Kaigi on Rails past, present and the future

https://giftee.connpass.com/event/403620/

Although the event and my talk was in Japanese, the deck is in English.

Transcript

1. Kaigi on Rails: past, present and the future 語レ！あふれる想い！Kaigi on Rails 2026 OKURA Masafumi, 2026-10-29
2. The history of Kaigi on Rails
4. 2019 • The last year of RailsDM (Rails Developer Meetup) • About 300 attendees • I was one of the staff (inviting DHH online, Jeremy Daer in-person) • RailsKaigi was planned but abandoned • The idea of RailsKaigi turned into Kaigi on Rails
5. Why Kaigi on Rails • We knew that we needed that kind of conference • At RubyKaigi, we don’t talk about Rails, but we use it every day • We knew that there will be lots of attendees • 1000 attendees for RubyKaigi, and 300 for RailsDM • I had some experience organizing conferences so I thought I could do it anyway
8. 2020 • Virtual conference, unexpectedly • The archive existed back then • As a collection of the resources Rails developers will refer to • There were many “talks for newbies/newcomers” • Personally, it’s one of a few things I remember from this year • We stayed at home, literally every day
11. 2021 • Virtual conference, as planned • An attempt to make a virtual conference which seems an in-person conference • Sponsor booth, after party, etc. • It was not quite successful, as RubyKaigi was not willing to do • 2 days from this year • Hand-crafted Japanese subtitles for a keynote by Rafael
14. 2022 • Virtual conference, as we get used to it • RubyKaigi was in-person this year • We were not prepared that much • We expected it’s the last virtual Kaigi on Rails • Japanese subtitles for a keynote by Nate
17. 2023 • The rst in-person conference • 2 days, 2 tracks • About 400 attendees • (Real) sponsor booths, after party • We recalled what the actual conferences looked like fi • Japanese subtitles for a keynote by byroot (his keynote was a video)
20. 2024 • 2 days, 2 tracks • About 700 attendees • Kaigi on Rails is getting more popular and bigger • The competition rate of CFP was about 5
23. 2025 • 2 days, 2 tracks • About 700 attendees • Similar stats to 2024 • GenAI was getting more and more popular, but coding agents were not a real thing • An attempt to internationalize Kaigi on Rails • English promotion, etc.
26. 2026 • 2 days, 2 tracks • About 900 attendees • DHH was a keynote speaker • The year of coding agents • The year of full internationalization • Bi-directional translations and subtitles for every talk
27. What has been important for Kaigi on Rails?
28. What we’ve implemented from the beginning • Diverse talks • 「初学者から上級者までが楽しめるWeb系の技術カンファレンス」 • Keynote from creators/authors/maintainers • Rails Core/Committers, gem maintainers, book authors • A welcoming place for chat and collaboration • “ワイワイ部屋” was implemented back in 2023
29. Kaigi on Rails for “me”
30. Kaigi on Rails for me (okuramasafumi) • Communication hub • Talks/hallway/party are all form of communication • Balancing users and creators • Kaigi on Rails is not a “Open Source Conference” • There is a huge user base of Rails in Japan, which itself is valuable • A “gate” to the community • Conferences are a good reason to “just go there”
31. The future plan
32. The future of Kaigi on Rails • More communication • Cross cultural, cross languages, cross experiences… • More community-driven • More content and talks about real problems and solutions • More fundamental • AI tells us many things, so what is worth sharing in conferences?
33. My (very) personal thoughts
34. The future of software development • We will solve much more “dif cult” problems • It’s completely new, we don’t even think it’s a problem now • We are responsible to think deeper or think differently • Conferences are the best place to exchange ideas for those thinking • We won’t lose our jobs unless we avoid those problems • Conferences (and communities) are required by the society, and they fi fl in uence how the society works
35. See you in 2027!