Behind the Scenes: What It Takes to Run WhatTheStack

Running a developer conference is a lot more than booking a venue and setting up a projector. We’ve learned this the hard way - twice. This year, we’ll hopfully find out whether we’ve learned it properly, or we might need a refresher 😎

With 800+ attendees, 4 stages, 30+ speakers, and a full week of pre-event activities, WhatTheStack has grown into something we’re genuinely proud of. But none of it happens by accident (well, most of it anyway), and the process isn’t that smooth under the hood.

The reality - all of those have actually happened

So we’re starting this blog. Consider it the conference equivalent of “building it in public.” And we’re all about keeping everything open and transparent - code, knowledge, process, all of it.

Why bother writing about this?

Organizing and running a conference is one of those things that may look deceptively simple from the outside. You show up, watch some talks, grab swag, network, maybe have one too many beers at the after-party. Easy, right?

Conference organizing iceberg meme

Behind every smooth-running event, there are months of planning, dozens of decisions that could go either way, and more spreadsheets than anyone should ever have to deal with. With the occasional “I’m never-ever doing this s**t again” thrown in, for good measure.

We believe that the community deserves to see the process. Not just the end result, but the messy middle. The tradeoffs, the surprises, the “why did we think this was a good idea” moments at 2 AM.

If you’re thinking about running your own conference, maybe this helps. If you’re just curious, that works too.

What to expect

Over the coming months, we’ll be writing about:

Venue and logistics - How do you set up 4 stages for 800+ people in a space that wasn’t exactly designed for it?
Speaker selection - Our CFP process, how we evaluate proposals, and what makes a talk stand out
Community partnerships - We work with 25+ dev communities across the region. Here’s how that actually works.
Budgeting and sponsorships - The real economics of running a community conference (it’s not what you’d expect)
The final sprint - What the week before the event looks like when everything comes together. Or doesn’t.

Stay tuned

We’ll be posting regularly as we ramp up toward September 19th. If you have questions about running events or want to share your own experience, reach out at [email protected].

See you at WhatTheStack 2026.

This post was originally published on the WhatTheStack blog.