Hello folks,

With only a few days to EmacsConf 2019, scheduled for Sat November 2, here are some instructions and important details about the logistics of the conference and how the day will unfold.

  • The schedule at https://emacsconf.org/2019/schedule is a rough guideline, and we’ll try to accommodate people’s availability, audience interest, and technical issues. For longer talks, please try to be in the channel at least 15 minutes in advance for tech checks and coordination, and try to keep your presentation to about 30 minutes including time for questions. When it’s time for lightning talks, we’ll check the IRC channel to see who has done a tech check and is ready to present. Please keep lightning talks to 5-10 minutes (ideally closer to 5). If there are technical issues or if there’s extra space between sessions, we might play prerecorded lightning talks while sorting things out, prioritizing those where the speaker can answer questions in the #emacsconf channel on irc.freenode.net. We’ll try as much as possible to stick with the schedule for the longer talks, so if there’s not enough time for the lightning talks in between, we may have to bump some presentations to the end of the day. We’ll play the remaining prerecorded talks after the last live presentation. If your lightning talk gets bumped to the end and you won’t be available to answer questions, that’s okay—we will keep an eye on the channel and email you afterwards.

  • Please use your favourite IRC client to join #emacsconf-org on irc.freenode.net on the day of the conference. Alternatively, you may follow the quick ERC setup tip on the tips page or use the webchat in your web browser. Please consider choosing a nickname that includes your name or the pseudonym you submitted your talk under, to help us recognize you. #emacsconf-org should be a low-traffic channel for coordination between organizers and speakers. Check in with Sacha (sachac) and/or Amin (bandali) by saying hi, and mentioning your name/talk if it’s not obvious from your nick. Sacha (or the backup organizer) will coordinate with you for a tech check before you speak, and will give you the go-ahead to join a Jitsi Meet session for the main presentation. The Jitsi Meet session addresses will look something like https://meet.jit.si/emacsconf-name, where name will be replaced with your first or last name, or the pseudonym you used when submitting your talk. If for one reason or another a Jitsi Meet room is faulty/buggy, we’ll try adding (and incrementing, if needed) a numeric suffix, like https://meet.jit.si/emacsconf-name2, https://meet.jit.si/emacsconf-name3, and so on as needed. Sacha will confirm this with you.

  • You can also join #emacsconf if you’d like to keep an eye on the conversations, or #emacsconf-questions for a more moderated view focused on questions from audience.

  • Please wear earphones or headphones to minimize microphone feedback.

  • Please keep an eye on time and your presentation’s length. Amin (or the main organizer, in charge of running the stream and in video call with you during your talk) will try to politely clear their throat if you’re going over time.

  • Some of our attendees are blind, so please try to verbally describe what you’re showing on the screen. We are also asking volunteers to describe what’s going on in each talk in the #emacsconf-accessible channel. Additionally, we would be very grateful if you could add a transcription for your talk(s) to our transcripts page for EmacsConf 2019.

  • We have set up a status page at https://status.emacsconf.org where you can monitor the status of various parts of our infrastructure for any possible disruptions. We will add to that page information on who to contact if you notice a problem or experience disruption that’s not acknowledged there.

Lastly, a gentle reminder for you to consider our code of conduct while presenting your talk and in discussions in our communication channels.

Thanks in advance, and looking forward to talking to you very soon!

Best,
amin