We’ve gamified your Devoxx experience (for attendees who are into this) by experimenting with interactive features like QR code hunting. This work-in-progress might include some undocumented features as we build the foundation for exciting new additions to our Devoxx Companion web app.
We have different kind of awards :
You can earn points by rating talks, which will hopefully result in more talk ratings and better feedback for speakers. The more you rate talks, the more points you collect, which impacts your position on the leaderboard (when you’ve enabled leaderboard listing).
The new Devoxx Companion app allows you to give private feedback to speakers about their talks. We’ve gamified this feature because speaker feedback is invaluable for improving their presentations and speaking skills. We also enable public discussions related to each talk. All free-text feedback is reviewed by a language model to ensure it respects our code of conduct.
Favouriting talks ❤️ before the event allows us to move popular sessions to bigger rooms and less popular ones to smaller venues. This helps organizers with logistics and improves your experience as an attendee, since proper crowd control and room capacity are crucial for enjoying sessions. Please help us by indicating which talks you plan to attend — you’ll earn points while doing so.
This feature is a real experiment where we allow Devoxxians to indicate how full each room is before and during talks. We’ve added an occupancy slider on each talk detail page where authenticated users can set the room capacity percentage. If everything works as planned, this information will also appear on the new digital signage screens outside each room, allowing attendees to see at a glance whether seats are still available. It’s an experiment, but we hope it works as expected — and to reward participation, you can earn points for your contributions.
The latest award feature is QR Code enabled. This allows organizers to place QR codes throughout the venue, at sponsor booths, or even around the city. It also encourages Devoxxians to use the Devoxx Companion on their mobile devices, since that’s the only way to scan and collect these codes.
We published one test QR Code to see if this feature works on the diverse number of smartphones. #WorksForMe
Gamification isn’t complete without a leaderboard. As an authenticated user, you can opt into the public awards leaderboard—it’s disabled by default to protect your privacy. Top players will get extra exposure through our social media channels 🤩🏆
These new features are currently being beta tested for Devoxx Belgium 2025. We’re optimistic they’ll enhance the interactive experience at the event. We welcome your suggestions, comments, and feedback on our GitHub issues page.
Have a great Devoxx!
PS: I’m looking forward to more rainy weekends to add even crazier features…