FOSDEM speakers manual
- This is a living document. Please check back often or subscribe to the changes
- Sources are on github - feel free to improve!
Before FOSDEM
Slides: technical requirements
For your presentation slides, use a 16:9 aspect ratio with a recommended resolution of 1920×1080. If needed, 1280×720 is also acceptable. While 16:9 is a good default, it is a good idea to keep a 4:3 version (e.g., 1280×960) on hand as a backup.
When designing your slides, pay attention to your colour scheme. Opt for high-contrast colours to ensure readability in both very dark and very bright rooms. Additionally, as you may be presenting in a large room, confirm that all text and visuals remain clear and easy to read, regardless of the audience’s distance from the screen.
Matrix account
As a speaker, you might want a Matrix account. You should already have been invited by email (or Matrix, if we know your Matrix ID) to sign up to Matrix and join the relevant chatrooms. If not, you can get a Matrix account at https://chat.fosdem.org. Then, to receive the invites, please enter your Matrix ID (e.g. @matthew:fosdem.org) under your account details on https://pretalx.fosdem.org (look for the ‘Matrix-id’ field) and you’ll be invited shortly. We send out invites a few times a day.
You should be invited to: * #speakers:fosdem.org (the main coordination point for speakers) * The backstage room for your devroom, where you can coordinate with the devroom organisers and your hosts * The devroom itself.
Uploading slides
- You can upload your slides and additional resources such as links to your repo on pretalx. Look for the resources section.
During FOSDEM
Slides capture
The slides capture system will accept hdmi input. Please bring your own whatever-to-hdmi adapter should you need any. Adapters for mini-dp, usb-c and possibly more will be provided on a best effort basis. We provide a laptop for main tracks (Janson & K1.105) and /dev/random, but not for developer rooms.
Please mind the following requirements:
- 60 Hz or lower video output refresh rate
- 1080p (1920x1080) or lower output resolution
Please do not touch the video capture boxes except for providing them with hdmi input. We’ll love to show you around the video boxes, but rather not in live production.
Talk Q&A: live audience interaction and text based questions from chat.fosdem.org
You will have a chance to address your real life live audience’s questions in a live broadcast q&a session. Your room manager or his assistant may also relay questions from https://chat.fosdem.org .
- You may want to join the following rooms:
- #speakers:fosdem.org
- This room is invite only. It’s accessible to all speakers and FOSDEM staff.
- You should have received an invitation by email. In case you have trouble getting in, any FOSDEM staff should be able to invite you here.
- the general audience room for your talk.
- You will receive an invitation to this room.
- #speakers:fosdem.org
Help! Something is wrong. Who do I contact?
- For practical issues regarding projection, capture and sound inside your room, live people in green FOSDEM video t-shirts are your best bet. There is one team per building:
- AW building: room AW1.125
- H building: H2.111
- J/Janson auditorium: near the audio mixing console, by the camera
- K1.105 “Lafontaine” main track auditorium: near the camera, if not see K general
- K building: behind the 1.105 (“Lafontaine”) auditorium, bottom left when facing the stage
- UD building: room UD2.119
- UB building: room UB4.228
- Alternatively, you may contact video volunteers through the dedicated matrix video channel.
- For issues regarding the stream on https://fosdem.org site in general, please also email both video@fosdem.org and server@fosdem.org .
- I have a problem connecting to https://chat.fosdem.org at all.
- Speak to anyone in a blue (FOSDEM developer room manager), green (FOSDEM video) or yellow (FOSDEM staff) t-shirt.
After your talk & after FOSDEM
When agreeing to speak at FOSDEM, you explicitly granted FOSDEM vzw the right to publish your video under a CC BY-SA license. Your video will be uploaded to the FOSDEM video archive at https://video.fosdem.org .
Video review
Your developer room manager, one of his delegates and/or you should receive a video review link by email. There, you can indicate proper start and end points for your talk video to be released at https://video.fosdem.org .