Read on for some key details on the Rust Foundation’s support of the essential gathering of the Rust community in 2024…
About RustConf #
Founded in 2016, RustConf is an annual gathering of the Rust community with content focused on the Rust language and its global base of maintainers, contributors, organizers, and advocates. The Rust Foundation has been honored to serve as a sponsor since our inception in 2021. Despite its global draw, RustConf has historically been hosted in the Western United States – Portland, Oregon between 2016 and 2022 and Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2023.
RustConf 2024 – the Rust Foundation’s Role #
Over the past two years, the Rust Foundation has worked hard to establish ourselves as stewards of the Rust programming language and key supporters of the Rust community.
Because we have solely served as a sponsor in the past, we have not been involved in planning and managing RustConf – this work was taken on by passionate members of the community as well as an external events management group. Like RustConf’s attendees, the Rust Foundation has been grateful to these organizers for stepping up to establish RustConf as an unmissable gathering of the Rust community.
In Q4 of 2023, we determined that the Foundation was in an excellent position to play a larger role in producing, planning, and managing RustConf starting with the 2024 event. We sought approval from our board to allocate funds to support this work and then sought input from the Rust Project Leadership Council. With the backing of both groups, we are excited to evolve from RustConf sponsor to organizer in 2024. In doing so, we will lend our resources and expertise to improve various backstage admin processes without compromising RustConf’s community focus.
Following the tradition of RustConf, a small group of Rust Project members participate in the process of selecting talks to appear at RustConf, however this year, the Rust Foundation will also provide input and oversight. Our goal is to ensure that the RustConf program selection process is more inclusive and transparent than ever before.
The Rust Foundation is excited to take on a greater level of RustConf support and management this year!
Why Montreal? #
The Rust Foundation has been privy to many conversations within the Rust Project and the wider Rust language community that holding RustConf exclusively in the Western United States is a limiting factor for many prospective attendees. Considering the global nature of Rust, we felt it was appropriate to consider a wider range of locations in 2024 and seek cities that not only have inclusive policies and cultures but that are easier to get to for Rust community members across the Atlantic.
We are excited to share that RustConf 2024 will be taking place in Montreal, Canada – a vibrant and international city in Quebec that is well-positioned in Eastern North America. Montreal is also a relatively affordable city to host events in, which allows us to do more with our budget. We look forward to sharing more details about the venue and location on the updated RustConf 2024 website – coming soon.
Tickets & Registration #
Ticket pricing and registration details will be available soon. We plan to feature a variety of options and affordability offers to make it possible for as many Rustaceans as possible to join us at RustConf as possible.
2024 Program Committee & CFP #
We know how important it is for RustConf to represent the Rust community and Project. This will only be possible if the Program Committee (the group of people appointed to select talks from the call-for-proposals, or “CFP”) is inclusive of multiple perspectives and is not controlled by any one group.
After reviewing the structure of RustConf’s Program Committee in previous years, we have identified some areas for improved transparency and more balanced decision-making.
This year’s program committee will have the following roles:
- One committee chair to oversee the process of selecting talks from the CFP*
- Two Leadership Council seats
- One academic seat*
- One Rust community organizer seat*
- One Rust Foundation seat (filled through direct appointment)
- One non-voting organizer facilitator
*Filled through direct appointment from the Rust Foundation with Leadership Council input solicited prior to finalization.
The Leadership Council has selected Carol Nichols and Josh Gould to fill their seats. In the coming days, our team will propose candidates for several other seats to the Leadership Council for input.
Talks will be selected from the CFP pool through a system of anonymous review to reduce bias, independent scoring, and collaborative committee decision-making.
We intend to open the RustConf 2024 CFP by the end of this month. More details to come!
Register for General Conference Updates #
We look forward to sharing more details about RustConf 2024 over the next few weeks. Information about attending RustConf 2024 and applying to speak will be available soon.
In the meantime, whether you are interested in speaking, attending, or sponsoring RustConf 2024, we encourage you to sign up for email updates using this form. We will begin sending regular RustConf 2024 calls-to-action in the next few weeks.
Please note that we do not have access to your email address if you have attended in previous years – signing up for this email list is the only way to receive alerts about RustConf.
Sponsorship #
We are pleased to share that RustConf 2024 sponsorship opportunities have been solidified!
Organizations interested in supporting RustConf this year will have the opportunity to come aboard as sponsors at various levels of investment, ranging from $3,000 USD à la carte option up to $25,000.
We are starting to reach out to previous RustConf sponsors, Rust Foundation members, and other organizations that we know are interested in sponsoring this year's event. If your organization sponsored RustConf in the past and have not received an email from us, please note that we did not inherit a database of sponsor contacts information from the previous organizer. If you have not heard from our team, it’s likely because we have not been able to source an email address for your company. Additionally, we are in the process of contacting our list of prospective sponsors. We appreciate your patience!
Feel free to drop us a line at contact@rustfoundation.org to have a conversation about sponsoring RustConf 2024.
A full sponsorship prospectus will be available on the updated website over the next few weeks.
RustConf 2023 Recordings #
Over the past few months, we have seen a number of requests for the RustConf 2023 talk recordings. Because the Rust Foundation did not organize RustConf 2023, we were not aware of the status or location of the talk recordings until they were shared with us a month ago. Unfortunately, several recordings were missing and it has taken us longer than we would have liked to locate them.
Our team wanted to avoid publishing an incomplete RustConf 2023 playlist, so we have been working to resolve the issue over the past few weeks.
After much delay, we are pleased to share that all RustConf 2023 talk recordings have been located. You can find the RustConf 2023 playlist here! We empathize with the 2023 attendees and speakers that were confused by the missing recordings but are committed to publishing the talks in a timely manner following RustConf 2024 event.
What’s Next? #
In the coming weeks, we will be updating the RustConf website, opening the CFP, contacting prospective sponsors, and establishing other important processes to set the event up for success.
The Rust Foundation looks forward to welcoming the Rust community in Montreal in September! In the meantime, we intend to keep you well-updated as the event comes to fruition. Don’t forget to sign up for email updates and stay tuned to this blog and RustConf on Twitter/X and Mastodon for news about the updated website, submitting a talk, sponsorship, and registration. More to come!