[EMFCamp 2026] XMPP village for outreach
Good evening, I have discussed this on XMPP already, however I was recommended to bring this to the members mailing list, however back when I was recommended I was not a member, so thank you all who elected me, and for those who encouraged and helped me apply. I feel like getting an XMPP presence at EMFCamp would be a good way to outreach to new people. EMFCamp isn't just FOSS, its tech/engineering as a whole allowing to outreach to people outside the usual bubbles. I have been told that there is some XMPP stuff at CCCamp, this would be similar. What are villages? Villages are groups of tents around a central theme, in this case it would be XMPP. We would hopefully have people interested in XMPP camp around the village, and then in the centre of the village have a few tables or something to show off XMPP (see the idea) and have stickers and stuff. I still need to speak to some people on the feasibility of this, but for now this is the "draft" so to speak. The idea? Villages should have a lot more space than at FOSDEM, so this gives a lot more room to show more stuff off. I am dividing it up into 3 areas. 1. Server side I would like to copy Ralph's idea from FOSDEM, and setup an XMPP server on a SBC, and then run it on a table for everyone to see. The event itself is entirely Matrix (unfortunately), so my idea is to have an unofficial chat for the event, and hopefully as we progress through the event more and more people will yap on the XMPP MUC(s) hosted on a SBC which you can see yourself, hopefully showing off the power of XMPP. Someone suggested (sorry forgot who it was) that we also allow antonymous login, to quickly onboard people for the event, the MUCs and any accounts will be deleted after the event, and all data erased. 2. Client side I have many spare laptops, and phones, as I do quite a bit of device repair. I should have a spare iphone for showing off Monal, then I planned to have an android phone (or a few) to show off conversations (and maybe its forks, cheogram and monocles chat). Then for desktop, gajim/dino, I might put gajim onto windows and then dino on Linux so its more inclusive for those who don't daily drive Linux. Potentially show off some of the web implementations too, such as movim and converse, however I don't want to do too many as I need to be able to handle the workload. The idea is so that people can pick up a device, and play with it (test accounts), I stole this idea from PostmarketOS. Speaking of PostmarketOS maybe it would be cool to have a Linux phone running XMPP as well? 3. Providers (if I have help) It would be amazing if one or maybe a few providers could be there. In the modern age, I feel a lot of people are interested in where there data is stored and how it is stored so it would potentially be interesting to have someone who has hands on experience with this. What do I need? I can pretty much do most of this myself, I already have leaflets and stickers from FOSDEM which I wanted to distribute at EuroBSDCon. Most of the gear I can provide. I do not drive however, so I can carry the devices to show off, stickers and leaflets, but might need some help with the setup of the central part of the village to show off the stuff. I have already had one person (forgot who it was) who offered to help. Obviously having as many XSF members, and XMPP users as possible would be cool, but not required, most of this I could handle myself. Attending? The website [1] has a ton of information, this is a paid event, prices can be seen here [2], tickets are released in batches, and are snapped up quickly, so it might be difficult to get tickets, the times of ticket dumps follows: • Monday 9th March, 20:00 UTC • Sunday 22nd March, 15:00 UTC • Thursday 2nd April, 18:00 BST If you would like to help out, please let me know. This is still a "draft", and not set in stone. I haven't even got a ticket yet for example :p Thank you for reading, -- Polarian Jabber/XMPP: polarian@icebound.dev [1] https://www.emfcamp.org/ [2] https://www.emfcamp.org/tickets
Hi Polarian, Thanks for bringing this to the list, and congratulations on becoming a member! This sounds like a fun and worthwhile idea! I'm not personally very familiar with EMF Camp, but from what I've seen it seems to attract a fairly similar crowd to Chaos Communication Camp. Since you mentioned that there has been XMPP-related activity there before, it might be worthwhile reaching out to some of the people who were involved with that and asking about their experiences. They may have useful insights about what worked well, what didn't, and what tends to attract people in that kind of environment. Another thing that might be useful is to look at the feedback that was published last week about the XMPP presence at FOSDEM. There were quite a few observations and suggestions in there that could probably translate well to a setup like the one you're describing. One suggestion from my side: it can help to have something "moving" on screens at the booth. Things like a rotating set of "Did you know?"" factoids about XMPP, or something visual such as the XMPP network graph, tend to catch people's attention when they walk past. When people stop to look for a moment, that naturally creates an opportunity to start a conversation and get them interested. Also, you're already putting quite a lot of thought and effort into this, which is great to see. At the same time, I'd encourage you not to overextend yourself. It's perfectly fine to start with a somewhat smaller setup, see what works (and what doesn't), and then improve things over time. Many successful event presences have evolved exactly that way year over year. From the XSF side, there is a bit of support available through the Summits, Conferences, and Meetups Team, though it's somewhat limited in scope - typically things like helping to get stickers or leaflets to people who are representing XMPP at events. That said, there is quite a lot of collective experience across the community when it comes to organizing or attending conferences and camps. It might be useful to find a way to tap into that knowledge ahead of time. And afterwards, it would be great if you could share what you learned so others can benefit from it in the future. All in all, this sounds like it could be a really fun outreach opportunity. I hope it works out and becomes a success! Kind regards, Guus On Sun, Mar 8, 2026 at 5:47 PM Polarian via Members <members@xmpp.org> wrote:
Good evening,
I have discussed this on XMPP already, however I was recommended to bring this to the members mailing list, however back when I was recommended I was not a member, so thank you all who elected me, and for those who encouraged and helped me apply.
I feel like getting an XMPP presence at EMFCamp would be a good way to outreach to new people. EMFCamp isn't just FOSS, its tech/engineering as a whole allowing to outreach to people outside the usual bubbles. I have been told that there is some XMPP stuff at CCCamp, this would be similar.
What are villages?
Villages are groups of tents around a central theme, in this case it would be XMPP. We would hopefully have people interested in XMPP camp around the village, and then in the centre of the village have a few tables or something to show off XMPP (see the idea) and have stickers and stuff.
I still need to speak to some people on the feasibility of this, but for now this is the "draft" so to speak.
The idea?
Villages should have a lot more space than at FOSDEM, so this gives a lot more room to show more stuff off.
I am dividing it up into 3 areas.
1. Server side
I would like to copy Ralph's idea from FOSDEM, and setup an XMPP server on a SBC, and then run it on a table for everyone to see. The event itself is entirely Matrix (unfortunately), so my idea is to have an unofficial chat for the event, and hopefully as we progress through the event more and more people will yap on the XMPP MUC(s) hosted on a SBC which you can see yourself, hopefully showing off the power of XMPP.
Someone suggested (sorry forgot who it was) that we also allow antonymous login, to quickly onboard people for the event, the MUCs and any accounts will be deleted after the event, and all data erased.
2. Client side
I have many spare laptops, and phones, as I do quite a bit of device repair. I should have a spare iphone for showing off Monal, then I planned to have an android phone (or a few) to show off conversations (and maybe its forks, cheogram and monocles chat).
Then for desktop, gajim/dino, I might put gajim onto windows and then dino on Linux so its more inclusive for those who don't daily drive Linux.
Potentially show off some of the web implementations too, such as movim and converse, however I don't want to do too many as I need to be able to handle the workload.
The idea is so that people can pick up a device, and play with it (test accounts), I stole this idea from PostmarketOS. Speaking of PostmarketOS maybe it would be cool to have a Linux phone running XMPP as well?
3. Providers (if I have help)
It would be amazing if one or maybe a few providers could be there. In the modern age, I feel a lot of people are interested in where there data is stored and how it is stored so it would potentially be interesting to have someone who has hands on experience with this.
What do I need?
I can pretty much do most of this myself, I already have leaflets and stickers from FOSDEM which I wanted to distribute at EuroBSDCon.
Most of the gear I can provide. I do not drive however, so I can carry the devices to show off, stickers and leaflets, but might need some help with the setup of the central part of the village to show off the stuff. I have already had one person (forgot who it was) who offered to help.
Obviously having as many XSF members, and XMPP users as possible would be cool, but not required, most of this I could handle myself.
Attending?
The website [1] has a ton of information, this is a paid event, prices can be seen here [2], tickets are released in batches, and are snapped up quickly, so it might be difficult to get tickets, the times of ticket dumps follows:
• Monday 9th March, 20:00 UTC • Sunday 22nd March, 15:00 UTC • Thursday 2nd April, 18:00 BST
If you would like to help out, please let me know. This is still a "draft", and not set in stone. I haven't even got a ticket yet for example :p
Thank you for reading, -- Polarian Jabber/XMPP: polarian@icebound.dev
[1] https://www.emfcamp.org/ [2] https://www.emfcamp.org/tickets
Good afternoon, Unfortunately I was unable to get a ticket this year, all 3 rounds sold out in seconds. I do not know any other XSF member, or anyone who showed and interest in helping out who got a ticket either. Therefore I am calling off this idea, there was another conference happening this month which likely would have been better suited (as the tickets haven't sold out entirely :P) however its too late for that now. There's ongoing discussions about distributing some XMPP material at oggcamp in Manchester later this month, nothing confirmed yet. Apologies for the noise, -- Polarian Jabber/XMPP: polarian@icebound.dev
Dear Polarian! Thank you for the information, same for the CCC in Germany, these tickets are sold at unbelievable pace. So it is no noise but valuable information. Thanks for your efforts and thoughts! eevvoor On 4/4/26 4:34 PM, Polarian via Members wrote:
Good afternoon,
Unfortunately I was unable to get a ticket this year, all 3 rounds sold out in seconds. I do not know any other XSF member, or anyone who showed and interest in helping out who got a ticket either.
Therefore I am calling off this idea, there was another conference happening this month which likely would have been better suited (as the tickets haven't sold out entirely :P) however its too late for that now.
There's ongoing discussions about distributing some XMPP material at oggcamp in Manchester later this month, nothing confirmed yet.
Apologies for the noise,
participants (3)
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eevvoor -
Guus der Kinderen -
Polarian