Category: Conferences

This is the preliminary programme for the Opencast Summit 2026 in Manchester. The main goal is to offer participants space and time to communicate and cooperate. This is why the event is in un-conference style, where sessions have to be seen as an suggestion: During the conference participants are welcome to ask for additional sessions, and sessions with a low demand may be skipped.

Tuesday, February 24th
(Pre-conference)

This pre-conference event is for Opencast committers and developers in particular:

• 12:00pm: Opencast architecture meeting.

For everyone who arrives earlier:

• 5:00pm (!): pre-conference get together at Sandbar (self funded beer and pizza)

Wednesday, February 25th

• 8:30am: Registration
• 9:00am Welcome to the conference
  • Welcome from our hosts: Alex Goffe, Deputy CIO at the University of Manchester
  • Welcome from the board
  • House-keeping
• 9:30am Stand-up from institutions present (2-3 min per team)
  • Current status of Opencast (infrastructure, number of videos/recordings, LMS and/or Tobira etc.)
  • Recent highlights for your team?
  • Goals for 2026
  • What are your expectations for the summit?
  • Feel free to present a few slides (not mandatory)
• 10:30am: Coffee break
• 11:00am: Update from the board regarding Linux Foundation Europe
• 11:15am: Opencast in numbers
• 11:30am: Opencast releases
• 12:00am: Short presentations :
  • Interactive videos in Opencast and your LMS
  • AI to come: Do we need a session? Markus, Rüdiger, Carlos, and Olaf
  • Come along for the ride: Opencast hardware at Osnabrück University
  • Opencast CLI tool (Matthias)
  • Paella Player update
  • Tobira update
  • Welcome to the chapter editor and interactive videos – and a cluttered editor?
  • … more to come
• 12:30pm: Lunch break
• 1:30pm: Short presentations – continued
• 2:30pm: Sponsor presentations
• 3:00pm: Coffee break
• 3:30pm
  • Room 1: Tobira users and developers meeting
  • Room 2: Unconference session 1
• 5:00pm: End of conference day
• 5:30pm: Walking tour, starting at Central Library (90 minutes approx.)
• 7:15pm: Dinner at Mackie Mayor (self funded, food hall with many, many options)

Thursday, 26th 2026

• 9:00am: Unconference planning
• 9:30am:
  • Room 1: Argh! Spring Security no more?
  • Room 2: Unconference session 2
• 10:30am: Coffee break
• 11:00am: Group photo
• 11:15am:
  • Room 1: Unconference session 3
  • Room 2: Unconference session 4
• 12:30pm: Lunch break
• 1:30pm:
  • Room 1: Unconference session 5
  • Room 2: Unconference session 6
• 3:00pm: Coffee break
• 3:30pm:
  • Room 1: Unconference session 7
  • Room 2: Unconference session 8
• 5:00pm: End of conference day
• 6:30pm: Conference Dinner at Kro Bar (alcoholic beverages at your own expense; details)

Friday, 27th 2026

• 9:00am
  • Room 1: Unconference session 9
  • Room 2: Unconference session 10
• 10:30am: Coffee break
• 11:00am:
  • Room 1: Unconference session 11
  • Room 2: Unconference session 12
• 12:30pm: Lunch break
• 1:30pm: Meet the Opencast board
• 2:00pm: Wrap-up of the conference
• 2:30pm: Probably some german-speaking people will use the opportunity for a discussion
• 7pm: Left-overs will probably have diner (tbd)

… is up to you! Please consider https://hackmd.io/@Vu4kD835RbW-4KAinEfSww/BJ57fxm7bx/edit the place to submit your proposals and suggest topics or meetings to happen. Happy new year, by the way.

Are available in Explore thanks to Lukas, some additional notes in the agenda. Thanks everyone for contributing and apologies for some heavy breathing from the moderator.

PS: You should have joined live for the sing-along …

Tuesday, December 9th, 1pm UTC¹.

• meet.opencast.video (p: welcome)
• agenda

¹⁾ 1pm UTC = 2pm Europe/Berlin

This year’s virtual summit will take place December 9th at 1pm UTC/GMT, says the poll. Submit your contributions and place your requests for topics to be covered at https://hackmd.io/r8rMRkirRRiem8bIuqbfyw until December 5th and join us at http://meet.opencast.video/.

While the summit in Manchester will be a chance for long-time collaborators to meet in person, it is an excellent opportunity for people new to the community as well: There will be a dedicated introductory session on day one (Wednesday February 25th), with service providers ssystems, shio solutions, and elan e. V. presenting “Opencast 101” as well as their offerings; plus of course the opportunity to ask questions or raise any issue related to Opencast . Feel free to join if this is your first summit.

The 2026 Opencast summit will be hosted at the University of Manchester, UK, from the 25^th to 27^th of February. We are happy to welcome the return from Opencast, after hosting the conference over 10 years ago in 2015.

Registration

Registration is open now, please complete the following form.

2026 Opencast Summit – Manchester – Fill in form

Registration is free – but binding (so that we can plan activities).

Venue

The conference will be hosted in the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), the main entrance is located at the East end of the building. The main room for the conference is The Penthouse, located on the 10^th floor, guides and signage will be available on the day. The secondary room is G.018 and is located on the ground floor.

For WiFi, Eduroam will be available throughout the building and guest access details will be provided. In terms of accessability, all rooms can be access by wheelchair users, if you have any specific accessibility requirements, please let the conference organisers know.

Visiting the UK as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen

Full advice is available at the following link, however please note, a valid passport (Reisepass) is required for most cases.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visiting-the-uk-as-an-eu-eea-or-swiss-citizen

Arriving in Manchester from the Airport

The best option from the airport is by train to the city centre. The closest train station to the venue is Manchester Oxford Road(MCO), tickets can be purchased from keyosk machines in the station (or by the Trailine app). The N=next nearest station is Manchester Picadilly (MAN). The tram system also operates from the Airport, with a tap-in, tap-out style card system using a bank card or mobile phone, don’t forget to tap-out at the end of your journey.

Hotels

The closest option is the Hyatt Regency.

More affordable options include:

Premier Inn Manchester City Centre

Holiday Inn Express Manchester

Social Events

Details to follow

We’re returning to the University of Manchester for the international summit, February 25-27. The UK requires electronic travel authorisation ETA for entering, so please catch up on the process and documents required as early as possible!

The following article is in German, as it is about the German-speaking community meeting.

Liebe Community,
 
 in 4 Wochen ist es schon so weit und wir dürfen euch zur Opencast DACH 2025 in Jena begrüßen.

Wir beginnen am Montag 17 Uhr mit einem informellen Treffen und zeigen euch unsere Aufzeichnungsräume und treffen uns anschließend  ab 18.30 Uhr zum „Get Together“ im Restaurant zur Noll. (Selbstzahlerbasis).
 
Traditionell möchten wir am Dienstag wieder mit den „Blitzlichtern“ aus den Einrichtungen beginnen. Gefolgt von spannenden Kurzvorträgen zu aktuellen Themen, werden wir anschließend in die „Unconference“ übergehen, um über eure Fragestellungen und Probleme zu diskutieren.
 
 Wir würden Euch bitten:

• Dass von jedem Standort wieder jemand einen 2 bis 3-minütigen Bericht über den Stand des Opencast an der Einrichtung vorbereitet. Selbst wenn noch gar kein Opencast läuft und offene Fragen gerade im Vordergrund stehen, ist das auch für andere sicherlich wissenswert. Tragt euch bitte mit in die die Liste  ein, damit wir einen Überblick bekommen.
• Falls ihr Kurzvorträge halten möchtet, tragt euch bitte mit dem Thema und Angabe eures Namens in die Liste der Kurzvorträge ein. Bitte gebt auch an, ob ihr das Thema des Vortrags im Rahmen der Unconference gerne in größerer Gruppe diskutieren möchtet.
• Für die “Session” könnt ihr ebenfalls eigene Themen vorschlagen, das sind 60 bis 90-minütige Diskussionen oder sonstige Formate.
  
   

Wir freuen uns auf eure Beiträge – bitte reicht diese bis zum 10. September ein!

In den kommenden Tagen folgt ein Blogpost mit Details zur Anreise, zum Tagungsort und zur Agenda – diese wird fortlaufend aktualisiert und ist hier zu finden.

Die Anmeldung zur Veranstaltung ist übrigens hier noch möglich.

The following article is in German, as it is about the German-speaking community meeting.

Um unseren Gastgebern in Jena die Planung für den 15. bis 17. September zu erleichtern: Meldet euch bitte vor dem Sommerloch für das deutschsprachige Treffen an und macht dabei gerne Vorschläge zu dessen Inhalten. Das umfasst sowohl Vorträge als auch Themen, die ihr besprechen möchtet.

Wir suchen für die Programmgestaltung ausserdem noch Freiwillige, die sich direkt in Jena melden können.