I recently attended OpenSouthCode 2025 (and the co-located UbuCon EU) in Málaga (June 20-21), and here’s a quick report.
Impressive venue
The conference was held in a unique venue: an old university(?) that has been transformed into a cultural center (La Térmica). The blend of interesting architecture and modern facilities made it a nice place to hang out but also well-suited to hosting a large event. But what I liked the most were the colorful tiles in the hallways 
Canonical docs
The Canonical docs team had a sizeable presence in Málaga: @angel-fernandez, @avgomes, @degville, and myself. We all had multiple engagements (presentations, workshops) scheduled, which kept us busy throughout the event.
Presenting the Open Documentation Academy
One of my highlights was the opportunity to present about the Open Documentation Academy project. The audience was engaged and receptive, and I received good feedback that will help us improve the project. Aside from the fact that I somehow managed to forget to plug the docs workshop we had scheduled for the same afternoon, I think it went well.
I also met up with several people after the talk to answer questions about the Academy, so I’m pleased to report the hallway track worked as expected (Though I can’t decide if they really wanted to talk shop, or just wanted to make fun of my Oranje Legioen Canonical outfit.)
Documentation workshop
We also hosted a documentation workshop focused on the Academy: the premise being to have the whole contributor journey (from picking up an issue to successfully completing one’s first open-source contribution) compressed into two hours.
Unfortunately, it suffered from track overlap, which limited attendance numbers (three people actually sought me out to complain/apologize about not having made it to the workshop because there were other overlapping sessions). Despite the smaller group, the two attendees who joined us completed their first documentation contributions with Graham’s guidance.
On top of that, @jugmac00 expertly guided another first-time contributor through the whole thing during an impromptu Launchpad-docs-contributing session in the hallway. Thanks!
(Btw, I believe the other workshops with Technical Author presence - LXD and Snaps - fared much better, but others should speak to that.)
Hallway booths
The hallway was (somewhat to my skeptical self’s surprise) filled with interesting booths showcasing a number of rather cool projects. Thus I finally got my hands on a Slimbook in real life. Nice machines. Aside from that, my KDE-loving heart melted at the sight of knitted Konquis at the KDE booth (no photo :/).
Smooth organization
The organization of the event (from Canonical perspective) by the Community team looked as if they’ve done this before or something – as a result of which, there was pretty much constant traffic at the orange-decked booth.
I wish the event spanned the whole two days (it finished at two in the afternoon on Saturday), so that there would be fewer overlapping tracks (given the size of the presentation rooms would definitely allow for that). I missed a couple of sessions I was interested in because of that (in addition to my gripe about the docs workshop scheduling).
Kids at an IT/OSS event?
Yeah, well, why shouldn’t they be there? Except I’ve never before been to a conference that would have a special Saturday track for kids. Child care? Yes. A playground? Pretty common. But a dedicated treasure hunt-like all-morning event? Pretty cool.
I feel I need to make this account of events sound more serious, so in corporate-speak, I’d say: “The venue’s character was enhanced by the lively presence of children on Saturday, thanks to the kids’ program. The energy and enthusiasm they brought to the conference were infectious, making the event feel even more vibrant and community-oriented.”
Outside of work
On both Friday and Saturday, most of us TAs met in the evening for food and chat. On Friday, Angel, together with Andreia’s partner, expertly selected a mountain of tapas for Graham, my friends, and myself. The earnestness with which they applied themselves to the task was humbling and entertaining at the same time 
On Saturday, Andreia, Graham, and I (plus a bunch of other attendees and Oranjes) joined the event’s organizers in what they termed ‘tardeo’ – drinks and chat before, well, dinner and more chat. It was a lovely evening on both occasions.
