, continue to contribute and try to talk about your project around you. If you think this can help others, keep going 🙂.