As of November 5, 2025, the following CNCF event CFPs, deadlines, and contribution opportunities are current. For authoritative updates, refer to the Linux Foundation Events Calendar and CNCF Contribute Resources.

Upcoming CFP Deadlines and Event Dates#

Event Dates:

• KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2025: November 10–13, 2025, Atlanta, Georgia (source)
• Maintainer Summit (exclusive): November 9, 2025, Atlanta (source)
• Project Lightning Talks: November 10, 2025
• Maintainer Track & Contribfest: November 11–13, 2025
• Project Pavilion Kiosks: November 11–13, 2025 (no virtual booths)
• KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026: March 23–26, 2026, Amsterdam (source)
• CNCF Maintainer Summit Europe 2026: March 22, 2026, Amsterdam (source)

Co-Located Events at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon#

CNCF hosts multiple co-located events alongside KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. Accepted co-located event speakers receive a complimentary All-Access In-Person ticket for all CNCF-hosted co-located events and the main conference (source). Speakers are limited to two proposals per co-located event and ten total across all co-located events.

Examples of co-located events for Europe 2026 include Agentics Day, ArgoCon, BackstageCon, CiliumCon, Cloud Native AI + Kubeflow Day, Cloud Native Telco Day, FluxCon, KeycloakCon, Kubernetes on Edge Day, KyvernoCon, Observability Day, Open Source SecurityCon, OpenTofu Day, Platform Engineering Day, and WasmCon (source).

CFP Submission Guidelines#

CFP submissions for CNCF events use Sessionize (source). Submitters should:

• Write a clear, inclusive session title and description.
• Emphasize the problem, contribution, and relevance.
• Indicate if the submission is a case study.
• List all CNCF-hosted graduated, incubating, or sandbox projects featured.
• Provide a video or audio recording of a previous talk if available.
• Adhere to the Linux Foundation’s Inclusive Language Initiative and CNCF Code of Conduct.

Poster sessions are available for showcasing research and innovative ideas in a digital format with attendee interaction (source).

For CFP questions, contact cfp@cncf.io; for co-located event CFPs, contact cncfcolocatedevents@linuxfoundation.org; for project opportunities, contact ProjectsAtKubeCon@linuxfoundation.org.

Contribution and Mentorship Opportunities#

CNCF supports ongoing participation in LFX Mentorship, Google Summer of Code, and Outreachy. Application timelines and program details are maintained in the CNCF mentoring repository and on the CNCF Contribute site.

For the 2025 LFX Mentorship program, project proposals open January 8–February 4, mentee applications are accepted February 5–18, and the program begins March 3 (source). Projects involved include Harbor, Jaeger, Kubescape, KubeEdge, Kubernetes, Meshery, TAG Network, Vitess, TUF, Thanos, and more (source).

CNCF projects are actively seeking contributors. Use CLOTributor to find beginner-friendly issues, and explore all CNCF projects by maturity level on the CNCF Landscape.

Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs), Working Groups (WGs), Cloud Native Community Groups, and the Cloud Native Ambassadors program provide additional avenues for involvement. Details are available on the CNCF Contribute site.

The CNCF End User program offers benefits such as discounted training and conference costs, and there is an End User Contributor Program to earn access, influence, and recognition (source).

Reference Links#

Linux Foundation Events Calendar
CNCF Contribute Resources
CNCF Landscape
CLOTributor
CNCF mentoring repository

Sources: KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2025, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026, Project Opportunities, Co-located Events CFP, Observability Summit CFP, CNCF Blog, CNCF Blog, CNCF End User Program)