GraphQL Day manifesto

GraphQL Day is a series of community events, organized by the community, under the auspices of the GraphQL Foundation.

The GraphQL Foundation does not run GraphQL Day but provides help and support in the shape of mentorship, reimbursement for expenses and promotion.

GraphQL Day events typically happen as part of larger events, such as FOST. Sharing the venue makes it possible to reach a larger audience and work with other communities to increase the network effect.

GraphQL Day events typically consist of half a day of GraphQL content and a GraphQL booth.

What we stand for

GraphQL first. The events exist to grow the GraphQL ecosystem — by educating developers, solving real problems together, and accelerating adoption of a technology we believe in.
Participation in GraphQL can help your business but business development is a side product of helping the technology. GraphQL Day is “GraphQL first, business second”.
Note that GraphQL Day is not “GraphQL first, business never”. GraphQL needs funding to be sustainable and we hope GraphQL Day helps more people work on improving the language and the technology.
When in doubt, ask yourself: does this serve the technology and the people building with it? That question is our compass.

Vendor neutrality. GraphQL Day events are vendor neutral and non-profit. Mentioning commercial solutions can be useful to showcase GraphQL features, but no vendor should dominate the discussion. Focus on the features, not the product.
Vendors are encouraged to promote their solutions by sponsoring the host event and have their own space and booth.

Collective governance. Decisions are made by the GraphQL Day team. The GraphQL Day team is a group of GraphQL enthusiasts that meet regularly online or in person. Anyone who wants to help shape the event and is a GraphQL enthusiast is welcome to join the team. Decisions are made collectively and transparently. The current GraphQL Day team is visible at https://graphql.org/community/team/. Discussions can be joined on Discord, channel #graphqlday.

Radiate intent. While we are strong believers in alignment and shared governance, we also acknowledge the need to move fast and reduce friction.
We believe it’s possible to have both shared ownership and fast execution by radiating intent. By making your intention clear you allow others to give feedback and/or help without needing to wait for formal consensus. If you have feedback to give, give it promptly.

Have Fun. The best communities are the ones people actually want to be part of. Bring energy, bring curiosity, bring your whole self. A great GraphQL Day should leave people inspired, and already looking forward to the next one.

Etiquette

What we stand for defines what GraphQL Day is. The reality of organizing events is complex and our core values may sometimes be hard to translate operationally. The etiquette provides concrete examples of how to exemplify what we stand for.

This is etiquette, not policing. The etiquette is not set in stone and we expect it to be updated as we answer more questions on the field.

By joining the GraphQL Day team, you agree to observing the following:

Be visibly part of the ecosystem, not exclusive to it

Show what the technology can do. Show the concept. Demos are compelling and genuinely convert people to GraphQL; but frame them around GraphQL as the enabler, not as something exclusive to one product.

It is fine to tell people which company you work for and that you collaborate with the others. Do not talk only about your own company, and never speak ill of another.

✅ "This isn't the only software in the ecosystem that does this, it's just the one I'm most familiar with."

🚫 "Our product is X% faster than [VendorB] product.”

No active selling

The booth is a place for collaboration, not competition. Vendors are encouraged to have their own booth and discuss their products outside the GraphQL booth.

✅ Answering a question, even if it touches your product.

🚫 "Let me show you a demo of [Product]" delivered as a sales pitch.

Point people to the best fit, whoever makes it

Answering someone's question is the job, even if the best answer is not yours.

✅ “I don’t know about [feature] but [person] knows”

🚫 “I don’t know about [feature] but let me show you what I do”

Communication
We encourage everyone (volunteers, attendees, speakers and vendors alike) to share and promote the event to help us reach a wider audience.
As a general rule, frame the communication around excitement for the technology and/or helping the community and the ecosystem.

Care should be taken to ensure GraphQL Day is promoted as an event organized by the community.

Vendors are welcome to communicate around the help and support they provide for the event. But that help doesn’t grant any specific organizer status or decision making rights.

The reward for helping with GraphQL Day is in the connections being made, the opportunity to showcase GraphQL expertise, the fun and the learning opportunities.

✅ “GraphQL Day is coming to [Location] on [Date], and [Vendor] is proud to have [Team member] as one of the organizers!”

🚫 “GraphQL Day is coming to [Location] on [Date], and [Vendor] is proud to be one of the organizers!”

✅ “GraphQL Day is coming to [Location] on [Date], and [Vendor] is proud to help!”

🚫 “[Vendor] is bringing GraphQL Day to [Location] on [Date]!”

✅ Reposting/sharing the GraphQL foundation posts.

🚫 Paying ad money to redirect to [Vendor] properties instead of the GraphQL Foundation resources.

Marketing material

No vendor signage on the community booth. This respects the host event's paying sponsors. Stickers from across the ecosystem are accepted as they show the diversity of the GraphQL ecosystem.

✅ Stickers, especially fun stickers.

🚫"[Vendor] workshop tonight" or "[Vendor] dinner/happy-hour" signs.

Attire

At the booth, we encourage you to wear GraphQL attire. The pink GraphQL t-shirt makes the technology stand out and make it clear that GraphQL is the main focus of the booth; the ambassador hoodies and GraphQLConf t-shirts are also good options.

Please refrain from wearing the pink GraphQL t-shirt on other booths as that makes the GraphQL booth less identifiable.

On stage and walking around the conference, wear what makes you most comfortable. Representing your employer is fine, especially if they supported your speaking/travel.

Getting help

For any questions about this document or GraphQL Day, ask in the GraphQL Discord, channel #graphqlday