due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a lightweight virtual conference would be held in 2021 instead. Miniconfs Since 2002, a key feature of the conference are the associated "miniconfs". These are half – 2 days streamed gatherings run before the main conference. They have their own programme, but are open for any conference attendee to participate in. The first event to have a miniconf was in 2002, with the Debian Miniconf, organised by James Bromberger. This was based upon the idea that DebConf 1 in Bordeaux was a "mini-conf" of the French Libre Software Meeting. The concept grew in 2004, with the Open-Source in Government (ossig) miniconf, EducationaLinux, Debian Miniconf and GNOME.conf.au. In 2010 the Arduino Miniconf was introduced by Jonathan Oxer, the author of Practical Arduino. Miniconfs have included those devoted to computer programming, education, security, multimedia, arduino and system administration. See also Open Source Developers' Conference References External links linux.conf.au Linux conferences Free-software conferences Recurring events established in 1999