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Facilitate connections at Open Source Conferences §

Pattern Summary §

Facilitate relationship building opportunities at open source/academic OSPO conferences by incorporating intentional introductory activities or interaction badges.

These low barrier prompts support attendees to overcome social hesitation and initiate relevant conversations.

Problem / Challenge §

A core objective of an academic OSPO conference is to share learning and foster collaborative relationships that will ultimately promote the advancement of open source. However, there are a number of logistic challenges:

  • Conference agendas are often dense with presentations and workshops, leaving little unstructured time for networking. Without intentional design, opportunities to connect may be missed.
  • Not all participants are equally comfortable with networking. Students, junior researchers, introverted people or newcomers to open source may feel intimidated about approaching others.
  • Some connection formats may inadvertently exclude people (e.g., loud receptions for those with sensory sensitivities or informal meetups that aren’t accessible).
  • Attendees often come from different disciplines, institutions, or technical skill levels. Without a shared context or vocabulary, spontaneous conversations may stall or never start.
  • Attendees tend to stay with existing contacts and familiar faces. The ‘social clustering’ effect inhibits the cross-pollination of ideas and the relationships that OSPOs aim to foster.

Pattern Category §

Building University OSS Community

Context §

A university with diverse departments of varying levels of OSS expertise and needs.

An OSPO has been established.

Forces §

Students, researchers and faculty do not know how or where to access information and support from the OSPO that they need.

An OSPO with the capacity to organize / co-organize events.

An event or conference has been organized by the OSPO.

Solution §

Build low-pressure icebreaker activities and conversation starting tools that support connection making into the conference experience.

Examples may include: * Interaction badges with prompts such as ‘Ask me about …’ or ‘Seeking partnerships in …’ * Structured mingling activities such as speed networking where attendees rotate and have brief timed conversations with each other. * Roundtables that create targeted opportunities for attendees to find collaborators, mentors, or contributors who aligned with their open source or academic goals. * Explain the Pac-Man Rule and encourage all conference participants to follow this rule during hallway conversations and networking opportunities.

Resulting Context §

Strategic connection activities and tools minimize networking anxiety, establish clear conversation pathways, and support attendees to identify collaboration opportunities.

They also offer strategic and cultural benefits for academic OSPOs including: * The use of intentional networking activities and tools demonstrates OSPO values such as openness, collaboration, transparency, and community stewardship. * Structured relationship building reinforces the OSPO brand as an essential ‘connector’ of people and projects within the open source ecosystem. * Academic OSPOs often convene researchers from various fields. Connection tools allow attendees from diverse disciplines to efficiently discover mutual interests and identify common ground. * Icebreakers and tools democratize conversation by empowering introverts, first-time attendees, or underrepresented voices to engage. A well-designed badge or structured activity offers a non-threatening entry point to dialogue and contributes to a more welcoming and equitable environment. * Stronger interpersonal connections lead to more follow-up conversations, project collaborations and sustained engagement after the event - ultimately extending the conference’s impact well beyond its duration.

Additional Learning from University of California Santa Cruz OSPO, UC OSPO Network §

Right before the reception at the end of our event, we facilitated a round of ‘Lightning Intros’ of 30 seconds to one minute. Anybody could get up, introduce themselves and say what they wanted to talk about with people. It was really fun. We saw people taking notes about who they wanted to talk to. We got good feedback on the exercise.

We advertised the lightning intros in advance of the event. We also personally emailed people whom we hoped would participate. We reminded people to sign up for the Lightning Intros on the morning of the event.

Additional Learning from Carnegie Mellon University OSPO §

I attended an event where organizers added a color to your name badge to signal the topic you wanted to talk about. At the reception that evening, I saw another attendee with the same color badge and we immediately started talking. I definitely appreciated it and I think it made it much easier for people to have an initial conversation.

Additional Learning from GW Open Source Program Office §

We had a “Contributors Hub” at GW OSCON with coffee, food and tables for sponsors and GW organizations. We scheduled long breaks throughout the day and encouraged attendees to check it out.

We also included an open source art activity to guide people to make their first open source contribution. This was a simple photo of a drawing uploaded to our project. Each new merged PR was displayed on a big screen using p5.js.

Additional Learning from University of California Davis OSPO, UC OSPO Network §

Something I've seen at an event is attaching ribbons to the bottom of your name badge to represent a number of topics that you may want to talk about with others. This worked really well.

Known Instances §

References §

Contributors & Acknowledgement §

In alphabetical order

  • Ciara Flanagan, https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3153-7673
  • David Lippert, George Washington University, https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6444-9595
  • Emily Lovell, University of California Santa Cruz, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5531-5956
  • Laura Langdon, University of California Davis
  • Sayeed Choudhury, Carnegie Mellon University, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2891-0543
  • Stephanie Lieggi, University of California Santa Cruz, https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5647-6540