Speaker Guidelines

Are you presenting a session at EuroPython this year? We can’t wait to see it!

Below we have a number of suggestions to help make your session a success. Of course, these are just guidelines - the most important thing is that your session reflects the story you want to tell in the most authentic way possible!

If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to programme@europython.eu.

Making great slides

Remember that slides are there to back up the story you want to tell the audience, not to be the star of the show (that’s you!). As such, try to think about how you can keep the attention of your audience on what you’re saying, not what is on your slides. Some guidelines that can help with this are:

• Try to minimise the amount of text on your slide. Audiences will automatically start reading any text on a slide, and not listen to you while they’re doing so.
• Use simple animations to display parts of the slide at a time, so that it is clear to the audience what you want them to pay attention to.
• Try to “show, not tell” by using images or simple diagrams instead of text.
• Don’t put anything on your slides that you don’t intend to explain.
• Try not to cram too much on one slide. There are no hard and fast rules about how many slides to have in a talk, as long as the slides naturally flow with your spoken narrative and don’t overwhelm your audience with information.

This wonderful blog post goes into a lot more detail about how to really polish your slides.

If you’re in any room except for Forum Hall (the main room), please try not to present any important information in the lower third of the slides. Due to how the rooms are set up, this section may not be visible to people at the back of the room.

Making sure everyone can hear you

We will be using the microphones in the podiums for talks and tutorials. For optimal audio quality and recording, adjust the microphone’s height and angle to aim directly at your head (not your chest), especially if the previous speaker was significantly taller or shorter.

Maintain a consistent distance of 15-30 cm from the mic; this captures your voice clearly whilst minimising distracting plosives or breathing sounds. Crucially, stay in front of the microphone and near the podium throughout your talk, as moving away will mean the audience (and livestream) might not hear you properly.

If a question is asked from the audience without a microphone, please repeat it clearly into your microphone before answering. This ensures everyone in the room, as well as those on the livestream, can understand the context of your answer.

Presenting code effectively

Please make sure that the code in your editor or IDE is big enough for the audience to read, and to be readable on the livestream and video recording. Use a font of at least size 24, or a zoom of at least 175%. Please also use a light theme.

As with the slides, please do not show any code you’re explaining on the lower third of the screen (unless you are presenting in Forum Hall), as people sitting at the back of the room may not be able to see it.

Remember that this will be your audience’s first time seeing the code you’re sharing. Try not to show too much code at a time, and go through it bit-by-bit to make sure your audience is following what you’re trying to convey.

If you’re planning on doing live coding, we advise recording a video as a plan B. Nerves can get the best of all of us, and in the case you mistype your code may not work. We also advise having a local backup of anything you need rather than relying on the internet: while we do have dedicated ethernet cables on the podiums, Murphy has a special nose for materials needed during live sessions.

Making your session accessible for everyone

We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable at EuroPython. As such, it’s important that your session is accessible for all of your audience members.

In order to make accessible slides, you can check the following guidelines. In general, please consider the following:

• Use a simple, sans serif font with enough spacing between letters, with at least an 18-point font size. Examples include Calibri, Franklin Gothic Book, Lucida Sans and Segoe UI.
• Use enough spacing between lines of text, and limit the amount of text per slide.
• Use high-contrast colours, but please avoid red-green combinations. Try to use an off-white or cream background instead of bright white. This tool can help to select accessible colour combinations.
• Avoid using images with text that might be hard to read.

Some people may be sensitive to loud noises, flashing lights or strobing effects. If you plan to use any of these, please give a warning beforehand.

Remember that many people in the audience are not native English speakers. Please try not to speak very quickly and speak as clearly as you can, in order to give everyone a chance to follow you.

Managing your time

Talks include a 5 minute Q&A, meaning you will have 25 or 40 minutes to deliver your content. You may opt out of questions and use this entire time for your talk, but please let your session chair know that you want to do this before you start. You will be given a hard stop at the end of your session time in order to allow people to change rooms.

There is at least 10 minutes between each talk. Please arrive at the beginning of this 10 minute slot to set up for your talk and to make sure you have plenty of time to iron out any technical issues.

For tutorials, please arrive at least 20 minutes beforehand to make sure you have everything set up. Note that all tutorials include a 15 minute coffee break (check the schedule for more details), so please plan accordingly.

Setting up on the day

We do not provide computers for the presentation, so please bring your own device.

Each room will have the following connectors at the podium:

• A HDMI cable to connect to the projector. We will do our best to have USB-C to HDMI adapters for all of them, but we strongly encourage you to bring your own if you need one.
• A wired ethernet cable. Please bring your own USB-C to RJ45 Ethernet adapter if your laptop requires one. You can of course use the Conference Wifi that all attendees use as well.
• A power outlet to connect your charger with a Type E plug. Please note that Macbooks can enter power saving mode if they are not plugged in, even with a full |battery, leading to them having issues sending signals to the projector. As such, it’s safest to have your Macbook charger handy.

For all rooms except the Forum Hall, technicians usually arrive around an hour before the first sessions start. Please feel free to come by your room to test your setup. In the case that no one is there, they are likely to have just popped out, so don’t despair! Come back until you catch them.

Meeting Room 241 will be available as a Speaker Ready Room. There will be a monitor with an HDMI cable if you want to check the set up for your presentation.

Preparing for any technical difficulties

Even the best programmes can fail (we know this better than anyone!), and in a high pressure situation like a live talk or tutorial, it’s safest to prepare ahead.

We strongly recommend converting your final presentation slides to a universally viewable and WYSIWYG format such as PDF, and back this up both locally and in a place that can be easily retrieved from another device. This will not only give you a backup on your own device in case your presentation software or the connection to the cloud fails, but also allow you to quickly share it with a friend and use their device in case of complete failure.

In the case your session may require a special technical set up, such as playing audio or video, or needing extra devices such as a screen reader or an instrument, we ask that you please contact the Programme Committee (programme@europython.eu) ahead of the conference. We can then set aside a specific time at the conference for you to test your setup before your session.

Sharing your content

Please upload your slides directly to Pretalx before your session using the Resources section.

You can also optionally share your slides, and any other resources, during your session using a QR code.

Sharing your content allows attendees, especially those with vision impairments, to follow your content on their own devices. It also means they can easily follow up on anything interesting you shared as part of your talk!

Knowing how many people to expect in your session

Each of the session rooms has a different capacity. You can find how many people your room will hold below. Please note that this is the maximum capacity: as there are many sessions running at the same time, your final number of attendees is likely to be smaller than this.

Specific advice for tutorials

Please note that tutorials are intended to be a hands-on experience for the attendees, rather than a long talk. This means that a substantial component of the workshop should involve exercises that your participants can complete on their own machines at their own pace. In the case you intend to do live coding, this should be either done slowly enough that attendees can follow along, or be able to be replicated in a later exercise.

Please keep in mind that if attendees need to download materials for your tutorial, it is better to give them a heads up at least a couple of days prior. Bandwidth will be limited, and many public resources have some kind of rate limiting set up.

If you will need helpers for your session, please add them to your session in Pretalx or contact the Programme Committee (programme@europython.eu) ahead of the conference, as we’ll need to create tutorial tickets for them.

To keep a more relaxed learning atmosphere there will be no video recording of your tutorial. Please note that this also means that participants cannot scroll back if they miss something, so if in doubt, go slow and be clear.

Specific advice for posters

Posters need to be printed on size A0 paper with a portrait orientation. Please take care of the poster printing yourself ahead of the conference. We will provide a freestanding poster board you can stick your poster to. Please bring something to stick your poster to the board which will not damage it, such as Blu Tack. (We might have some at reception, but can not guarantee that.)

Poster sessions will take place in the hallway, close to the open space desks.

Please check the schedule for your assigned slot. This is the expected “minimum time” for you to be with your poster, but you are naturally welcome to stay for longer, or organise specific additional times for people to come and discuss your poster. As many things are happening at the conference at the same time, you might get a lower turn out during your actual poster session, but you can drum up interest in your poster throughout the whole conference - maybe even in a lightning talk!

It can feel a little awkward being in your poster session at first, but try to relax and have fun. As you see people walking around the session, or even looking at yours, start a conversation in a non-intrusive way (a friendly “Hey there!” is a great opener!). Ask a few questions about why they’re at the conference, and gently steer the conversation towards your poster. Before you know it you’ll be having a blast!