CHABOT

DevRel-specific conferences

3 minute read 703 words

These conferences are intended for DevRel practitioners rather than developers generally.

DevRelCon

A dedicated conference for DevRel practitioners, running since 2015.

  • First held. September 30, 2015, at The Trampery in Shoreditch, London.
  • Founder. Matthew Revell (also founder of Hoopy, the DevRel agency that produces DevRelCon).
  • Cadence. Multiple editions per year across cities; format and frequency varied during the pandemic years.
  • Editions held. London (2015 to 2019, then 2022 to present), San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, Prague, Beijing, Suzhou. Online editions during 2020 to 2022. DevRelCon New York 2026 was scheduled for July 22 to 23, 2026. DevRelCon Bengaluru 2024 was a notable Indian edition co-organised by community leaders including Aditya.
  • Format. Single-track or two-track day; talks are practitioner-to-practitioner, often case studies; well-known speakers include Mary Thengvall, Phil Leggetter, Jono Bacon, Brian Douglas, Floor Drees, PJ Hagerty, Tessa Kriesel, Aaron Bassett, and many others.
  • Output. Talks are recorded and published at developerrelations.com.

DevRel Summit

  • Operator. Product Marketing Alliance / Developer Marketing Alliance.
  • Cadence. Multiple editions per year, typically virtual + in-person.
  • Format. Practitioner talks, panels, networking; companion to PMA’s developer-marketing courses and certifications.
  • Scale. Lower headcount than DevRelCon but with strong industry-vendor presence.

DevXcon

  • Operator. Hoopy (Matthew Revell), as a Developer Experience spinoff of DevRelCon.
  • Focus. Developer-experience-specific topics distinct from broader DevRel programming; designed for developer-experience leaders, product managers, and engineering teams.
  • Cadence. Annual or biennial.

EvangelistsConf

  • An older conference series that ran in the mid-2010s focused on developer evangelism specifically.
  • Less active in recent years; some references at evangelistsconference.com survive online.

Heavybit DevGuild

  • Operator. Heavybit, a venture firm focused on developer-tools companies.
  • Format. Smaller, founder/leader-focused event series, with editions on specific topics: DevRel, Developer Marketing, Open Source, AI tooling.
  • Cadence. Several events per year.
  • Audience. CEOs, VPs of DevRel, VPs of Product at developer-first companies; investors.
  • Scale. Small (200 to 400 attendees typical), highly curated.
  • 2026. A May 7, 2026 edition was scheduled.

Developer Marketing Summit

  • Operator. Product Marketing Alliance / Developer Marketing Alliance.
  • Focus. Developer marketing rather than developer relations specifically.
  • Cadence. Annual or biannual, often in San Francisco.

API the Docs

  • Focus. API documentation and developer portals.
  • Operator. Pronovix and API the Docs (founded by Kristof Van Tomme).
  • Cadence. Multiple editions per year (city-based: Paris, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, virtual).
  • Audience. Technical writers, API product managers, developer educators.

Write the Docs

  • Focus. Technical writing community (heavily overlaps with developer education).
  • Founded. 2013 (founders Troy Howard, Eric Redmond, Eric Holscher).
  • Cadence. Annual editions in Portland (May, primary), Prague (autumn, European), and smaller regional events (Nairobi, Sydney, Berlin, Vilnius, Cincinnati, Melbourne).
  • Scale. 600+ attendees per year across all events; over 1,500 community members across 15+ cities.

DevRel Foundation events

Following the Developer Relations Foundation’s formation under the Linux Foundation in August 2025, the Foundation began running events and Working Group meetings.

Adjacent community-management conferences

These are not strictly DevRel-only but heavily overlap:

  • CMX Summit / CMX Connect (community-management broadly; CMX is now part of Bevy / RingCentral).
  • Community Industry Group events.
  • The DevRel Collective Slack-organised meetups.
  • All Day DevOps (online; some DevRel content).
  • All Things Open (Raleigh, NC; open-source-focused; substantial DevRel programming track).

What you go to which one for

If you want to…Go to…
Meet other DevRel practitionersDevRelCon
Hear practitioner case studiesDevRelCon
Discuss developer experience strategyDevXcon
Develop developer-marketing skillsDevRel Summit / Developer Marketing Summit
Network as a founder/exec of a developer-first companyHeavybit DevGuild
Improve API docs and developer portalsAPI the Docs
Improve documentation craft generallyWrite the Docs
Shape the field’s institutional futureDevRel Foundation Working Groups
Hear from major-platform DevRel leadershipAll Things Open’s DevRel track

See also