Speaker Guide

Thank you for speaking at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2025, taking place November 10-13 at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

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 Content Team.

• Speaker Registration Deadline: Friday, August 22
• Travel Fund Request Deadline: Friday, September 12
• Finalized Schedule Date: Friday, October 10
• Additional AV Requests Due: Friday, October 10
• Last Day to Request Speaker Additions or Changes: Friday, October 17
• Presentation Upload to Sched Deadline: Wednesday, November 5
• Event Dates: November 10-13, 2025

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 Friday, August 22, using the details you received in your notification email. If you require this information again, please reach out to the CNCF Content Team. Be sure to submit any accommodation needs when registering. 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 in order to be issued a refund.

Complimentary registration is also extended to co-speakers or panelists from the original CFP submission.

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

We place an emphasis on funding applicants who are from historically underrepresented or untapped groups and/or those of lower socioeconomic status.

If you work for a company that has the ability to fund your travel, we ask that you not apply, to save funds for those in need.

We receive thousands of requests for funding each year. CNCF is trying to use funds to assist as many people as possible. As such:

• We are often unable to fund one person across multiple events in a year
• Lower cost travel funding requests are more likely to get approved
• We typically do not fund the same person two years in a row

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.

Note: Talk acceptance does not guarantee travel funding.

Venue

This year’s event will take place at Georgia World Congress Center located at 285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW, Atlanta, GA 30313.

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, July 30, and will be posted on our website using Sched.com.

• Please note that all lightning talks are 5 minutes, maintainer and breakout sessions are 30 minutes, and tutorials are 75 minutes. These durations include any time for Q+A.
• 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 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. 
• IMPORTANT: Ensure you are presenting in Light Mode. Presentations in Dark Mode may darken and remove blue light to create a warmer, yellowish or orange tone that may not be desired.
• The room will include a screen, projector, and microphones for speaker or panelist.
• 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.
• It is recommended to add a download link to your session description if attendees need any materials in advance. To help keep the network running smoothly, we also suggest avoiding online voting or activities that require everyone to be online at the same time.
• If you require any additional AV, please email the CNCF 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. As a reminder, you will be driving the presentation from your laptop via PowerPoint and this PDF version is only for attendees to review. The deadline for presentations is Wednesday, November 5.

To upload slides, please review these Sched.com instructions, which includes steps and screenshots to upload your presentation PDF.:

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.

Please see the section below for additional information on the CNCF brand guide.

Lightning talks will take place during the event, each lasting a maximum of 5 minutes. Please refer to the schedule for the confirmed date and time. Lightning Talks selected from the CFP will be presented as plug-and-play using your own laptop at the podium, following the same AV Details + Requirements outlined above. An emcee will introduce each Lightning Talk, and they will be presented in the scheduled order.

 If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the CNCF Content Team.

Posters will be presented in a digital format displayed in the solutions showcase during KubeCrawl + CloudNativeFest on Tuesday, November 11, 6:15 – 7:45 PM. Attendees will have the opportunity to walk around the poster area, interact with poster presenters, ask questions, and engage in discussions. Presenters stand with their posters to provide explanations, answer queries, and engage in conversations with those interested in their work.

• Authors must bring their USB-A flash drive and arrive at the Poster Pavilion in the Solution Showcase between 5:15 – 5:45 PM on Tuesday, November 11 to upload their poster to the LED monitor.
• Authors must staff their poster booth during their scheduled poster session. If you have a co-presenter, coordinate to ensure at least one of you is present.
• After the Poster Sessions conclude, the posters will remain displayed on the monitors throughout the Solutions Showcase hours on November 12–13.
• Please upload your poster to Sched to ensure it’s accessible for attendees to browse.

Digital Poster Presentation Instructions

Please bring your poster presentation on a flash drive to connect to the LED monitor. We recommend you upload to our Poster Sessions folder as backup.

Technical specifications

• Format: single slide in JPEG or PNG format. We also recommend creating a backup version in PPT or PDF format.
• File Size: Keep the file size under 10 MB for faster loading and smoother display. If needed, compress images to reduce file size without losing quality.
• Resolution:
  • 3840 x 2160 pixels (4K resolution)
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (Widescreen)
• Orientation: Landscape
• Minimum Pixel Dimensions: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) for upscaling
• Resolution for Images or Graphics: 300 dpi
• Color Mode: RGB
• File Name Requirements: To avoid any compatibility issues, please do not use special characters (e.g. «, Ö, Ø, ñ, ε, ®, ý, }, { ) in the file name. 
• Use common fonts such as Arial or Calibri at size 16 or higher to ensure readability and consistency.

Best Practices

• Be clear and concise – Organize content with clear headings and bullet points, ensuring an attention-grabbing title.
• Create engaging visuals – Use high-quality graphics and readable fonts consistently throughout the poster.
• Keep your content focused – Highlight key findings, articulate research questions and conclusions without unnecessary jargon.
• Engage with your audience – Adapt explanations, practice a concise elevator pitch, maintain approachability, and provide handouts for further engagement.
• Give a logical layout – Design a logical flow with visual cues, considering the “F-pattern” reading habit displayed below:

Please reach out to Elna Vogel for any questions regarding poster sessions.

We are pleased to offer speaker cards for you to share online and on your social media! Example promotions and graphics can be found in the Speaker Kit.

The official conference name is KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2025. Please use the full name when creating your presentation. You may shorten the name to just KubeCon + CloudNativeCon, but you may not refer to the conference as KubeCon only. Please refer to the CNCF Style Guide for a list of appropriate names and abbreviations.

Official conference logos and other CNCF artwork are available for download on GitHub:

• KubeCon + CloudNativeCon logos
• CNCF logos and artwork

Before using any logos or artwork, please note:

• You must use the full KubeCon + CloudNativeCon conference logo. It is not permitted to use the KubeCon or CloudNativeCon logos separate from each other.
• Use of any trademark or logo is subject to the trademark policy.
• If you would like to use the Kubernetes logo for booth graphics, collateral, or swag, please adhere to the usage guidelines.
• The Certified Kubernetes marks may be used only by companies who are certified through CNCF’s Certified Kubernetes Software Conformance program. All usage cases must comply with the brand guidelines.

If you have any questions about trademarked logos, please email info@cncf.io.

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 Content Team.