Thank you for being a presenter at Netroots Nation 2023! This year’s conference is happening July 13-15 at the Hilton Chicago. Please read this entire page in preparation for your session.
⭐ When and where will my panel or training happen?
All panels and trainings will be held in meeting rooms at the Hilton Chicago (720 South Michigan Ave.), and scheduled during the breakout slots noted in the Schedule Overview. We’ll be assigning times to sessions within the next several weeks and will be in touch once we’ve done that.
Rooms will be assigned after they are scheduled. (Once scheduled, you can search for your session.) We’ll email you your room assignments, as well as additional details about how the rooms are set up, the equipment that will be available, etc.
⭐ How are the rooms set up? Can I show slides or a video during my session?
- Both panel and training rooms with be set in theater.
- Panel rooms will have podiums and a head table on a stage, with seating and the moderator and 4 speakers. Each seat and the podium will have a wired microphone. (Only a couple of panel rooms stages will be wheelchair accessible. If anyone on your panel needs one of the accessible stages, please email us right away.)
- For training rooms there will be a podium and head table for up to two trainers, no stage. There will be a pair of wireless microphones.
FOR ACCESSIBILITY FOR EVERYONE, ALL SPEAKERS NEED TO USE THE SUPPLIED MICROPHONES. - Each room will have a screen and projector with an HDMI cable connection to the podium; you’ll just need to bring your own laptop (and dongle if you don’t have an HDMI port) to connect it to the projector. If you want to share a video, make sure it is stored locally on the computer you are using, as the Wifi sometimes gets overloaded.
⭐ How do I update my bio?
If you’re a speaker, please make sure you add or update your bio and photo. These bios appear with the title/description of your session(s) and index well with Google, so it’s worth taking a minute to update. Consider including social handles and other ways for attendees to engage with your session and connect with you.
You can update your bio here. Note: Bios are linked to the emails that the session organizers sent us. Email panels@netrootsnation.org if you are having issues accessing your login information.
⭐ Do I need to register?
Because most of our 300+ speakers participate in the full conference, we ask that speakers purchase a registration. We offer a discount for trainers and speakers. Just use this link to register. (Please note this discount is only available to panel organizers, moderators, speakers and trainers.) The cost of registration will increase as we get closer to the event, so consider registering early.
That said, we never want finances to keep an important voice from being heard. If you can’t afford the discounted rate or will only be attending your one session, we have a limited number of speaker fee waivers. To request a waiver, please fill out this speaker fee waiver form.
⭐ How do I get into the event app?
Netroots Nation uses WebEx events (formerly Socio) for our convention app. We highly recommend downloading the app and logging in early to poke around and start interacting with folks. Information on downloading and using the app can be found here.
In the App, you will have an attendee profile that is separate from your speaker profile. This is how people will connect with you so take some time and fill out the App attendee profile completely. Your speaker profile in the app is pulled directly from our website, so if you have not yet created your bio above, your speaker profile will show your name only, so please make sure it is up to date (see above).
⭐ What about food/travel/lodging?
Attendees are responsible for their own travel. Most people coming from out of town choose to stay at the conference hotel, where we have reserved a block of rooms at a discount. While there are coffee breaks and happy hours (where some food and drink are provided) during the conference, you will be on your own for meals.
⭐ Will my session be streamed? Can people who aren’t attending Netroots Nation watch my session?
Three of the panel rooms will be filmed, so select panels will be streamed through our event app. Folks who aren’t able to join us in person will be able to purchase a virtual-only ticket, which will give access to approximately 40 hours of filmed content, plus some sessions that will be presented virtually only. Speakers on sessions that are streamed will be sent their link and can share and use their own recordings as they see fit.
⭐ Anything else I need to know?
We’re promoting the full conference heavily, but we’d love your help spreading the word about your session. We’ve created a promotional toolkit just for speakers that includes sample social media posts, an email template and a graphic you can use.
Things you can do to promote your session:
- Post an announcement about your training on your/your organization’s blog or website
- Email your organization’s list about it
- Create a Facebook event invite for your training, add Netroots Nation as a cohost, and post to the Netroots Nation page.
- Tweet about it with the #NN23 hashtag!
If you have additional questions, concerns or changes to your panel, please connect with us at panels@netrootsnation.org. Thank you!