JSON Schema <> APIdays 2026: How do we show up

[Honyii]

Hello TSC's, this a new year and I'm planning on having a clear direction on the events we will be part so JSON Schema can be more visible. For now, and building on the partnership with APIdays, it is important we decide on the APIdays event we will be at.

Kindly have a look at the APidays events list for the year

Here are the ones we were present at last year;

• Apidays Munich
• Apidays India
• Apidays Lagos
• Apidays Paris (we had a dedicated session)

For 2026

Discussion:

• Where do we want to be represented at?
• Do we want to extend the previous list
• Do we want to have more dedicated session asides APIdays Paris, and if yes, what/which location(s)
• How do we get fundings for this events
• How much funds should we put out for each event

[Julian]

Do we know how much the Paris one cost us last year, I'm sure that'd help decide how many we can afford.

I was at API Days NY last year, just not obviously representing us as we didn't have a booth at the time -- I can probably make it again this year, probably a bit more organized :) (and possibly can make one or two of the others myself).

[AgniveshChaubey]

If we decide to be present at APIDays India, I'd be happy to represent JSON Schema again!

[jdesrosiers]

I agree with Julian. I've been meaning to ask about getting financial report for the last conference. Hopefully, we at least broke even with sponsors and such. But for other events, I don't think we have sponsors, right? I think we need to figure out how much these things cost us and make a conference budget. Then we can do as many of these as we can as long as it's within budget.

[jviotti]

I think it's also a chicken and egg problem: we don't have sponsors because we don't promote a heavy JSON Schema presence like in the Paris one.

Also, for the sake of the discussion on conferences, etc I'm actually considering spending time (and even more) on conferences that are further away from the API echo chamber. Of course they are great, and people there get what we are building, but I think the return of investment can be disproportionally larger when addressing certain groups that might be ignoring some of this but would really appreciate it. Stuff like https://www.govtechsummit.eu or https://2026.dddeurope.com.

I feel we are evangelising a lot on a certain type of audience pre-filtered to join something like API Days (which is not bad of course), whereas the other groups seem to be the one most likely to be like "oh this is amazing let's talk more". Maybe some of this is due to my Sourcemeta current enterprise bias, but it's something I want to experiment more with. I've been getting superb reception to JSON Schema and my work from people in those circles, more than in the direct API space.

[Honyii]

@Julian last year's cost are roughly as follows;

• creative designer(photos and videos)- $1500 but we will be using APIdays event tech going forward because we were not finally allowed to use our hire.
• Roll up banner -$185.08
• Cheatsheet printing - $48.73
• Merch bags - $609.23
• Tshirts - $414.44

Total: $2757.48

Representative expense;

• Meals - $193.66
• Uber - $190.80
• Hotel - $803.22

Total: 1189.68

Then we have a $500 stipend for speakers without sponsorship (but i am believing this stipend is for only the Paris conference).

The opencollective links: https://opencollective.com/json-schema/expenses?searchTerm=ben&direction=RECEIVED

https://opencollective.com/json-schema/events/the-json-schema-conference-2025-f7f367ce/expenses

[Honyii]

@jviotti I agree with you about exploring other spaces that can be JSON Schema aligned - I plan to open a community discussion by end of month for "what other conferences can we partner with" and with a budget of zero if possible. We are benefiting from APIdays because we are not paying for the space so if we can get other partnerships too, it will go a long way.

[Honyii]

I am planning on a conference partnership content from next month - basically asking community members to share conferences they have been part of AND have a way to sync with the organizers. So it's not only mentioning the events we can be part of/benefit from but also a direct contact on how to reach out to the team.
Another thought is that we do not have enough money to make events sponsorships so our future partnerships may involve the ones with zero funding expenses - this will also make our options smaller.

[Honyii]

In the meantime, let us finalize if we are participating at APIdays events and if yes;

• Are we going to have more dedicated tracks this year? We only have this for the Paris conference.
• Are we participating at more locations? or we stick to the ones we had last year? For context, we did Munich, India, Lagos and India.

[Relequestual]

@Honyii did you want to create a Project to track the conferecne suggestions and associated data? (Can be in the community repo if you prefer).

I think what we need is to pick a few conferences and estimate the costs. Then we can put that information together and work out possible sponsorship.

Given different locations have different costs, we should try to estimate costs from different regions.

We need to start asking for sponsorship way earlier this year than we did last year.
I'm happy to sort out merch as best I can. I know @jviotti said he might have some ideas on where to get cheaper merch. I also think we can ask for much more in terms of sponsorship, but we should have a clear package defined to do that.

[jviotti]

I also think we can ask for much more in terms of sponsorship, but we should have a clear package defined to do that.

Potentially, but I second that it needs to be better defined. I don't think it was great last time. All sponsors, independently of the categories, got pretty much the same: some small mentions during the track and logos on the bag (without different sizes, etc), the conference website was never updated to show the sponsors, etc.

IMHO, if we want to ask for the same or more, we need to give more somehow. Things like proper big banners during the talks. Showing the logos in recorded videos (if we manage to do it this time around), etc. Maybe we can take inspiration from what other projects do, see what we could realistically do ourselves, and then think how much sponsorship we can ask in return for that?

[jdesrosiers]

I think what we need is to pick a few conferences and estimate the costs.

I think this is key. We can start with conferences we've already been to.

[Honyii]

@jviotti We added all platinum sponsors to the website repo as a bronze sponsor for one year for free, in addition to highlighting sponsors in the conference repo (this is for all sponsors).

All sponsors, independently of the categories, got pretty much the same: some small mentions during the track and logos on the bag

And absolutely, we need to define the sponsorships better this time around.

Also can someone grant me the access that could make me change the project I created (for palnning) to be visible - right now I am not able to do so. @Relequestual , @jdesrosiers

@Honyii did you want to create a Project to track the conferecne suggestions and associated data? (Can be in the community repo if you prefer).