For the past few years, contributing to the GNOME ecosystem, leading GNOME Nepal and Ubuntu Nepal, and organizing grassroots events has been central to my open-source journey. After presenting remotely at previous conferences, GUADEC 2026 in A Coruña, Spain, marked a massive milestone for me: stepping onto the GUADEC stage in person as an onsite speaker.
Here is my personal perspective on those unforgettable days in Spain alongside fellow contributors.
The Journey & Setting Foot in A Coruña
On July 14, Sailesh and I departed Kathmandu for Spain. Our long layover in Doha was made much more engaging when we crossed paths with Aryan. We finally landed in A Coruña on July 15, where we bumped into Petr Kovář right after getting off at the station next to the Airport. We boarded the bus toward our accommodation at Rialta near the Facultade de Informática (the conference venue), sharing stories about our respective journeys along the way.
That evening was the official pre-event dinner. The local atmosphere was welcoming. I reconnected with Kristi Progri, Anisa Kuci, and Deepesha Burse after three years. We haven’t met since GNOME Asia Summit 2023 in Kathmandu. I also reunited with Asmit Malwankar and met Maria Maj for the first time in person after working in the engagement ( fundraising ) team with her for some time.
Day 1: Delivering My Talk & Reconnecting with Mentors
Walking into the Facultade de Informática on July 16 as an onsite speaker felt surreal—a true culmination of years of dedicated work within the community. After grabbing my registration badge and custom handwritten card at the main entrance desk, I headed straight to the second hall to run pre-session checks on my equipment and slides. My session was the first one.
My talk was titled “Becoming a GNOME Ambassador: Growing Local GNOME Communities”.
-
The Session: Building on my experiences starting GNOME Nepal from scratch and leading events like UbuCon Asia 2025, I shared practical strategies for outreach, advocacy, and turning local enthusiasm into collective global impact.
-
Key Takeaway: I focused on actionable steps contributors can take to represent GNOME in their regional tech ecosystems and build sustainable local chapters.
[Grassroots Outreach] ➔ [Mentorship & Engagement] ➔ [Sustainable Local Community]
│
▼
[Global Open Source Impact]
Later that afternoon, I caught up with Federico Mena Quintero. The last time I saw him was at GNOME Asia 2023 in Kathmandu when I was leading the local organizing team. Meeting him years later as a fellow GUADEC speaker was a full-circle moment. I also reconnected with Felipe Borges, who had previously delivered GNOME Nepal’s very first virtual guest talk.
Day 2: Strategic Discussions & Exploring the Coast
The second day brought deeper conversations across booths and sessions. I spent time at the venue exchanging ideas with fellow contributors and the conference organizers, and caught up with Allan Day during a short session break.
Once the day’s tracks wrapped up, a group of us headed into the city center to explore A Coruña’s rich history, walking through the iconic Plaza de María Pita and visiting the Igrexa de San Xurxo.
Day 3: AGM, Local Chapter Growth & The Formal Dinner
On July 18, there were many constructive discussions and suggestions regarding local communities and future work with Maria. She also connected me with Guillame Bernard for the localization purpose of the Nepali language using the Damned Lies. Later, I chatted with Asman Malika about regional chapter logistics and expanding GNOME local communities in the African continent.
Key Conference Highlights:
-
Attendee Retention: Unlike many large tech conferences, nearly every attendee stayed engaged throughout the entire day, actively participating in Q&As and hallway tracks.
-
AGM: Attended the GNOME Foundation Annual General Meeting to hear updates on foundation initiatives, community health, and future roadmap planning.
-
Formal Dinner: The evening concluded with the conference formal dinner. The organizers treated us to fantastic local Spanish dishes and drinks, making it a wonderful space to relax outside of technical sessions.
Day 4 & Final Days: Contribution Metrics & Looking Ahead
On July 19, I spent considerable time discussing how to track non-technical contributions and technical contributions in the local communities with the fellow attendees and speakers at the conference. I had a productive conversation with Maria on how we can channel the local contributors into contributing to the main project. Also, the conversation was important because if local communities don’t integrate with the main project and the foundation, the sustainability of the local community is always fading.
We recognized that while code is essential, event management, translation, and community advocacy are equal drivers of project longevity.
Before leaving, we squeezed in the GNOME OS BoF (Birds of a Feather) and the GTK Local-First workshop, engaging in technical discussions right until the venue doors closed.
Closing Thoughts
Reflecting on the week while heading back to Kathmandu, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Going from organizing local meetups in Nepal to speaking on the GUADEC stage in Spain was an unforgettable milestone. I returned home with fresh ideas for GNOME Nepal, stronger global ties, and a renewed drive to keep growing local open-source communities across borders.
