[[!meta title="Contribute to EmacsConf 2021"]]
[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2021 Sacha Chua, Leo Vivier"]]
Want to help with EmacsConf 2021? Here's how you can make it even better!
# Edit and review captions
Want to help make videos easier for people to enjoy during the
conference, or find and learn from afterwards? Please volunteer to
help caption recorded talks! You'll get a sneak preview of a talk,
and possibly auto-generated captions that you can use as a starting
point.
We’d like to get started on this as soon as possible because the
pre-recordings will start trickling in until the conference, and doing it
progressively is a good way to keep the work-load low.
For an Emacs-based solution, [subed.el](https://github.com/rndusr/subed/) mode
makes it easier to adjust the timings or edit the text.
# Tech-check speakers
Many sessions will have live question and answer sessions via BigBlueButton
(BBB). Everything works more smoothly when the speakers are all set up and
ready to go: their audio works, their screen can be shared properly, and so
on. You can help by testing their setup beforehand.
You can test your own connection at <https://test.bigbluebutton.org>. If that
works for you, you can be a tech-check volunteer! You can add yourself to the
table on our [Prepare](https://emacsconf.org/2021/prepare/) page and let us
know what your availability is so that we may match you up with speakers who
want to doublecheck their setup before the conference. All you'd need to do is
to go through a checklist with them.
Here are some notes on the process:
- Can you hear me? Can I hear you?
- Explain process
- Test audio, webcam, screensharing
- Encourage webcam for Q&A, although make it clear that it's totally optional
- Audio: System audio will generally not be picked up by BBB unless
there's a virtual loopback device, so music demos and other things
that use system audio will need to be prerecorded
- Multi-monitor setups might not be handled well by BBB; share
window instead of desktop
- Difficult to show webcam and shared screen at the same time
because BBB makes the shared screen too small. If the speaker is
interested, consider using a webcam app (Windows: their webcam's
camera app, Linux: Cheese, set to Always on Top)
- Check if comfortable checking into IRC: #emacsconf-org channel via
https://chat.emacsconf.org or their favorite IRC client (libera.chat
network)
- Check if the speaker is comfortable finding their section in the
[test Etherpad](https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/emacsconf-2021-test),
typing in text, etc.
- Write down IRC nick, preferred public contact info, name
pronunciation, and pronouns for inclusion in the public wiki if not
already on their talk page
- Get phone number for emergency contact, store in private wiki or
e-mail it to emacsconf-submit@gnu.org
# Run alternate streams
Do you have a pretty good network connection and a computer capable of
livestreaming? Consider becoming an alternate streamer! You can pick
one or more of your favorite sessions from the [[schedule]] and get
set up for doing an extended stream, allowing more time for Q&A and
live demonstrations.
# Capture questions and answers
During the conference, people will be sending questions via Etherpad
and IRC, and speakers might answer live or via Etherpad or IRC. As a
volunteer, you can help make sure those questions and answers don't
get lost. It would be great to get as many questions as possible
written down in the Etherpad, along with their answers. This means
copying questions and answers from IRC, typing in answers given live,
copying questions from the pad into IRC if that's where the speaker is
paying attention, and so on. It's a bit of a scramble, but it keeps
the conversation going even after the event.
# Volunteer
Thought of another way to help? Sure, suggest away.
To volunteer, please e-mail <emacsconf-submit@gnu.org>. We'd love to
hear from you!
Thanks for contributing to EmacsConf 2021!
