[[!meta title="Host volunteer"]]

# Responsibilities

For talks with IRC/pad/e-mail Q&A:

- No hosting needed, we can just leave IRC/Etherpad on screen.

For talks done live (no prerecorded video):

- Start the recording (if not already recording)
- Give the speaker time warnings (5 minutes before next talk starts, 2 minutes before next talk starts)

For talks with live Q&A sessions:

- Start the recording (if not already recording)
- Ask the speaker questions from the pad and read out feedback if you want
- (optional) Monitor IRC for questions as well
- Moderate the discussion as needed
- Handle technical issues that turn up
- Give the speaker time warnings
- Keep things cool

Many speakers find it easier to reply to questions
that are spoken aloud, and this also ensures that
the questions get into the recording. As the host,
you can help shape the Q&A session by choosing the
order of questions to ask (unless the speaker
wants to address a different question). You can
also help rephrase unclear questions or help the
speaker feel more comfortable by reminding them
that they can answer in any order and they don't
have to answer all the questions.

# Preparation

We will give you a list of talks with the times,
speaker info, pad URL, moderator codes, and URL
for the live Q&A session. You may want to practice
muting people in BBB.

We strongly recommend using a headset or earphones to minimize audio
feedback. Using a headset microphone or an external microphone can
also improve your sound quality.

# Process

At least 5 minutes before the Q&A session starts,
go to the meeting room and use the provided
moderator code to become a moderator. If you do
not have moderator access, let us know in
`#emacsconf-org` and we can add you.

Have another window for the pad for the current talk. 

Have another window or two for IRC. You may want to set up your
windows so that you can quickly glance at #emacsconf-org. Optionally,
you can also monitor the chat channel for your track (optional).
Ideally, an IRC volunteer will monitor that channel and copy the
questions into the pad for you, so you can focus on just the pad if
you like.

Make sure you do **not** have another window watching the stream, or
you may get audio feedback whenever you unmute yourself. If you notice
audio feedback when other people unmute, you can ask them to make sure
they aren't watching the stream in a different window and that they
haven't accidentally joined twice.

To minimize background noise, keep your mic on mute unless you're
speaking. You can optionally turn on your webcam.

The streamer will join the BBB meeting shortly after the prerecorded
video ends. When the streamer gives you the go-ahead, **turn on
recording** and confirm that it is on. Double-check that recording is
on by seeing whether the button at the top has changed to a red button
with a timer.

When the Q&A starts, we'll update the public BBB
redirect URL to point to the BBB room. People will
then be able to join using the Q&A URL that will
be on the talk page and in IRC. That way,
participants can join the Q&A session and ask
their questions directly.

BBB sometimes has issues if there are lots of participants with
webcams on. If you notice that things are getting slow or choppy, you
can ask participants to turn their webcams off.

Please give the speaker a 5-minute warning and a
2-minute warning before the end of their streamed
Q&A session. The Q&A session can continue
off-stream for as long as the speaker likes while
you move on to the next Q&A session to host. If
the speaker would like to wrap up, they can leave
the meeting whenever they want

# In case of...

- Incidents: If someone isn't keeping the
  [[guidelines for conduct|conduct]] in mind, you can moderate using
  BBB's tools (muting or removing participants), or let us know in
  `#emacsconf-org` and we'll figure out how to deal with the
  situation.

# Afterwards

Q&A sessions are what make EmacsConf more fun than a playlist. =)
Thanks for helping make EmacsConf awesome!

[[Check out other ways to volunteer|volunteer]]

[[!taglink CategoryVolunteer ]]