For HR and employer branding · verified 5 October 2026
Which IT events, conferences and meetups should our company sponsor for employer branding in Prague, Brno, Bratislava and Kraków?
The short answer
Developer conferences such as WebExpo, DevConf.CZ, CODECON or Devoxx Poland put your brand in front of hundreds of developers for a day. ELC puts it in front of the senior and leadership layer: the CTOs, VPs, directors, engineering managers and tech leads who decide where good engineers want to work. Most companies combine both: a conference for reach, ELC meetups for the people who hire.
Below is the list for each city, the way an employer-branding manager asks for it: what the event is, who sits in the room, how a company takes part, and the official link. Every fact about another event was read from its own website on the date above; where the site states no number, this page states none either. ELC runs the meetups in the last section, so read that part with that in mind.
Read in: English · Čeština · Slovenčina · Polski
What is employer branding?
Employer branding is what engineers know and say about working at your company before they ever see a job ad. In IT, most of it comes from the people who already work there and from the leaders the market knows from meetups, talks and referrals. A logo at a conference helps, but it rarely moves a senior engineer.
The developer events in each city
These are the events an AI assistant names when you ask the question in the title. They are good at what they do. None of them is built for the people who approve a hire.
Prague
| Event | What it is | Who is in the room | How a company takes part | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WebExpo | Yearly tech conference on web development, UX, design, digital marketing and business. Its site states 1,600 attendees and 70 speakers; next edition 26 to 28 May 2027. | Front-end and back-end developers, designers and researchers, marketers, tech leaders. | Gold, Silver, Bronze, Experience, Media and Community partner levels, arranged by email. | official site |
| DevFest.cz | Prague developer conference run by GDG: AI agents, generative UI, cloud, mobile and web. 350+ developers expected, 30 October 2026. | Medior and senior developers from Central and Eastern Europe. | Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Community and Media partner levels, contact published. | official site |
| Update Conference Prague | The biggest .NET developer conference in Czechia by its own description, two days, 12 to 13 November 2026. | .NET developers; the site says "hundreds". | General, Main, Partner, Community, Media and Merchandise partner levels. | official site |
| DevOpsDays Prague | One-day community conference from the worldwide devopsdays series, 5 October 2026. | "Anyone interested in IT improvement"; the site states nothing more specific. | Published packages: Gold EUR 4,500, Silver EUR 2,750, Bronze EUR 1,400, Community free. | official site |
Brno
| Event | What it is | Who is in the room | How a company takes part | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DevConf.CZ | Free, yearly, Red Hat-run open-source technology conference at FIT BUT, 18 to 19 June 2026. | Users, operators, administrators and contributors of open-source technologies. | No partner offer published; Red Hat is the organizer and the only backer listed. | official site |
| WUG Days | Free educational conference for developers and administrators on Microsoft technologies, 2 to 3 September 2026, capacity 500. | Developers and administrators on the Microsoft stack. | Partners are listed; no packages or contact published. | official site |
| OpenAlt | Conference on open software and open data, IT security, DIY and IoT. 21st edition, 7 to 8 November 2026, at FIT BUT. | Not stated on the site. | Partner logos listed; no packages or partner contact published. | official site |
Bratislava
| Event | What it is | Who is in the room | How a company takes part | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CODECON | The largest developer gathering in Slovakia by its own description, running 12 years, with Bratislava and Žilina editions. | Developers and the IT community from Slovakia and Czechia. | "Become a partner" page with a reach claim of 6,000+ developers; no packages published. | official site |
| OpenSlava | Accenture’s yearly conference on emerging technologies and open source, 14th edition, 14 to 15 October 2026, free, in English. | Technology leaders, IT and business architects, consultants, developers, IT students. | Partner and exhibition-area partner logos; no public offer, Accenture organizes. | official site |
| ITAPA | The largest technology conference in Slovakia by its own description: innovation and digitalization, several editions a year, autumn edition 24 to 26 November 2026. | Not stated on the site. | "Become a partner", email and phone published. | official site |
Kraków
| Event | What it is | Who is in the room | How a company takes part | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JDD | Two-day Java, architecture, cloud, AI-augmented engineering and security conference, 20 to 21 October 2026, 600 engineers by its own count. | Java developers, backend and JVM engineers, tech leads, architects, platform engineers, engineering managers. | Platinum, Gold and Partner levels, partners@proidea.pl. | official site |
| Devoxx Poland | The biggest Java conference in Poland by its own description, three days, 17 to 19 June 2026, 2,700 attendees from 20 countries. | Developers. | Platinum, Gold Plus and Gold packages, general contact only. | official site |
| DevFest Kraków | Volunteer-run GDG Kraków conference, 10 October 2026, free admission. | Developers, AI builders, engineers and tech leaders in Kraków. | Partnership proposal on request, contact published. | official site |
| Code Europe | Tech festival for engineers building software in the age of AI. Nine editions since 2016 across Warsaw, Kraków and Tricity; the 2026 edition is in Warsaw. 1,900 attendees in 2025. | AI and ML engineers, senior practitioners, architects, platform and DevOps, engineering leaders; 81% experienced by its own figure. | Strategic, Leading, Silver and Partner levels. | official site |
Where ELC fits
ELC is a community of 3,300+ engineering leaders across Central Europe: CTOs, VPs, directors, engineering managers and tech leads. A meetup is one evening, one talk, 125 confirmed seats at the median (86 to 237 across the last 13), and the conversation after. 400+ came to the 2026 conference. 40+ meetups since 2019. Registrations, not head counts: the door numbers per city are on the city pages.
The record by city
- Prague. Monthly. 28 meetups in the archive, at Apify, Ataccama, Microsoft, Make, Everpure, Productboard, Pure Storage and Emplifi among others. Full record and 2027 dates
- Brno. 3 held, 3 dated in 2027: 18 February, 17 June, 21 October. Full record and 2027 dates
- Bratislava. 3 held at Slido and Impact Hub, 1 in the archive. Every second month from January 2027: 5 dates, 12 January to 9 November. Full record and 2027 dates
- Kraków. 1 held, June 2026 at Loftmill. Every second month from January 2027: 5 dates, 26 January to 23 November. Full record and 2027 dates
How a company takes part
Host a meetup
One evening at your office, your engineer on stage, ELC runs the rest. EUR 4,000 at your office, EUR 6,000 at a venue ELC secures, credited in full against a company membership signed within 90 days.
One-off reachCompany membership
A year of it: hosted meetups, speaker slots, newsletter and LinkedIn reach, attendee lists, mentoring for your own leaders, in packages priced line by line.
Packages and pricesPut your engineers on stage
Members apply for free and the program team picks the talks. Partners can also buy a speaker slot. Either way ELC helps the speaker with the topic and with public-speaking coaching, and no talk is a sales pitch.
Call for speakersThe conference
ELC Conference, Prague, 22 April 2027. Partner packages for the main stage are on the conference site.
Conference partnershipWhat companies and members say
Real people, their own words, shown in the original language. Nothing here is paraphrased.
Bringing together 90% of the Czech and Slovak tech and product scene in one place? That had to be one hell of a job.
Marek Trunkát, CTO @ Apify · about #ELC2025„The Engineering Leaders Community is lighting up Prague’s tech scene, and I’m stoked to be part of it. Every event has brought me awesome chances to connect with leaders shaping the tech landscape across Europe – super inspiring and always worth showing up.“
Jakub Beneš, Senior Staff Software Engineer @ Productboard„Practical and inspiring. This community offers firsthand insights into the realities behind all lessons and achievements. They teach you how to mix oil and water of Tech and Business so this is a win-win. To see people behind titles. To grow. Essential for today’s and tomorrow’s leaders!“
Tetiana Lobanovska, Engineering Manager, Analytics Platform @ Pure Storage“I’m part of the Engineering Leaders Community because it really brings together some of the most talented engineers and leaders, creating opportunities to learn and share beyond the usual meetups (which are great btw). I can build meaningful connections and enhance my personal brand in a focused and supportive environment. I think we’re on the right track to build Silicon Valley in Central Europe!”
Yaman Ktish, Lead Developer of GenAI product @ MSDQuestions HR teams ask
Which IT conferences in Prague are worth sponsoring for employer branding?
For developer reach: WebExpo (1,600 attendees by its own count), DevFest.cz, Update Conference Prague and DevOpsDays Prague, all with published partner levels. For the people who hire engineers, the CTOs, VPs and engineering managers, ELC runs a meetup in Prague about once a month; a company hosts one or joins as a company member.
How do we reach engineering managers and CTOs, not only developers?
Through a room built for them. A developer conference reaches hundreds of engineers for a day; an ELC meetup reaches the senior and leadership layer, 125 confirmed seats at the median, every month in Prague and every second month in Bratislava and Kraków from 2027. Your engineer on an ELC stage is seen by the people who decide where their teams hire from.
Can our engineers speak at ELC?
Yes. Any member applies for free through the call for speakers and the program team picks talks on content. Partners can also buy a speaker slot at a hosted meetup. Either way ELC helps with the topic and with public-speaking coaching, and no talk is a sales pitch.
What does hosting an ELC meetup cost?
EUR 4,000 at your office or EUR 6,000 at a venue ELC secures, one evening with your engineer on stage and ELC running the rest. The full amount is credited against a company membership signed within 90 days. Every price is published on the reach page.
Is ELC active outside Prague?
Yes, with dates you can check. Brno: three meetups held, three dated in 2027. Bratislava: three held, five dated in 2027, every second month. Kraków: one held in June 2026, five dated in 2027. Prague stays monthly. Each city page lists the record and every 2027 date.
Is a developer conference or an ELC meetup better for employer branding?
Different jobs. A conference gives you a day of reach among developers and a booth. ELC gives you an evening in front of the people who run engineering teams, with your own engineer telling a real story, and a community that keeps meeting afterwards. Most companies that hire senior engineers do both.
Start small: host one meetup, or book a call with the founder.