Conference Management Software

Overview

What tools FOSS conferences actually use and what’s broken about them.

Pretalx

Used by FOSDEM, COSCUP, BalCCon, and many others. Open source. The default choice for most events.

Congress (CCC) runs 11 pretalx instances joined together: https://git.cccv.de/hub/hub. This lets different content teams manage their own instances while sharing data. They’re also experimenting with Openki: https://gitlab.com/Openki/Openki

Issues:

• Updates can lose data (BalCCon and OpenFest both reported this)
• CJK language support broken in export features (one of the things Eventyay fixed)
• API, which is a major pain point
• Schedule publishing is immediate. No “ready but not published yet” state.
• Korean translation missing and payment provider integration is hard

Workarounds: FOSDEM and others export to YAML and build their own static websites instead of using pretalx directly.

Eventyay

FOSSASIA’s platform: https://eventyay.com/

Not really a pretalx fork. Uses some of the code but reimplemented most of it with new database models and new features.

Includes:

• CFP and ticketing in one system
• Common login across tickets, badges, talks, and video
• Check-in app
• Volunteer management

GitHub: https://github.com/fossasia/eventyay

Fewer organizations use it but it’s growing.

Chemnitzer Linux-Tage

Built their own system from scratch: https://chemnitzer.linux-tage.de/2026/en

Django application integrated into their website.

Features:

• Building maps and floor plans
• Infrastructure maps (power sockets, etc.)
• Automated tooling via awk scripts and Makefiles
• Handles scheduling, CFP, everything

P.I.W.O. (Poznań Free Software Fest)

Wanted to use pretalx but couldn’t get a Polish translation finished.

Used a commercial but free-tier service for ticketing (not open source). Planning to move to Pretalx next year.

Current state needs improvement

• Better APIs for integrations
• Better access control (devroom managers see only their devroom, not others)
• Ability to submit a talk to multiple tracks
• More flexible schedule management

Standardisation

Everyone customizes tools differently. Speakers fill out different forms for different conferences. Volunteers learn different systems each time.

Schedule2 is trying to create a standard format everyone could use: https://github.com/voc/schedule

Uses LinkML so it’s machine-readable. Focuses on events and submissions first.

If it works, speakers submit once and conferences share data. Volunteers move between events without relearning.

Common issue

Every org thinks their event is special and needs custom tools. Sometimes true, sometimes it’s just easier to build your own than learn someone else’s. Result: we keep reinventing the wheel instead of building shared tools.