Starting a successful DevFest: Lessons learned from Nantes @GDG Summit 2025

At GDG Summit 2025 in Berlin
When: June 24th, from 3.15pm - 3.30pm CET
Where: Alte Münze (room name TBC)

Talk Title: Starting a successful DevFest - Lessons learned from Nantes
Talk Description:
Ever dreamed of organizing your own DevFest but don't know where to start? Julien Landuré, co-creator of GDG Nantes and organizer of DevFest Nantes, shares his experience and advice for launching and scaling a community event. From finding a free venue to managing sponsors and speakers, this 15-minute talk will guide you through the key steps to creating a memorable DevFest. Discover how DevFest Nantes grew from 150 attendees to over 2500 per day in 10 years, by adopting strong principles and focusing on the attendee, sponsor, speaker, and organizer experience. Learn practical tips and useful tools to turn your event vision into a successful and sustainable reality.

Transcript

1. Starting a successful DevFest Lessons learned from Nantes Also organizing a new Tech Event called TechReady Julien Landuré he/him Founder & CTO @TechTown Organizer @DevFest Nantes @GDG Nantes GDE Cloud
2. What is DevFest?
3. the world's largest community-driven tech conference Bring together passionate developers from around the globe. Hosted annually by Google Developer Groups, DevFest offers a unique opportunity to explore cutting-edge developer tools, learn from Google and Google Developer Experts, and connect with fellow developers in your local community. https://developers.google.com/community/devfest
4. Connect with developers and in your area, hear from industry experts like Googlers or GDEs, share your skills, and learn new ones. Get inspired using technologies throught workshops and hands-on experiences Technical Content Workhops Bringing developers together in-person and online. Networking Source: https://developers.google.com/community
5. 💚 Supported by the Google DevRel team
6. From Google I/O to DevFest Nantes
7. How about creating our own Google I/O locally
8. 150 unique attendees in 2012 1 Day Local school for a free venue Ticket: 10€ | Sponsoring 1 000€ Start Small, Think Big Initial strategy 3500 unique attendees in 2024 2 Days with Afterparty & Concert Beautiful (and expensive) venue Ticket : 120 € | Sponsoring 10 000€ Now…
9. Core Principles & Strategic Scaling
10. “People come for content and for the speaker lineup” Me Julien
11. Code of Conduct & DevFest Safe Deliver a "delicious meal at lunch" Accessibility tools : live subtitles English track (also for international speakers) 75% YoY people wanting to come again Attendee Experience
12. Remained a one-day conference format initially to maintain focus Be the regular point of contact for the Tech ecosystem Focus Looked for a venue that could scale. The recurring nature of the event significantly gains visibility and attractiveness over time. Location
13. Key Takeaways & Tools for Success
14. Help speakers reach the venue. #Travel Organize a speaker dinner the evening before. #Networking Create beautiful designs to announce speakers. #PersonalBranding Ensure high-quality recordings (HD, clear sound) for talks. #Reuse Speaker Offer a souvenir (e.g., special poster with company name). #Proud Book sponsors as early as possible. #Competitors Provide a Media Kit for press release & sponsor communication. #Communication Sponsor
15. Offer a beautiful T-shirt (seen widely in the community). #Proud Focus on content and food. #Simple Add some fun. #Afterparty Attendee Keep some local speakers as backup for contingencies #BeReady Partner with local schools to engage students as volunteers. #Workforce Keep calm, don’t panic #Event Organizer
16. conference-hall.io Open Source: https://github.com/conference-hall/conference-hall
17. openfeedback.io Open Source: https://github.com/HugoGresse/open-feedback
18. billetweb.fr
19. communityleads.dev
20. app.advocu.com
21. Workspace Slack Recurring meetings “Burger every first Monday of the month”
22. Organizing a DevFest is a journey that requires time and energy. Personal Motivation 97% Statistic Caption Source: xxxxx
24. Do we look exhausted or happy?
26. Call to Action Join the DevFest season!