Software & Infrastructure

Session: Software & Infrastructure

Overview

What tools people use for ticketing, CFP, streaming, and talking to each other.

Everyone uses different stuff depending on budget and what they need:

Pretalx - Self-hosted CFP system used by FOSDEM, COSCUP, BalCcon. Open source. Customizable via plugins.
Pretix - Ticketing system, often paired with Pretalx for an integrated stack.
Eventbrite - Proprietary, high fees. Provides email to attendees but not always full data.
Eventyay - Open source platform combining CFP, ticketing, and video. Less mature than Pretalx but growing.
Sessionize - Used by CNCF conferences. Has API and automation. Free for free conferences.
Lu.ma - Newer alternative mentioned by some conferences, though closed-source.

Open Broadcast Studio (OBS) - Free, reliable, can stream to YouTube or other platforms.
Venueless - For live streaming and virtual participation.
Jitsi - Free, self-hostable video calls.

Discord - Popular for real-time team coordination.
Matrix - Decentralized, used by FOSDEM (though has limitations).
Email - Eventbrite + custom systems. EmailOctopus for newsletters.
HedgeDoc/Etherpads - Good for collaborative notes, but breaks with >2-3 concurrent editors. Google Docs is more reliable.

Volunteer Management - COSCUP’s open-source system is a good example.
Merchandise - Shopify for non-profits + Printful for on-demand printing.
Donations - Open Collective, direct bank transfers, WordPress plugins.
Support/Ticketing - Zammad or RT (Request Tracker).
Certificates - Certo (based on Open Badge, W3C standard). Useful for students.

Best tools are made by people actually running conferences. They understand the problems.
Self-hosted stuff gives you more control but you have to maintain it.
A lot of conferences run their own thing or heavily hack on commercial tools to make them work.