[[!meta title="Notes and tips on preparing your talk"]]
[[!meta copyright="Copyright &copy; 2019, 2020 Amin Bandali<br />Copyright &copy; 2021 Amin Bandali, Sacha Chua, Leo Vivier"]]

This page contains notes and tips for our speakers on preparing their
talks and presentations.  Please read through the list and consider it
while preparing your talk.  If you have any questions, concerns, or
suggestions please feel free to write to one of the organizers
directly (e.g. <bandali@gnu.org>), or write to one our organizational
mailing lists: the public <emacsconf-org@gnu.org> list, or the private
<emacsconf-org-private@gnu.org> list, depending on the nature of the
matter you would like to discuss.

Note: being part of a wiki, this page is subject to change (including
by you!); so please check back every now and again for any changes and
updates.

### Guidelines for conduct

Please review our [[guidelines for conduct|conduct]] when preparing
your talk, to make sure we're all on the same page and strive to make
the event a great experience for all.  If you're not sure whether your
talk or presentation style meets the guidelines laid out in the
guidelines for conduct, we'd be happy to help.  You can email Sacha
Chua at <sacha@sachachua.com> to chat more about this.

### Recording your talk

To help EmacsConf 2021 run smoothly, please prerecord your talk, and
send us your video(s) by **November 7** at the latest (three weeks
before the conference), to allow us enough time to do any needed
processing (e.g. format or codec conversion) in preparation for the
event.  Please consider submitting a prerecording as early as possible
so that we can see if volunteers can caption your video to make it
more accessible and searchable.

To make it easier for organizers and attendees to correctly pronounce
your name, please start your video with something along the lines of:

"Hi! I'm ${NAME} and I'll be talking about ${TOPIC}."

Please **upload your prerecording(s) (and script/notes if any) via FTP** to the FTP server we have set up with the following details:

- host: ftp-upload.emacsconf.org
- username: anonymous
- port: 21
- folder: upload-here

To upload your recording and any accompanying material to the above
FTP server, you can use your FTP client of choice.  For instance,
FileZilla, a free/libre user-friendly application with a graphical
user interface.  On deb-based GNU/Linux distributions such as Trisquel
you can install FileZilla by running `sudo apt install filezilla` in a
terminal.  Otherwise, you can download FileZilla from their [project
website](https://filezilla-project.org/).

If connection fails on the first try, please check to make sure the
details are exactly as described above; and if the issue persists,
please email <emacsconf-submit@gnu.org> so we can look into it.

If you have a script or notes for your talk, please include it as well
so that we could use it to help us with the captioning of your talk.
You can also send us additional information to include on the wiki
page for your talk, such as links to other pages or additional videos.
If you need help, please email <emacsconf-submit@gnu.org>.

To record your video, you could use any of the following pieces of
free software, depending on your needs:

- [OBS](//obsproject.com)
- [SimpleScreenRecorder](//www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/)
- [vokoscreenNG](//linuxecke.volkoh.de/vokoscreen/vokoscreen.html)
- [peek](//github.com/phw/peek)
- [ffmpeg](//trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Capture/Desktop)

You might find the following free software programs useful for editing
your video recordings:

- [Kdenlive](//kdenlive.org/en/)
- [Blender](//www.blender.org)
- [Pitivi](http://www.pitivi.org)

Per GNU Project's
[Guide to Formats](//audio-video.gnu.org/docs/formatguide.html), we
prefer to receive prerecorded videos in formats unencumbered by
software patents, such as `video/webm` (WebM-encoded video files, with
`.webm` file extension) and `video/ogg` (video files encoded with the
Theora video codec, encapsulated in an Ogg transport layer, with
`.ogg` or `.ogv` file extension).  However, if for one reason or
another you are unable to send us your prerecorded video in one of the
above formats, you may submit them in other common formats, like
MPEG-4 (`.mp4`), and we will try to convert them to our preferred
formats on your behalf.

*Prepare recorded video in 720p (1280px by 720px) or higher, in the
WebM format if possible.*

> The conference broadcast will most likely be in
> [720p](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p) (1280px x 720px,
> progressive) using the [WebM](https://www.webmproject.org/) video
> format.  The closer to this format submitted video files arrive in,
> the easier it will be to process and upload them.

# Compression

If you would like to compress your video before uploading, the following shell script may be useful:

    Q=56
    ffmpeg -y -i "$1" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 0 -crf $Q -aq-mode 2 -an -tile-columns 0 -tile-rows 0 -frame-parallel 0 -cpu-used 8 -auto-alt-ref 1 -lag-in-frames 25 -g 240 -pass 1 -f webm -threads 8 /dev/null &&
    ffmpeg -y -i "$1" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 0 -crf $Q -c:a copy -tile-columns 2 -tile-rows 2 -frame-parallel 0 -cpu-used -5 -auto-alt-ref 1 -lag-in-frames 25 -pass 2 -g 240 -threads 8 "$2"

If you put it in a file called `compress-video.sh`, you can execute it
from the command line with something like `sh compress-video.sh
input-file.webm output-file.webm`. It will compress the file in two
passes. During the first pass, the frame count will increase, but the
speed will be 0. After the first pass, it will display proper progress
information.

# Tech check

If you're planning to do live Q&A, you can check your system setup at
https://test.bigbluebutton.org/ .  We'll set up a tech-check call with
you, too.  We'll post details here closer to that time.

Thank you so much for helping with EmacsConf 2021!

# Frequently-asked questions

## Can I present live?

Tech issues kept happening during EmacsConf 2020, so we'd really
prefer that all talks have prerecorded videos.  There might be time
for live questions and answers over a web conference, though, so if
you can record a short video covering your main points, you might be
able to go into more detail in live Q&A.

## I have so much I want to share.  Can I record a longer video?

The conference program has so many interesting talks.  We wish we
could fit everything in at full length!  (Maybe EmacsConf month?)
Please think of your video as a short teaser that can get people
interested and point them to where they can find out more.  You can
email <emacsconf-submit@gnu.org> links and other notes to add to the
wiki page for your talk.  If you'd like to record a longer video *in
addition* to the short one for the main conference, please feel free
to send us that too.

## I can't figure out how to record the video.  Can I just present the talk?

We might be able to help you record your talk using the BigBlueButton
web conferencing system before November 7.  Please email
<emacsconf-submit@gnu.org> with some times that might work for you and
we'll see if a volunteer can meet up with you to record it.

## How do I show my keystrokes on screen?

In Emacs, you can use
[interaction-log.el](https://github.com/michael-heerdegen/interaction-log.el)
(in MELPA) to display the keystrokes and the commands they run in a separate
buffer.  For a system-wide solution, you can look into
[screenkey](https://gitlab.com/screenkey/screenkey).

## I'm not used to talking to myself.  Can I present the talk to someone?

We might be able to help you record your talk using the BigBlueButton
web conferencing system before November 7.  Please email
<emacsconf-submit@gnu.org> with some times that might work for you and
we'll see if a volunteer can meet up with you to record it.

## Can I see the other proposed talks?

Once we've emailed all the speakers about their acceptance, we'll put
up the talk wiki pages.  That way, you can see what else is going on
in the conference and maybe coordinate with other speakers in order to
minimize overlap and maximize awesomeness.

## What if there are lots of great questions during Q&A and we run out of time?

You can continue answering questions on the collaborative pad or IRC,
and we'll copy questions and answers onto the wiki page
afterwards.  You can also answer questions on the wiki page even after the event.

An extended live demo or Q&A session might be possible if someone
volunteers to broadcast it on an alternative stream.  If you or a
volunteer is interested in helping with this, please feel free to
contact us at <emacsconf-submit@gnu.org>.

## More questions?

Please email <emacsconf-submit@gnu.org>.  We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for contributing to EmacsConf 2021!


## Tech-checks for video calls

We ask that speakers who plan to participate in live Q&A sessions schedule
a short tech-check in the weeks leading to the conference; this is to ensure
that you can perform all the common tasks you'd need such as sharing your
screen or toggling your microphone.

We use BigBlueButton for our video-conferencing needs, and a quick way to
familiarize yourself with it is to run it in a test-room:
https://test.bigbluebutton.org/

If you encounter any problems with your equipment or with the platform, please
get in touch with us and we'll sort them out together!  In those cases, since
we'll probably need to schedule a one-on-one tech-check with you, we ask that
you email the closest volunteer to your timezone (or zaeph otherwise).  You
can also visit us on [#emacsconf-org on
Libera](irc://libera.chat/#emacsconf-org).

We will likely schedule those one-on-one tech-checks with you on Saturdays or
Sundays, but we would be happy to try and work out another time if that
doesn't work for you.

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td>Volunteer</td>
<td>Email</td>
<td>IRC Nick</td>
<td>Timezone</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Leo Vivier</td>
<td>&lt;<a href="mailto:zaeph@zaeph.net">zaeph@zaeph.net</a>&gt;</td>
<td>zaeph</td>
<td>CET (UTC+1)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Wanna help out?  You can add your name and contact-info here!</strong></td>
<td>&lt;<a href="mailto:your@email">your@email</a>&gt;</td>
<td>…</td>
<td>…</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Corwin Brust</td>
<td>&lt;<a href="mailto:corwin@bru.st">corwin@bru.st</a>&gt;</td>
<td>mplsCorwin</td>
<td>US/Central (UTC-6)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Amin Bandali</td>
<td>&lt;<a href="mailto:bandali@gnu.org">bandali@gnu.org</a>&gt;</td>
<td>bandali</td>
<td>US/Eastern (UTC-5)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

If you'd like to help out with the tech-checks, feel free to add your name and
email to the above list and email &lt;<a
href="mailto:zaeph@zaeph.net">zaeph@zaeph.net</a>&gt; to plan the logistics.


<!-- <a name="tech-checklist"></a> -->
<!-- #### Tech checklist -->

<!-- - Can you speak and be heard? Is there echo? -->
<!-- - Can you hear the organizer? -->
<!-- - Can you share your screen? Is the screen readable? -->
<!-- - If you plan to show your keystrokes, is that display visible? -->
<!-- - If you want to share your webcam (optional), can you enable it? Is it visible? Will there likely be distractions in the background? -->
<!-- - Can you view the collaborative pad? Will you be comfortable reviewing questions on your own (perhaps by keeping it open beside your shared window), or will you need a volunteer to relay questions to you? -->
<!-- - Can you share contact information (ex: phone number) so that we can get in touch with you in case of technical issues or scheduling changes? -->
<!-- - Do you need help finding your way around IRC so that you can check into `#emacsconf-org`? What is your IRC nickname? -->