Dear contributor,

Thank you once again for agreeing to take part in Virtual FOSDEM 2021!
We're looking forward to an exciting, if unusual, weekend!

You will all play a crucial role in creating a pleasant and friendly
environment where everyone should feel welcome and where we can all
share our passion for free and open source software.

Of course, we have never done anything quite like this before, so no
doubt there will be further unexpected challenges to face, but do
please try to take some time out during the weekend to relax!

Here follows what else you need to know about our event!


SPEAKERS' MANUAL
================
Please read the speakers' manual as soon as you can!  Now!
  https://github.com/FOSDEM/video/blob/master/instructions/fosdem2021/speakers.md


SCHEDULE
========
This is your schedule:

.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| day        | time     | room    | state     | role    | title                                  |
+------------+----------+---------+-----------+---------+----------------------------------------+
| 2021-02-06 | 16:30:00 | D.infra | confirmed | speaker | Scaling Release Management with GitOps |
'------------+----------+---------+-----------+---------+----------------------------------------'

All times are Brussels local time - CET - UTC+1.

.-----------------------------------------------------------------.
| links                                                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| https://fosdem.org/2021/schedule/event/scalingreleasemgmtgitops |
'-----------------------------------------------------------------'

Please make a final check of your pre-recorded video(s).
  https://penta.fosdem.org/submission/FOSDEM21/events

Select each event and the link to its video is near the bottom of the
General tab.  The words "Final Version" form a link.

NB Some stand events are still waiting to be processed ("undecided").
This will get done.


PLATFORM
========
Invitations to the chat.fosdem.org platform have now all been sent out.

  From: Element <noreply@element.io>
  Subject: FOSDEM has invited you to a room on Element

If you are in the minority that has not already accepted the
invitations, please do this now - Friday!   It will take you some time
to become comfortable with the platform and you might wish to
experiment with different screen layouts and browsers to discover what
works best for you.

If you don't seem to have received this email, don't fret.  Please
just register directly at chat.fosdem.org and follow the instructions
in the next paragraph.

If you have already created a matrix account you can add it to
pentabarf, and then any outstanding and future room invitations will
be sent to you directly within the platform.

Go to your pentabarf Person page:
  https://penta.fosdem.org/submission/FOSDEM21/person
On the contact tab you'll spot an Instant Messaging panel.
  "Add instant messaging address", choose "matrix" and use the
  format "@user:server" - for example "@me:fosdem.org".

If you have never logged in before or forgotten your password, go to
  https://penta.fosdem.org/user/forgot_password
to receive an email to set a new password by entering the username:
  abdennourtoumi
(If the line above this one is blank, email us to request a username.)

Once again, the speakers' manual covers the main points on how the
event will run.  Please read it!
  https://github.com/FOSDEM/video/blob/master/instructions/fosdem2021/speakers.md

And please also read the visitor documentation:
  https://fosdem.org/2021/practical/online/


T-SHIRTS
========
A few of you are lucky enough already to have received your T-shirt!
Please wear it during the event!  Unfortunately, everyone else will
need to remain patient as the first batch is still being delivered.
For those who missed the initial cut-off date, the second batch
won't go into production until next week.

Contributors who haven't yet been sent a voucher should watch out
for a separate email from treasure@fosdem.org (probably not until
early next week).


PHOTO AND BIOGRAPHY
===================
Please upload a photograph of yourself if you have not already done so
and enter or update your biography.  You can use markdown formatting
within your abstracts and biographies, as described here:
  http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax

Changes take a few minutes to reach the website (once the talk is
scheduled and the status is 'confirmed') - the time it was last updated
appears at the bottom of this page:
  https://fosdem.org/2021/schedule/events/

NEW - You should also upload a small image to be displayed with your
talk both on the website and with the matrix chat room.  (For example,
if the talk is about a project, you might use the project logo.)

You can login and update the information at:
  https://fosdem.org/submit

If you have never logged in before or forgotten your password, go to
  https://penta.fosdem.org/user/forgot_password
to receive an email to set a new password by entering the username:
  abdennourtoumi
(If the line above this one is blank, email us to request a username
if you need one.)


POST-EVENT VIDEOS
=================
Broadcast sessions - from devrooms (D), main tracks (K, M) and lightning
talks (L) - will be recorded and uploaded to video.fosdem.org
afterwards.  This includes the pre-recording and the live Q&A but not
the hallway Q&A and not events at stands.  You should receive an email
asking you to review your sessions afterwards.  Please do this
promptly!

For queries about videos, please ask your host or devroom manager or
use the video@fosdem.org contact address.

Note that recordings will be published under the same licence as all
FOSDEM content (CC-BY).  You are agreeing to this by taking part in the
event.


SLIDES
======
Any slide decks you present and other related materials should be
uploaded (into pentabarf - Files tab, "Add attachment") by about
half-an-hour before the start of your talk so that people watching the
live stream can follow them locally if their video resolution or poor
bandwidth leaves slide content indistinct.  (Our system does not hold
back publication, so if you don't want people to see them too far in
advance, don't upload them yet or leave the 'public' checkbox
un-ticked and tick it later.  You could also omit from the uploaded
version any surprises or answers you don't want to reveal in advance.)


(The rest of this email is repetition from Message Two for speakers.
The speakers' manual holds the most up-to-date version, including
screenshots.)

THE MATRIX PLATFORM
===================

This year FOSDEM is going online using Matrix (https://matrix.org)
as the primary communication fabric to provide the social and
participatory aspects of the conference.

Matrix is an open communications protocol, providing IRC/Slack/Discord-
style chat over an open global network of servers.  Conversation
history is replicated over the servers of the participating users,
avoiding any single points of control or failure.  Matrix lets you
embed arbitrary web content (called 'widgets') into chatrooms, which
we're relying on heavily in FOSDEM in order to present the same view
of livestreams, video conferences, upvoted questions and schedules to
all participants.

Speakers should expect the following:

 * You will be invited into the "backstage" room for your
devroom or track, so you can coordinate with the devroom organisers
and exchange tips with your fellow speakers.  For instance, the
backstage room for the Python devroom is
  #python-backstage:fosdem.org
  https://matrix.to/#/#python-backstage:fosdem.org

You will also be invited into the speakers support room
  #speakers:fosdem.org
  https://matrix.to/#/#speakers:fosdem.org ,
where we will be available to help with any problems.

 * This invitation will be an email titled "FOSDEM has invited you to
a room on Element", sent from noreply@element.io to the email address
you use on penta.fosdem.org (unless you already have a Matrix account
associated with that email address, in which case you will be invited
directly).

 * Element is the name of the Matrix client we're recommending for
FOSDEM, and the email contains a link which will set you up on Matrix
using the Element instance at https://chat.fosdem.org.

 * For FOSDEM, we recommend using Element as a webapp on desktop from
https://chat.fosdem.org, which contains tweaks specific to FOSDEM.

 * On mobile, you can get the native Android or iOS app from
https://element.io/get-started.  If you don't already have a Matrix
account, enter the server as fosdem.org (*not* chat.fosdem.org) to
sign up for an account on the FOSDEM server.

 * We do **not** recommend using the Electron desktop app for FOSDEM,
as it will lack the webapp customisations we've done for
chat.fosdem.org.

Having received the invite, please follow the above instructions and
join the backstage room for your track this week so you can get
familiar and comfortable with Element and Matrix plenty of time before
FOSDEM begins.

If you are failing to join Matrix successfully, please seek help in
  irc://irc.freenode.net/#fosdem
  #fosdem:fosdem.org   https://matrix.to/#/#fosdem:fosdem.org
or contact experience@fosdem.org.

What you need to know for FOSDEM itself
---------------------------------------
 * Each talk has a specific private chatroom in order to coordinate
between the speaker and their host.  You and your host will shortly be
invited into the room for your talk.

 * Each devroom/track and stand also has a public chatroom for the
audience (e.g.
  #python:fosdem.org
  https://matrix.to/#/#python:fosdem.org
for the Python dev room.

     * The public rooms will be bridged to IRC as
irc://irc.freenode.net/#fosdem-python (or equivalent), and also
available via XMPP as xmpp:#python#fosdem.org:matrix.org?join. 
The public rooms should also work well from other Matrix clients
(e.g.  weechat-matrix, nheko, FluffyChat, NeoChat, Quaternion, etc.)

     * The private rooms are unfortunately not bridged, as they depend
on widgets to work, and are unlikely to have a way to authenticate
widgets to bridged users yet before FOSDEM (and if we did, it'd amount
to running a mini-Matrix client just for widgets anyway)..

 * There are also a bunch of social and support rooms, visible on the
public room directory of the server (use the 'compass' icon on the top
left of Element Web's user interface), or from the welcome page on
chat.fosdem.org.

 * In the private talk room, you should be greeted by your host, who
will be organising the live question and answer questions at the end
of your talk.

 * If you don't join the private talk room well in advance of your
talk, you should expect to receive nagging emails until you do :)

 * When it's time for your talk to be broadcast to the devroom, you
should join the video conference embedded in the room to coordinate
with your host and watch the talk in the devroom together (as if you
were in the audience).  The audience (and you!) will be able to see
the recorded talk on the livestream embedded in the public devroom.

 * Shortly before the end of your recorded talk, the video
conference in your private talk room will be switched to broadcast to
the livestream, so that everyone in the devroom can see and hear the
host relay questions about the talk from the public devroom chat.  You
will be warned of this in advance in the chatroom.

 * Important: the livestream will lag the video conference by roughly
3-4 seconds (subject to network conditions causing client buffering).
Because of the lag on the broadcast you will go live *before* you
see the video reach its end and so you will not see the last seconds
of the video on the livestream.  (The broadcast lag for some viewers
chatting in the public devroom might be as much as 30 seconds.)

 * After the official Q&A session, once the next talk has begun, the
private talk room will automatically become open to the public (not
sharing prior chat history), letting the audience join to ask further
questions if they want - much as they might by grabbing you on the
side of the stage or in the hallway after a talk at FOSDEM proper.
They can join your video conference to ask questions, or do so via
chat, or just watch the subsequent questions via a 'local' livestream
(which will not be broadcast outside of that chatroom).

 * Your talk's room will then live on for as long as you like, as part
of the history of FOSDEM 2021 :)


For more context on how FOSDEM came to be running on Matrix this year,
please see:
  https://matrix.org/blog/2021/01/04/taking-fosdem-online-via-matrix.


Best wishes,

The FOSDEM Programme Team