Flock to Fedora is more than a conference – it’s where the Fedora community comes alive. As part of the In the CommitHistory campaign, we sat down with confirmed Flock 2026 speakers to hear their stories: what brought them to Fedora, what Flock means to them personally, and what they’re hoping for in Prague this June. This is one of those conversations.

In 2015, an 18-year-old student walked into his first Flock not knowing a single person. He was shy, a little overwhelmed, and had no idea what he was walking into. By the time he walked out, something had shifted. The community had been so genuinely welcoming, so warm and easy to fall into that he left not just curious about Fedora, but hungry to be part of it.

That student was Justin Wheeler. And Flock never really let him go.

What started as one conference became a thread running through his entire open source journey. First he became a Fedora Magazine author. Then editor-in-chief. And now, as Fedora Community Architect, he’s the one standing on stage at the opening and closing looking out at the very kind of room that once changed his life helping shape the event that shaped him.


He’ll be the first to admit it’s a lot. “It’s way more intense and hard work than I ever could have realized,” he says, with genuine respect for everyone who built Flock before him. But that experience of once being the nervous newcomer gives him something no job description could have: an instinct for why people show up and what makes it matter.

For Justin, the answer has always been the hallway track. Not the sessions, the spaces in between them. The moment you bump into the exact person you need to talk to. The lunch conversation that turns into a collaboration. The game night and candy swap where the ice finally breaks and people stop being usernames and start being friends. “It’s the relationships we get to strengthen and build,” he says, “that make us so much more effective in everything we do the rest of the year.”

That’s also what data can’t capture and Justin thinks about this a lot as part of the Data Working Group, where he works alongside Michael Winters and Robert Wright to understand community health. Numbers can tell you a lot. But they can’t show you a first-timer lighting up when they realise they belong here. They can’t measure the moment the community becomes real.

His advice for anyone walking into Flock for the first time? “Don’t be shy. Leave your comfort zone a little. And definitely don’t skip the social events.” He says it like someone who knows exactly what it feels like to need that push and exactly what’s waiting on the other side of it.

Flock to Fedora 2026 takes place June 14–16 in Prague. Registration is at capacity but you can join the waitlist. Can’t make it in person? Follow along live on the Fedora YouTube channel.We hope to see you there!