Resources for virtual events
While the PSF is preparing to re-launch it’s grants program, we put together a list of free (some limited) resources our community can use to host virtual conferences, user group meetings, and sprints!
| Basic needs for virtual events | Free options |
|---|---|
| Ways to schedule, promote, and take registrations for your event | 1. https://allevents.in/ may be a good free alternative for meetup.com, but not as robust, not as strong for long term use, and you only get 200 credits for sending invitations out. 2. Eventbrite is free to use for free events 3. Use social media! Organizers can send social media outreach material (such as tweets, blurbs for mailing lists) about their events to the PSF to share. |
| Video & voice presentation platforms | 1. Jitsi (recommended up to 8 people) 2. Google Meet (up to 100 participants for free) 3. Twitch.tv 4. YouTube Live/Premier 5. Zoom (free up to 100 participants and 40 min cap) 6. Discord (supports free video calls with up to 25 participants) |
| Software for creating presentations | 1. OpenOffice 2. LibreOffice 3. Google Slides 4. https://cryptpad.fr/ 5. Software that comes with your computer |
| Text chat platforms | 1. IRC 2. Zulip 3. Discord (note: hosting a server for these could cost money) |
| Software to document with/take notes, use for prep work, preferably with team collaboration | 1. Etherpad 2. Google Docs 3. https://hackmd.io/ 4. https://cryptpad.fr/ |
| People! You may need presenters, volunteers, help desk folks, tutorial assistants | 1. Contact your local user group mailing list 2. Reach out to folks via social media 3. Email the psf-community@ mailing list 4. Contact the PSF for a free mailing list for your user group/event. |
Additional resources put together by community organizers
- Open source software alternatives
- EuroPython resource list
- ACM tips
- Speaker tips from EuroPython
- FOSS Responder Discourse
- Interspace collection of OS tools
- Online facilitation & community management tips
- Virtual meeting dynamics
- Virtual Sprint tips
- Virtual Sprints using Discord [TBA]
- Experiences gained from PyCon US 2020 Online [TBA]
- Discounted internet (US only, sorry! If you know of support provided in other countries, let us know!)