Speaker Resources
This page contains all the information that #OpenEd26 speakers need to prepare for a great presentation. Contact contact@openeducationconference.org for support.
IMPORTANT DATES
August 31: Speaker Registration Deadline. The primary presenter for all live and pre-recorded sessions must be registered by this date.
October 1: Lightning Talk Deadline. All lightning talk presenters must submit their pre-recorded lightning talk video by this date.
October 1: Contributed Paper Pre-Publication Manuscripts Deadline. All accepted* contributed paper authors must submit their pre-publication manuscripts by this date.
October 27-29: Conference. We look forward to seeing you there!
*All contributed paper decisions will be communicated in early June. Please see the contributed papers section below or the conference FAQ for more details.
USEFUL LINKS
Live Sessions
All live sessions, including Panel Presentations (55 min), Full Presentations (40 min), and Short Presentations (20 min) will be presented virtually to a live audience.
How to Prepare
Before beginning to draft your presentation, please review the conference theme and your session type within the Call for Proposals.
We encourage you to consider interactivity and accessibility when preparing your session to ensure an inclusive experience for all participants. We encourage you to incorporate interactive elements such as chat engagement, polls, or collaborative documents to create an inclusive and engaging experience for your virtual audience. See this set of accessibility recommendations for guidance.
Keep a close eye on all email communications (sent to the primary presenter who is responsible for circulating to all co-presenters) leading up to the event.
The primary presenter of each session MUST register by the earlybird deadline of August 31. Please contact us if for any reason you are unable to do so. Cost waivers for registration are available by application, especially to students, those located in specific non-North American regions, and others for whom cost would be a barrier.
Remember that all session content is subject to the conference Code of Conduct.
What to Expect
The Zoom link to your session will be sent to the primary presenter’s email on Monday, October 26th and again on the morning of your presentation. The Zoom link will also be accessible to logged-in speakers and attendees from your session page in Sched.
Your session will be held on Zoom. Plan to have all speakers log into your session using the Zoom link 10 minutes before start time.
A conference volunteer serving as a session host will admit you to the Zoom room and help you test your audio, video, and screen sharing capabilities before admitting attendees.
The host will begin the session with a brief statement then start the recording. The host does not introduce you. Once the recording is on, you should introduce yourself and begin the session.
The host will timekeep during your session. Your allotted session time is the total time for the session, so you should leave at least 5 minutes of that time for questions.
The host will make sure the session ends on time. Once the recording is off, you may stay behind in the Zoom room briefly to informally address any remaining questions.
All virtual sessions will be recorded and shared with attendees in Sched as soon as the next day (unless you have requested and been approved for an exception). Recordings will then be openly released to the public a few months after the conference. Any recordings will be shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) unless otherwise arranged in advance.
Lightning Talks
All Lightning Talks (10 min) are pre-recorded and made available for on-demand viewing throughout the conference.
How to Prepare
Before beginning to draft your presentation, please review the conference theme and the Lightning Talk session type within the Call for Proposals. Lightning talks are short pre-recorded videos that offer a quick take on a story, case study, idea, or technique. Presenters are welcome to interpret the format either traditionally or creatively—you may simply record a talk or edit together a more stylized video.
Full technical instructions for preparing, recording and submitting your Lightning Talk video file are available in the Pre-Recorded Session Guide. It is important to remember that videos must not exceed 10 minutes (exactly), and this time limit will be strictly enforced. All videos must also include English captions for accessibility.
We encourage you to consider accessibility when preparing your session to ensure an inclusive experience for all participants. See this set of accessibility recommendations for guidance.
Keep a close eye on all email communications (sent to the primary presenter who is responsible for circulating to all co-presenters) leading up to the event.
The primary presenter of each session MUST register by the earlybird deadline of August 31. Please contact us if for any reason you are unable to do so. Cost waivers for registration are available by application, especially to students, those located in specific non-North American regions, and others for whom cost would be a barrier.
Remember that all session content is subject to the conference Code of Conduct.
What to Expect
Completed Lightning Talk recordings must be submitted by no later than October 1. This deadline will be strictly enforced to ensure there is adequate time for processing and review.
Lightning Talks will be made available for on-demand viewing throughout the conference and published on the conference’s YouTube channel under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International License, unless alternative arrangements are made in advance.
Lightning Talks are completely asynchronous. Presenters do notneed to be available at any specific time to “present“ their Lightning Talk, even though the lightning talk will appear at a scheduled time on the program.
Feel free to share/promote your Lightning Talk on social media or within the OpenEd26 Discord server!
Submission Deadline: OCTOBER 1
CONTRIBUTED PAPERS (NEW!)
Final decisions on contributed paper submissions have not yet been delivered. If you indicated on your conference submission that you would like to have your session considered for a contributed paper, your acceptance decisions will be delivered in two stages:
Proposals will have received a general decision on whether the session is accepted for the conference program on May 15, 2026. If your session was declined, your contributed paper is also declined. If your session was accepted, your abstract will proceed for consideration as a contributed paper.
Accepted proposals that requested consideration as a contributed paper will be notified of acceptance as a contributed paper by early June. Accepted session proposals remain accepted for the program regardless of the decision on the contributed paper.
If accepted as a contributed paper, pre-publication manuscripts will be due October 1, 2026 (about 2500-4000 words) and must be submitted using JOERHE’s template, which will be provided in the contributed papers acceptance notification. Accepted papers will go through an open peer review process and will be published as conference proceedings through JOERHE in early March, 2027 (in line with Open Education Week).
For more information on contributed papers, see the conference FAQ or reach out to contact@openeducationconference.org.