The key role of event sponsorship and organization for open source sustainability

Open source software projects typically don’t have the same level of venture capital-backed financial support as commercial products and software projects that are directly supported by a major tech company.

Proper financial support already makes it much easier to market the software and compete in the field, and then it also makes it easier to host conferences which further increase visibility.

In contrast, open source projects that are not supported by tech giants have a harder time competing against commercial products with huge marketing budgets. In their case, support depends largely on companies and individuals that make use of the software actively investing in the project.

In order for a conference such as DrupalCon to provide value to its attendees, companies active in the Drupal community need to not only provide financial support, but also volunteers, speakers, contribution mentors, etc.

But dedicated event sponsorship doesn’t just help sustain open source projects, it also helps increase visibility of the sponsors, which is very valuable for companies specializing in open source. And having more companies working with the software is then also a key element of the sustainability and longevity of an open source project; it’s a win-win.

The importance of an active, thriving community

Apart from showcasing the technologies themselves, technology events are also an excellent way for newcomers to get familiar with the project and acquire hands-on experience with it. Financial support makes open source events more accessible to new community members while also ensuring all attendees get the most value from their conference experience.

For legacy open source projects, attracting new developers and other community members is a top priority. Conferences and other events are not only great opportunities to showcase latest developments and innovations, they also give newcomers a chance to make meaningful contributions to the project’s ecosystem in a short amount of time.

Namely, conferences such as the DrupalCon have organized contribution sprints led by experienced mentors who help newcomers build and learn together. It’s often easier to try out a new technology and get acquainted with like-minded community members in this kind of “compressed contribution” at events rather than through online forums or issue queues.

Besides just sponsoring events, however, companies can also help sustain open source projects and their communities by organizing and hosting events. A lot of events initially organized by a particular company go on to become highly-anticipated annual mainstays that also cater to an international audience.

Of course, bigger initiatives like these are not the only way for companies to make a meaningful impact through their events. Meetups and other smaller events limited to the local technology community, and in its local language, are one of the best ways for growing and sustaining the community.

Through these kinds of events, junior developers and other newcomers to the technology get invaluable learning opportunities, as well as a great way to make connections and land their first jobs in their specific field.

This ties back to an earlier point about the importance of attracting and empowering new developers. At Agiledrop, we not only host frequent meetups for different technology communities such as Laravel, we also organize free Drupal workshops and other events focused on learning, such as PHP Masterclasses.

We’ve found these workshop-style events to be the most effective way to grow the community as well as find new talented team members to join our team. Many developers who have never worked with Drupal before attending our workshop go on to become key members of a client’s Drupal development team in the span of just a year or so.

Conclusion

Community-supported events are vital to the sustainability of open source software projects. A thriving open source community means more and better events, which helps further grow the community and makes future events better and better, in a kind of positive feedback loop.

Companies basing their business on open source projects have a key role to play in sustaining the projects they’re involved in. While code contribution is indeed important, companies should also financially support their core open source technologies, particularly in the case of community initiatives as important as conferences and other learning events.

As we highlighted in the beginning of the article, conference sponsorships also benefit the sponsors themselves by increasing their visibility. And since more attendees means more visibility, it’s in the best interest of sponsor companies for these events to be as successful as possible; it’s just a no-brainer that they should support them both financially and through other means such as providing valuable sessions, mentors, etc.

But a focus on international conferences isn’t enough. Companies need to also invest in developing their local open source communities through meetups, workshops, and other events, to bring these technologies as close as possible to newcomers in an accessible way.