Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
We are excited to bring the DevConf India chapter back, this time in Pune!

General Questions
Yes, we can provide a visa invitation letter to accepted speakers and registered attendees. Please fill out the form to request a visa invitation letter. If you need the visa invitation letter before our acceptance letters are sent out or before registration opens, specify the reason in the 'Additional Information' section of the form.
You can reach the organizers by emailing info@devconf.in. The official chat platform for communication is Matrix.
CfP Questions
DevConf.IN is primarily an in-person event with some virtual elements, such as conference chat and streaming of select sessions. However, all presentations must be delivered in person, and virtual presentations are not an option.
A talk is where you present, usually with slides and demos, to an audience. The default time slot for each talk and Q&A is 35 minutes (we recommend 25-minute talk and 10-minute Q&A). A talk has one primary speaker and, optionally, a secondary speaker.

A talk should be bite-sized and focused on a certain topic. This means that you should not expect to be able to cover multiple broad areas in one talk. You can submit more than one proposal, to cover a set of topics, but we cannot guarantee their final scheduled order. Therefore, we recommend topics be independent so that they do not need to be presented in a specific order.

Please note that this year all presentations will be delivered in person.
A lightning talk is a short presentation focused on getting people interested in something new. The goal of the lightning talk is to convey key information in a clear and concise manner. Smaller technical topics, project introductions, and research/thesis topic introductions are great topics for lightning talks.

A lightning talk is 15 minutes long. A lightning talk has one primary speaker.

All lightning talks are delivered in person.
A workshop is a hands-on demo where you and other workshop leads interact with the audience with the goal to share your knowledge and experience on a particular bite-sized topic. The goal of a workshop is to teach or practice a skill. As a result, workshops should be actionable and goal-oriented.

A workshop is 80 minutes long. We allow up to 3 active presenters in a workshop. You must designate one of them to be the primary session leader.

All workshops are conducted live and are not recorded or streamed.
Meetups are organized as in-person meetings. They are open to all participants, and they serve as a place for open discussions during the dedicated time, sharing the latest project developments and interaction with contributors and attendees.

A meetup is 80 minutes long. We allow up to 3 active presenters in a meetup. You must designate one of them to be the primary session leader.

All meetups are conducted live and are not recorded nor streamed.
A booth is a staffed table at the event. Booths are open to all participants at all times, and they serve as a place for conversations about the project and interaction with contributors, users, and attendees.

There must be at least one person at the booth at all times and there must be at least two staff members registered. Preference is given to booths that will run on both days.
Matrix questions
A Matrix server is a communication platform. It supports many methods of communication, including text, voice, and video streaming. Matrix is an open standard for interoperable, decentralized, real-time communication over IP. Learn more at https://matrix.org/faq/.
Matrix servers are all federated. This means you can use another Matrix server account on the DevConf server. For this reason we don’t offer direct user registration.

Many online and open source communities host Matrix servers and offer accounts. You can also self-host. Here are some places to get an account:

While creating an account, you will be asked to choose a client and you can choose the client based on your preferences. We recommend using Element because it supports all features we use at DevConf events, such as “spaces”, “threads” and “pinned events”.

Absolutely! DevConf rooms are public and federated, which means you can use your existing account to join. Open https://matrix.to/#/#2025.in:devconf.cz to get started.
The server will be online for the duration of the conference. We believe Matrix offers the best possible solution for mixing local and remote attendees, and we have already invested significant effort into its implementation. While we cannot guarantee its continued availability beyond the conference, we are committed to exploring Matrix as a long-term communication solution. Your feedback and experience will be valuable in shaping our future decisions.

Because Matrix is decentralized and users registered on other servers, you’ll remain able to connect with each other via direct messages and other chat rooms even if our server is taken offline.

In theory, any client should allow you to join the devconf.cz rooms. However, not all clients support all features, #2025.in:devconf.cz for example takes advantage of “spaces”, “threads” or “pinned events”. If your client does not support these features, you may not have the optimal experience. We recommend using Element, because it supports all features we use.
Registration Questions
Admission to DevConf.IN is free and only requires that you register for a free ticket.
We use registration to manage several logistics issues around DevConf.IN.