Maintainer Summit | LF Events

About

November 9, 2025

Atlanta

Georgia World Congress Center, Building B
285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW, Atlanta, GA 30313

#CNMaintainerSummit

The CNCF Maintainer Summit is an exclusive event for the people behind our projects to gather face-to-face, collaborate, and celebrate the projects that make “Cloud Native.” Programming will be focused on sharing best practices, diving into contributing processes, and solving common problems across projects to enrich our great community of maintainers. Interested in learning more? Check out the Maintainer Summit Europe 2025 post-event report.

Eligibility

Who can attend Maintainer Summit?

Sandbox Project Maintainers*
Incubating Project Org Members
Graduated Project Org Members
CNCF TOC Members
CNCF TAG Chairs, Technical Leads and Working Group Leads

Additional Maintainer Summit Opportunities for Incubating + Graduated Project Maintainers, TAG Leads & TOC Members:

*Incubating Maintainers + TAG Chairs, Technical Leads and Working Group Leads**	Submit CFP Eligible for Program Committee
*Graduated Maintainers + Org Members + TOC**	Submit CFP Eligible for Program Committee Eligible for Program Chair Project Photo

*Your GitHub Handle MUST exist in https://github.com/cncf/foundation/blob/main/project-maintainers.csv

Call For Proposals

Submit a proposal to speak or facilitate a project meeting!

To submit a talk proposal, you must be one of the following:

TOC Representative
Graduated Project Maintainer or Org Member
TAG Lead
Incubating Project Maintainer

Submit to Speak

Dates to Remember

CFP Opens: Monday, May 19
CFP Closes: Sunday, July 20, 11:59 PM EDT
CFP Notifications: Tuesday, August 26
Schedule Announced: Wednesday, August 27
Event Date: Sunday, November 9

Maintainer Summit topics

Kubernetes
Kubernetes is the foundation for Cloud Native and many CNCF projects. This is a track focused exclusively for Kubernetes SIGs and project-wide discussions to keep Kubernetes running.
Growing Contributors
What powers projects? It’s people! This track is focused on stories and strategies to grow a project’s contributor base. Share ideas on how to run workshops, present data on the best way to bring in new contributors, or grow people to become future maintainers.
CI / CD / Distribution
Every project has builds, tests, and some means to distribute artifacts, but there is no standard solution. Many converge on GitHub (via Actions/GHCR/Packages), but there is a wide variety of problems in this space, and stories to tell.
Open Submission
Want to discuss standards for production readiness? Or API design? Submit ideas that don’t align with the above topics here. Anything, from how to run a project, to the role of a maintainer, is valid. Think Big!
Project Meeting*
Do you want to get the members of your project together to discuss a feature or issue? Or perhaps plan the work for the next major release? Project meeting submissions can be used to book a space for your project to get together and take advantage of the face-to-face time to get things done!
*Please note: Project Meetings will be listed on the schedule with the project name only, and the submittor/meeting facilitator will not receive a speaker registration pass.

Submission Types

Presentation: 35 minutes with 1 or 2 speakers presenting on a topic
Panel Discussion: 35 minutes of discussion amongst 3 to 5 speakers
Workshop: 35 minutes workshop with 2-4 speakers and/or workshop facilitators
Project Meeting: 30 minutes or 50 minutes

Important Notes

All speakers and facilitators are required to adhere to our Code of Conduct. We also highly recommend that speakers take our online Inclusive Speaker Orientation Course.
Any submission type with more than two presenters/facilitators must include at least one non-male identifying presenter/facilitator in an effort to increase equity and inclusion.
*Project Meetings will be listed on the schedule with the project name only, and meeting facilitators will not receive a speaker registration pass.
Complimentary speaker registration passes will be provided for accepted presentation, panel, and workshop speakers.
Avoid sales or marketing pitches and discussing unlicensed or potentially closed-source technologies when preparing your proposal; these talks are almost always rejected due to the fact that they take away from the integrity of our events, and are rarely well-received by conference attendees.
All accepted speakers and facilitators are required to submit their slides prior to the event.

Registration Details

This is not an event for general attendance. See the “Eligibility” section for guidelines. To attend, you must be registered for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon.

Registration for Maintainer Summit North America will open in mid-June.

Sponsor the Event

Sponsorship opportunities for Maintainer Summit North America will open in mid-June.

FAQs

When is the Maintainer Summit taking place?

Sunday, November 9, 2025 one day prior to KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America pre-event programming.

Where is the Maintainer Summit located?

Georgia World Congress Center, Building B | 285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW, Atlanta, GA 30313

RegiStration

Who can attend the Maintainer Summit?

Sandbox Project Maintainers (as listed in project-maintainers.csv)
Incubating & Graduated Project GitHub Org Members
CNCF TAG Leads & the CNCF TOC

Why do I need to be a CNCF Project GitHub Org member to attend?

We welcome everyone to start contributing to a project, but with 7,500+ CNCF Project Org members and limited space, we’ve decided to limit attendance to those who are already actively engaged a project.

I’m not listed as someone who could attend, but I contribute, what should I do?

We encourage you to continue to contribute and pursue your project’s path for becoming a GitHub Org member or climbing the contributor ladder to become a listed maintainer. Till then, there are plenty of other opportunities to get involved at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. Check out the schedule and get involved.

What is a sponsored attendee?

If you are a Maintainer, TAG Chair, Tech Lead, K8s SIG Lead, or WG Lead, and there is someone who is not yet a GH org member, you can sponsor them to attend the summit. If you are sponsoring an attendee, proactively contact ProjectsAtKubeCon@linuxfoundation.org with the individual’s name, company, and community participation details.
The sponsored attendee must indicate that they are a sponsored attendee during registration and share the name of the individual sponsoring them.
Sponsored attendees will be reviewed weekly, note not all sponsored attendees will be granted registration.

How will I know if I’m registered for Maintainer Summit?

After registering, your registration will be placed into a pending queue for review. Once a week, CNCF staff will validate that you meet the criteria to attend and will either approve or deny your registration. If you believe a mistake was made, please contact ProjectsAtKubeCon@linuxfoundation.org.

If I’m accepted as a Maintainer Summit speaker – do I also have to purchase registration for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon?

No, all CFP-submitted accepted maintainer summit speakers will receive an “All-Access” pass for CNCF-hosted co-located events and KubeCon + CloudNativeCon programming. (Note: This does not include proposals for Project Meetings)

I’m leading an unconference session at the summit. Do I need to purchase registration for KubeCon and CloudNativeCon?

Yes, due to the short time frame for planning unconference sessions, complimentary registration will not be provided.

Can I attend virtually?

Unfortunately, no, there is not an opportunity to attend virtually.

Do I need to register for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon to attend the summit?

Yes, to attend The Maintainer Summit, you must be registered for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon.

Is there maintainer support for attending?

Please apply for the Dan Kohn Maintainer Scholarship. Scholarship information is coming soon!

Will there be a registration option only to attend the Maintainer Summit and not KubeCon + CloudNativeCon?

No, there is NOT a single-day Maintainer Summit-only pass available.

CFP Process

Who can submit a talk for the Maintainer Summit?

Incubating & Graduated Project GitHub Org Members
CNCF TAG Leads & the CNCF TOC

I have an idea for a session but missed the CFP deadline:

Most of the Summit will be unconference-style, so you will have an opportunity to propose a session closer to the Summit itself.

Sponsorships

Why are sponsors needed for a Maintainer Summit?

Community partners ensure that the Maintainer Summits are financially sustainable. Sponsor support helps cover event hard costs and provides opportunities for sponsor companies to engage as a thought-leader in the community.

Who can we reach out to about sponsorship opportunities?

Please email sponsor@cncf.io.

Misc

Will the sessions be recorded? If so, where will they be posted?

All but the unconference sessions will be recorded. From previous experience, the more open & discussion-oriented unconference talks are, it is difficult to capture when recording. For those sessions, we encourage attendees to keep a shared notes doc and make those available after the event. For the sessions that are recorded, they should be posted within two weeks of the event.

I have a question! How do I contact the event staff?

Email us at ProjectsAtKubeCon@linuxfoundation.org or ask a question on the #maintainer-summit Slack channel.