NCSA's relationship with the Bro Project goes back to its earliest days of development, but the first NSF grant was awarded in 2010. The grant helped establish a stable development cycle as well as providing funds for workshops and conferences. NCSA hosted the first Bro Workshop in 2011 and went on to coordinate and host many more events for the project, at NCSA and other venues. Earlier this year we handed off the role of coordinating Bro events, which has given us the opportunity to reflect on lessons learned from hosting numerous open source software conferences. 

We have assembled a fairly comprehensive list of tasks and insights into hosting an event. The full list can be found here, but highlights include tips for building the event page, a sample sponsorship prospectus, and what requirements should be considered when picking an event venue.