CNCF-hosted Co-located Events Speaker Guide

Thank you for speaking at our CNCF-hosted Co-located Events North America 2025 taking place November 10. This event is happening in person at Georgia World Congress Center, Building B, in Atlanta, GA.

Please bookmark this page for easy reference and continue to check back as the event gets closer as we will be adding additional speaker information as they are available. If you have any questions, please email the CNCF-hosted Co-located Event Content Team.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Timing of sessions and room locations are subject to change through Friday, October 10.

• Confirm session and speaker details are correct in Sched.com: Friday, August 22
• Travel Fund Request Deadline*: Friday, September 12
• Speaker Registration Deadline: Tuesday, September 16
  • Register here and select the Co-Located Event Speaker Registration type
  • Enter Voucher Code: (This is located in your speaker notification email) on the first page to proceed with completing the registration form. 
• AV Requests Due: Friday, October 10 
• Upload Presentation Slides Upload Deadline: Monday, October 27

*If you are not being assisted or sponsored by a company or organization, and would be otherwise unable to attend for financial reasons, you may apply for travel funding. See below for more details.

Please review the sections below to find more information about the above dates and deadlines.

Registration

To confirm your participation and secure your speaking slot, it’s important to complete your registration by Tuesday, September 16, using the details you received in your notification email. If you require this information again, please reach out to the CNCF-hosted Co-located Event Content Team. Failure to register by the deadline may result in your slot being given to someone on our waitlist.

If you have already registered for the event and are now a speaker listed on the schedule, please reach out to our registration team to be issued a refund.

Complimentary registration is also extended to co-speakers or panelists from the original CFP submission. Please ensure their participation format aligns with yours before registering. For example, you cannot present in person if your co-speaker can only participate virtually.

If you’re attending the event in person, please review our Health + Safety page. Remember to check for updates as the event approaches.

Visa Letter Requests

If you require a visa letter, please register for the event, and then complete the visa letter request form.

Speaker Travel Funding

If you are not being assisted or sponsored by a company or organization, and would be otherwise unable to attend for financial reasons, you may apply for travel funding. The deadline for travel funding applications is Friday, September 12. When you apply:

Choose “KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2025.” Write “I am a speaker at [name of co-lo]” and include the sched.com link to your session. Please note that by applying, funding is not guaranteed. If awarded, certain conditions will apply.

Note: Talk acceptance does not guarantee travel funding. Notifications on travel funding will be sent no later than September 22.

Venue

This year’s event will take place at Georgia World Congress Center, Building B, located at 285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW, Atlanta, GA 30313. Visit Venue + Travel page for details on traveling to the venue.

Hotel Details

We have several discounted room blocks that we invite you to view on our Venue + Travel page. Rooms may sell out in advance of the room block close date, so we encourage you to book early to secure a room at the conference rate.

The schedule will be announced on Wednesday, August 13, and will be posted on our website using Sched.com.

IMPORTANT: Please note the following durations for session formats.

• Solo Presentation: 25 minutes, 1 speaker presenting on a topic
• Dual Presentation: 25 minutes, 2 speakers presenting on a topic
• Panel Discussion: 35 minutes of discussion amongst 3 to 5 speakers
• Lightning Talk: A brief 10 minute, presentation, maximum of 1 speaker

If you have a conflict with the timing of your talk, find that it conflicts with the content of another talk, or are having problems uploading your bio and photo, please contact the CNCF-hosted Co-located Event Content Team.

Please note the following technical requirements:

• All speakers must supply their own computers and HDMI adapters to use during their talk.
• Presentation slides should be formatted in 16:9. 
• Conference Wi-Fi will be available in all breakout rooms. If you’re planning on doing a demo, we strongly recommend pre-recording it as a best practice. Be sure to have a copy on your local drive.
• The room will include a screen, projector, and (1) microphone for each speaker, as well as shared microphones for panelists.
• If you require any additional AV, please email the CNCF-hosted Co-located Event Content Team by Friday, October 10. CNCF will make every effort to accommodate additional AV needs; however, final approval for additional AV requests will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Presentation Details

All speakers are required to submit a PDF-format version of their final presentation slides ahead of the event to Sched.com. We find that adding the presentations before the event helps to drive interest in attending the session. The deadline for presentations is Monday, October 27.

To upload slides:

• Log in to your speaker profile through Sched.com or via the mobile site
• On the top of the page click “Manage and Promote Your Session”
• Click “Add Presentation”
• Click in the “Select a File” box and add the PDF document (note: there is a 50MB size limit)
• Click “Upload” and your slides will automatically be saved

Branded Powerpoint

We designed an optional PowerPoint template for our speakers. Use of this template is not required but we do welcome you to use it for your convenience.

A template for each co-located event will be posted shortly.

The Linux Foundation, in collaboration with the National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT), has created an online course designed to teach the viewer about inclusion, diversity, and unconscious bias. It is strongly encouraged by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation that all our speakers watch the course to learn tips/tools to use when speaking to encourage inclusivity in presentations and messaging.

Please read and abide by our Code of Conduct, which is strictly enforced. We ask that speakers especially review and are careful to be inclusive in the words and images used during their presentation.

If you have any other venue, speaker, or schedule-related questions, please contact the CNCF-hosted Co-located Event Content Team.