Editor’s note: Jason Hibbets is a senior community architect at Red Hat.

RALEIGH — In its seventh year, All Things Open is preparing for more than 5,000 attendees. The conference will feature more than 250 talks from some of the top technologists and decision-makers discussing open source technology during three days of programming at the Raleigh Convention Center.

All Things Open is one of the more affordable tech conferences I attend each year. You can attend both paid days of the conference (October 14-15) for less than $300. This is due to the support of 125 companies and partners that will be exhibiting at the show. Save even more by using discount code TechWire20 to save an additional 20 percent off of ticket prices.

Red Hat’s Jason Hibbets.

Bringing these companies to the RTP region benefits the local economy in several ways. For attendees, it’s a huge opportunity to meet some of the top technology companies in the world to learn more about their projects and products or even find a new job. For the region, it’s a chance to showcase the strong Triangle tech scene, the talent pipeline from the college and county education systems, and the cultural amenities available in the area.

On Sunday, October 13, the conference will get started with special programming focused on the timely topic of inclusivity and diversity in open source. This one-day, stand-alone event is open to the public and had almost 500 attendees in 2018.

The conference is jam-packed with things to do from networking to attending sessions. Some of the highlights that attendees can look forward to include:

  • Keynotes from Jono Bacon (Jono Bacon Consulting), Erica Stanley (Salesloft), Chris Wright (Red Hat), Ashley McNamara (Microsoft), and many others.
  • Sessions from 80 female and non-binary/transgender speakers.
  • 10 book signing sessions including Brent Laster (SAS), Andy Hunt (Pragmatic Programmers), Brad Topol (IBM), Federico Lucifredi (Red Hat), and others.
  • Lightning talks sponsored by Opensource.com with 5-minutes talks about DevOps, Kubernetes, VistA, education, government, design, and more (Disclaimer: I plan, organize, and help run the lightning talks).
  • Internet of Technology demo night hosted by RIoT that is free and open to the public, but registration is required (Pro tip: this event is capped at 500 people and reached capacity last year).
  • Evening meet-ups featuring Hyperledger and Istio.

Find out more about All Things Open here where you can look at the complete schedule, see who is speaking, register for the conference, and more.