DConf Online '22 is this weekend, December 17 & 18. The
livestream links and links to all the videos I've uploaded are
published at https://dconf.org/2022/online/index.html. A couple
of the talks aren't ready and have no links yet, but the rest are
there. The remainder will be ready to go by Saturday.
### Overview of how to participate
I had intended to publish a video on how to participate in DConf
Online '22, but circumstances conspired against me. I'll try to
make time for it tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's a text
description.
* The Q & A livestream turns on at 13:45 UTC on Saturday and
Sunday. I'll be in around 13:50 to kick things off.
* Each speaker will join me in the livestream 5 minutes before
their talk starts. So the first speaker will be there by 13:55,
the second by 15:10, etc.
* During each talk, I'll have a conversation with the speaker in
the livestream. I'll be recording it for publishing as a separate
Q & A video after the conference. Viewers are encouraged to
*leave the livestream* and watch the speaker's talk. Our
conversation will be full of pauses and gaps as I tweet, answer
emails, and do other things. The edited version after the
conference will be more interesting.
* Also during each talk, the speaker will answer any questions
posed in the talk's chat box, first by typing a short answer in
the chat box, and second by verbalizing that answer in the
livestream and possibly verbally elaborating with more details.
Again, I'm talking about the chat box on the pre-recorded video,
not the livestream chat. Any question in the livestream chat will
be answered verbally.
* After each talk, viewers will automatically be redirected back
to the livestream for the Q & A session. Any viewer whose
question gets answered in the post-talk Q & A will be eligible
for prizes.
* We'll end the Q & A session at an appropriate point (when the
there are no more questions, when we have less than 20 minutes
before the next talk, etc) and the livestream will go quiet until
5 minutes before the next talk.
### Special sessions
There are three special sessions this year that won't follow the
above pattern:
* The AUA with Walter and Atila takes place entirely in the
livestream. It's like a post-talk Q & A without the talk.
* Adam Ruppe's livecoding session is in a separate livestream.
We'll have a break after the Day One Q & A livestream ends,
during which time Adam and I will set up his livestream. We'll
start broadcasting it at 20:15 UTC on Saturday. He's told me
he'll go at least an hour-and-a-half, but I don't know yet what
he's coding this year.
* Brian Callahan's workshop at 20:15 UTC on Sunday is a
pre-recorded video, but it's taking place *after* the Day Two Q &
A Livestream ends. He has a talk at 19:00, the last regular talk
of the conference, that is the same as other talks: he'll be in
the livestream at 18:55, we'll chat during his talk, and we'll
have a Q & A at the end. After that talk, we'll wrap up the
livestream sometime by 20:00. Brian's workshop video will
premiere at 20:15. He'll be available to answer questions in the
video's chat box, but there will be no livestream at that point.
### The Q & A sessions
There are two problems that have come up in the past editions of
DConf Online with the freeform livechat Q & A sessions we've had.
First, questioners had to stick around until the end of each talk
to know if they won that session's prize, until the end of each
day to know if they won the daily prize, and until the end of the
second day to know if they won the grand prize. Then they had to
email me and take an extra step to verify that they own the
YouTube handle that won the prize.
Second, in the AUA last year the livestream chat was so busy, we
couldn't keep up with the questions. Razvan and I both were
scrolling and squinting to see the questions people were telling
us we missed, and things got further crowded with all the chatter
about missed questions.
This year, I've set up an email address for the Q & A sessions:
q...@dlang.org. We'll still take questions from the livestream,
but anyone who wants to be eligible for a prize will need to
email their question to that address. It works like this:
* You only need to email your *first question* for each talk's Q
& A session (the AUA is an exception; see below) and only if you
want to be eligible for a prize.
* Additional questions from the same person, or any questions
from anyone who doesn't care about the prize, can be asked in the
livestream chat, but should be prefixed with "QNA:" so that they
stand out.
* For the AUA, to avoid a repeat of the crowded chat from last
year, we will only take questions via email.
Emails should have the following format:
__Subject__: Name of the question's target (e.g., Walter)
__Body__: The question, followed by either a) the name you wish
to be addressed by in the chat if we announce you as the winner
of a prize (your
