GoatConf 2027

A free conference for people who build and sell software. Engineers, designers, product people, founders, and the incurably curious dreamers and visionaries. Any programming language, any stack.

An excuse to hang out with like-minded people and learn from folks sharing their current best. In Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3–5 June 2027.

Two days of one-hour sessions in every room, with a full hour off after each. Then a day at the lakes. The people who come add the rest.

Propose a talk Propose an event See the program

What is decided

1FreeFree to attend. Registration is required, and the organiser approves each one.

Freedom Square in Tuzla in summer, the mosque's minaret above the colourful houses — Tuzla

33–5 June2027, Thursday to Saturday.

A talk in IPI Academy's lecture hall, students' faces blurred — IPI Academy

5Tech stack agnosticAny programming language, any stack, for anyone who builds or sells software.

6Your talkThe call for proposals is open. Propose a session.Yours?

Three days in June

7Thursday 3rd June10:00 to 17:00Four one-hour slots in every room, an hour off after each. Welcome at 09:45.
8Friday 4th June09:30 to 16:30Four slots, starting half an hour earlier than Thursday. Welcome at 09:15.
9Saturday 5th JuneThe community's dayA day at the lakes and the goat hunt, planned by the organiser, plus walks and meetups people add.

See the program, room by room

Who's organising

GoatConf is organised by Muhamed Isabegović, who founded and organised EuRuKo 2024, the first Ruby conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and RubyConf Austria. GoatConf itself is not about Ruby or any one stack.

IPI Academy in Tuzla is the host and partner, and gives GoatConf its rooms. The first edition expects 120 to 300 people.

More about the organiser Write to the organiser

120 to 300people expected
7rooms at IPI Academy, all at once
2conferences organised before
62speakers hosted at EuRuKo 2024 and RubyConf Austria

Conferences run before

EuRuKo 2024 Sarajevo, 11 to 13 September 2024
The first Ruby conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Speakers included Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, José Valim, Dave Thomas, Xavier Noria, Koichi Sasada, Jean Boussier and Obie Fernandez.
2024.euruko.org
RubyConf Austria 2026 Vienna, 29 and 30 May 2026
Two days at Haus der Musik and Das MuTh. Speakers included Chad Fowler, Dave Thomas, Obie Fernandez, Charles Oliver Nutter, Bozhidar Batsov and Andrzej Krzywda, with José Valim and Armin Ronacher on a panel.
rubyconf.at

Dave Thomas on stage in a blue shirt, his name on the slide behind him — Dave Thomas, closing keynote

Five people seated in a row on a dark stage, laughing, for the evening panel — Panel on AI, agents and Ruby

Chad Fowler at the lectern under a slide about being trusted by Ruby — Chad Fowler, opening keynote

A musician bowing beside a grand piano on the stage — Music on stage

These were past conferences, not GoatConf's program. Photos from RubyConf Austria 2026 by Alessandro Bruckheimer.

Who is speaking

The people giving the talks, panels and workshops so far. More are added as proposals are accepted.

Meet the speakers

Give a talk

The call is open, with no strict deadline. First-time speakers are welcome, from any field: engineering, design, product, founding a company.

Sessions are picked for their quality, never for who is paying.

How to propose a talk

Send your idea through the short form.
The organiser reads your session first, your name after.
You hear back, whatever the answer, with no fixed reply time.
Your session goes on the program.

22Your talkPropose a session. The form takes about fifteen minutes.Yours?

Tuzla, the host town

The talks are in English, at IPI Academy, Kulina bana 2, in the centre of Tuzla. Coffee and lunch are in the cafés on Freedom Square, under five minutes' walk away. The old town, the Korzo and the lakes are all a short walk from there.

Tuzla is named for salt: tuz is Turkish for salt. People have made salt here since the Neolithic, and next to the lakes a park rebuilds the village they lived in on stilts, thousands of years ago.

The goat on GoatConf's seal is Tuzla's too. The story goes that when goats were banned, one family hid a goat, and it fed the whole city with its milk and cheese. The goat is still a city symbol.

The Pannonian Lakes are three salt lakes in the middle of town, with salt waterfalls and a beach. The season opens on 1 June, and many people go around 17:00 or 18:00, so the lakes fit after each day's talks. A small train runs there from Freedom Square.

Tuzla International Airport is about 13 km from town, with Wizz Air flights from across Europe. From Sarajevo, the bus takes about three hours.

Getting here, staying and money

What things cost in town

A simple meal4.60 €
A cappuccino1.66 €
A lake ticket, weekdays3.60 €
A lake ticket, weekends4.60 €

Meal and cappuccino: Numbeo, 2 October 2026. Lake tickets: adults, summer 2026.

The fountain on Freedom Square on a summer day, café umbrellas behind it — Freedom Square

The Pannonian salt lakes from the air in summer, crowded with swimmers — The salt lakes

The Korzo with its street clock, café umbrellas and people walking — The Korzo

The old town from above, tiled roofs and a mosaic-paved street — The old town

Tuzla from the air in summer, the salt lakes in the middle of town and green hills all around — Tuzla from above

Reconstructed Neolithic pile dwellings with thatched roofs in a green park — The Neolithic village

Eat and drink, with or without meat

Bosnian food is meat-heavy, and it is good. There is plenty without meat too: most of the dishes below have none. The organiser pays for no food or drink: you buy your own, or a supporter treats everyone at a café.

The travel page maps places near IPI with vegetarian dishes on their menus: pizzerias, one that also sells krompiruša and zeljanica, and a Bosnian restaurant with a vegetarian platter. None is fully vegetarian or vegan, so ask each place.

Ask for posno: it means made without meat, and often without eggs or dairy too, so check if you are vegan.

An oval dish of brown bean stew with strips of smoked meat, red chilli and parsley, on a red cloth — Grah, bean stew

Two pale green peppers cut open to show a meat and rice filling, in tomato sauce with parsley — Punjene paprike

A steaming dark clay bowl of golden begova čorba with a slice of lemon, at Aljina kafana in Tuzla — Begova čorba

A round spiral pie in an enamel pan, golden and flecked with spinach — Zeljanica

A round golden cheese pie with a slice cut out, on a wooden board over a red woven rug, with yoghurt — Sirnica

A close slice of flaky pita with a soft potato filling — Krompiruša

A coil of burek cut open on a wooden board, the minced meat filling showing — Burek

Ćevapi under a grilled lepinja with grill stripes, topped with sliced onion — Tuzlanski ćevapi

A clay bowl of cabbage rolls with carrots, beside an embroidered cloth and a spoon of sour cream — Sarma

Coffee being poured from a copper džezva into a small cup on an engraved tray — Bosnian coffee

Three poached apples topped with whipped cream and crushed walnuts on a copper tray, with mint — Tufahija

Rows of ridged hurmašice cakes glistening with syrup, close up — Hurmašice

Prices are what a portion costs in Tuzla, from menus on the Korpa.ba delivery app and Bosnian news reports, checked on 13 October 2026. Coffee prices are from Sarajevo.

Propose an event

Anyone can propose an event, like a meetup, a hackathon or a dinner. You run it and pay for it. If the organiser accepts it, it becomes part of GoatConf 2027 and is shared with everyone who comes. It follows the charter and the code of conduct.

41Evening eventYours?
42Community tripYours?
43MeetupYours?
44Live podcastYours?
45HikeYours?
46HackathonYours?
47KaraokeYours?
48Something else?Yours?

Propose yours See what people have added

Support GoatConf

GoatConf is free to attend. Companies help keep it that way by supporting it online: a logo and link on the site, one social post and a mention in the emails to everyone registered. The money pays the event's costs. Supporters never buy talks, stage time or the attendee list.

How to support

500 €one level, the same for everyone
Onlineno booth, nothing at the venue

Who makes it possible

The supporters

Why a goat

When Austria-Hungary ruled Tuzla, it ordered every goat gone. One man hid his. Word got around, and soon the whole town was buying milk and cheese from that one goat.

The whole of Tuzla milked one goat.A saying people in Bosnia and Herzegovina still use.

That goat is GoatConf's mark: the one that feeds the community. It first appeared as the mascot of EuRuKo 2024, the first Ruby conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina. GoatConf itself is not about Ruby or any one stack.

Saturday has a slot for a goat hunt through town: clues, teams of people who just met, and the goat statue at the end. Whoever runs it gets the slot.

How we treat each other

GoatConf uses RubyConf Austria's code of conduct. For now the code of conduct team is the organiser, Muhamed Isabegović.

Talk to the organiser at the event, or use the contact form, which the organiser reads. Reports are confidential.

Read the code of conduct Report through the contact form

The Kapija on the Korzo: a pale green corner building in the old town