Event wrap-up - GitHub Universe '24
Missy Quarry
In case you missed it, we had a pretty huge presence at this year’s GitHub Universe
After a few years of being in 2nd place, we are now the #1 open source project on GitHub with over 21,000 contributors helping build Home Assistant. We also won the Wonderfully Welcoming award for being the 2nd most active project for new contributors. This is really just scratching the surface of the week we spent together in San Francisco, and I (Missy Quarry
Table of contents
- Community comes together
- We are number 1!
- Open Source - ⭐️ of the show
- Connecting with the community
Community comes together
What started as a simple request to attend the event tumbled into not only being a part of the Day 2 Keynote of GitHub Universe ❗❗ but being offered a venue at GitHub HQ for a community meetup. It picked up from there - interviews, speaking on panels, and after-parties - this 2-day event spun into a 7-day trip to San Francisco. Not only was this my first event as a part of an open source project, but it was also my first time meeting Paulus
While there is a lot of good news for us that came out of GitHub Universe (and I will get to that), I would be a poor community manager if I didn’t start this out with the first in-person meetup I coordinated for Home Assistant. 😌
I knew immediately that I needed custom swag for the event, and got to work with our Graphic Artist, Clelia. We wanted to make sure it was connected to where we were holding the meetup and that it was collectible - we landed on postcards and pins in the shape of stamps.
Limited edition San Fran postcard and badge
And, of course, you can’t go to an event without stickers, so we took our Home Assistant and ESPHome logos with an Open Home Foundation badge and made holographic stickers. ✨
The event itself ended up being a small gathering, but it was filled with amazing connections and conversations. Paulus and Frenck talked for over an hour about the status of Home Assistant and what we’re working on right now, then took questions from the community members. It was great talking to everyone who attended - being able to bring people from different aspects of life together energizes me, and I am excited to plan whatever the next meetup will be. 👀
We are number 1!
It was an honor just for Home Assistant to be asked to speak at the Day 2 Keynote; what we didn’t know when we started this ride was that the keynote would announce something new: we are the #1 open source project on GitHub by active contributors!! 🎉 Not only that, on the rankings for first-time contributors, we moved up to 2nd place, and an Open Home Foundation collaboration partner, Zigbee2MQTT
Our friends at GitHub did a great job of making sure we were surprised by this news—and believe me when I say we lost our collective minds when they revealed it to us. 😎 We also found out that we’ve won GitHub’s Wonderfully Welcoming Award
Open Source - ⭐️ of the show
Paulus and Frenck were at keynote rehearsals Friday, Sunday, and Monday to be prepared for Wednesday. So I picked up my badge Monday morning, which was a hackable board with an e-ink display programmed to show our names - the little details they put into this event were quite pleasing. 🤩
There was a community session where GitHub showed off a little of what they would reveal on Day 2. At the breakout session, I was able to share our pain points about moderating a community directly on GitHub, and it was good to hear how other projects do this on the platform.
Paulus, Frenck and myself at the Day 1 keynote
Day 1 is when we had our booth in the Open Source Zone
Our booth was a great success, and we had so many members of the community come up to us to let us know how much they love Home Assistant, along with some people who had never heard of us curious to learn more. We were surprised to hear that some people had not yet tried the new Sections dashboard, which we were demoing at the booth. It was really useful to get this feedback in person. All of them took stickers. 😆
Our booth in the Open Source Zone
Day 2 was when Paulus and Frenck took the stage, and I got there early to ensure I got a good seat up front. We had not only a good crowd in person, but Joost
Their final message to the crowd - what are you going to build?
The guys did amazing up on stage! 🤩 It was wonderful to see Paulus explain why Home Assistant was built and how it connects to GitHub’s ambitious goal of 1 billion developers. Frenck shared not only what we’ve done to grow the largest open community on GitHub, but also how the community collectively shapes the project’s direction. Kyle Daigle
After the keynote, Paulus and Frenck both did interviews, and even gave away an extra Home Assistant Green we brought to the guest speaker representing Hack Club
Connecting with the community
It was an amazing event, and so nice to meet my colleagues Paulus and Frenck after months of working with them remotely. Most of all, it was great to meet the community, get feedback and hear how Home Assistant improves their lives. Thanks to everyone who took the time to talk to us! 🥰
GitHub was an incredible host, and it was nice to give something back to them after so many years of support they have given this project. At Universe, they gave us a platform to explain how important our community is and how your support has kept Home Assistant thriving and continuously growing - becoming the top open source project on the platform. The next time you see a blog from me should be when I announce Home Assistant Community Day. 😌