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Project Lightning Talk + ContribFest + Maintainer Track: KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA 2026

event starts

9 Nov 2026

event ends

12 Nov 2026

location

Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, Utah, United States


PROJECT LIGHTNING TALKS - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9

Audience: Attendees (Beginner) 

Projects will have the opportunity to deliver lightning talks lasting 5-minutes during KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. This platform offers projects the chance to showcase their recent updates, features, and other highlights to their peers. The project lightning talks will be included in the conference schedule and are based on availability.

Because these talks are centered on the project rather than any individual speaker, complimentary passes are not provided. If you don’t already have a pass and are unable to secure funding to attend, we recommend applying for a scholarship. Alternatively, if you're unable to attend, we would still consider the talk if another project representative is available to present on your behalf.

A maximum of 1 speaker is allowed per Project Lightning Talk. Please do not submit more.


CONTRIBFEST - TUESDAY - THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10-12

Audience: Attendees (Intermediate + Expert)

Contribfest sessions are available to all conference attendees and are 75 minute in-person sessions designed to provide projects with the space and resources to tackle outstanding technical debt, security issues, or outstanding impactful feature requests. It is intended to provide a place for maintainers to meet contributors and potential contributors and work together on solving a problem. 

In order to be considered, you must satisfy the requirements below:

  • At least one speaker must be a maintainer of the project with the commit bit. A maximum of five speakers are allowed.
  • Maintainers do not need to lead the Contribfest but projects must provide at least one individual to facilitate the work during the Contribfest
  • In your session description field, describe the problem space and benefit a Contribfest can provide your project

Contribfest is offered only to graduated, incubating, and sandbox projects. SIGs, TAGs, and Working Groups are not eligible for a Contribfest session at this time.

A maximum of 5 speakers total are allowed per Contribfest.


MAINTAINER TRACK - TUESDAY - THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10-12

Audience: Non-Maintainers and End-Users (Any)

Leaders of CNCF Graduated and Incubating Projects and Activities (Such as members of Working Groups or TAGs) can submit one 30-minute Maintainer Track session during KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. Participation is subject to availability and submitting does not guarantee selection. 

Each speaker can participate in only one Maintainer Track session. This does not count against the speaker limits for Kubecon + CloudNativeCon standard CFP.

Requirements for Submission

Graduated/Incubating Projects

All Others

To submit, you must be a chair or technical lead of a CNCF TAG, a lead for a Kubernetes SIG, CNCF or K8s Working Group.

A maximum of 5 speakers total are allowed per Maintainer Track session.

opens in 4 days
Call for Presentations
Call opens at 12:00 AM

15 Apr 2026

Call closes at 11:59 PM

05 Jul 2026

Call closes in Central Daylight Time (UTC-05:00) timezone.
Closing time in your timezone () is .

DATES TO REMEMBER:

  • Project Lightning Talk, ContribFest, and Maintainer Track Submissions End: Sunday, July 5, 2026 at 23:59 Mountain Time (GMT-6)
  • Project Lightning Talk, ContribFest, and Maintainer Track Notifications: Monday, July 27, 2026
  • Schedule Announced: Wednesday, July 29, 2026
  • Event Dates: November 9-12, 2026

Reminder: This is a community event - no product and/or vendor sales pitches are permitted.

CODE OF CONDUCT

By submitting, you agree to the CNCF Code of Conduct.

COMMITMENT TO INCLUSIVITY

Please review The Linux Foundation's Inclusive Speaker Orientation and Inclusive Language Initiative.

QUESTIONS?

Contact us at projectsatkubecon@linuxfoundation.org.