Speaker Guide

We are excited to welcome you as a speaker for OpenSearchCon Europe 2025, taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Wednesday, 30 April – Thursday, 1 May.

This is your official speaker guide. Please bookmark this page for easy reference, and continue to check back as the event gets closer for additional speaker information. If you have any questions, please email Carolyn Ingalls at cingalls@linuxfoundation.org.

• Schedule Announced: Tuesday, 4 February
• Speaker Registration Deadline: Tuesday, 18 February
• Additional AV Needs Deadline: Friday, 28 March
• Slides Due Date: Friday, 25 April
• Event Dates: Wednesday, 30 April – Thursday, 1 May 

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

To confirm your participation and secure your speaking slot, it’s important to complete your registration by Tuesday, 18 February, using the details you received in your notification email. If you need those details again, please contact Carolyn Ingalls.

Visa Letter Request

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

We also ask that you please note the following:

• Provision of a visa letter by The Linux Foundation does not guarantee visa approval as final approval is made at the sole discretion of the government of the event’s host country.
• The Linux Foundation strongly recommends requesting a visa letter at your earliest possible convenience and to contact your local Embassy/Consulate with any visa questions you may have.
• The Linux Foundation processes most visa letter requests in (3) business days.

OpenSearchCon Europe 2025 will take place at:

Mövenpick Hotel Amsterdam City Centre
Piet Heinkade 11
1019 BR Amsterdam, Netherlands

Please visit the Venue & Travel page for more information.

The schedule will be announced on Tuesday, 4 February, and posted on our website using Sched.com. You will receive an email directly from Sched.com asking you to create your account; please make sure your speaker profile is accurate.

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 updating your speaker profile, please contact Carolyn Ingalls.

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 wifi 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.
• The room will include a screen, projector, and (1) microphone for each speaker or panelist.

If you require any additional AV, please email Carolyn Ingalls by Friday, 28 March. The Linux Foundation 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.

Deadline to upload slides: Friday, 25 April

All speakers are required to submit their final presentation slides ahead of the event. In addition to providing a hard copy for accessibility purposes, we find that adding the presentations before the event helps to drive interest in attending the session.

A branded presentation template is available to download. Use of the template is optional.

Please note that your presentation slides should be submitted in PDF format to Sched.com and must be formatted in 16:9.

To upload slides:

• Log into your OpenSearchCon Europe 2025 speaker profile through Sched.com
• Go to your session within Sched
• Click on Session tools to the right of the session title
• Underneath the session title, select Add Presentation
• Upload your pdf document (note: there is a 50MB size limit)
• The presentation will automatically save to your session
• Or send to Carolyn Ingalls who will upload them on your behalf

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. We highly recommend all of 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 can be found here. Our code of conduct is strictly enforced. We ask that speakers especially review this code of conduct and are careful to be inclusive in the words and images used during their presentations.

Do you have a speaker or schedule-related question?

Please contact Carolyn Ingalls at cingalls@linuxfoundation.org.