Sli.do moderation guide for PyCon CZ

The main reason for question moderation is that some people like to hide behind the anonymity and be rude. The second, less important reason is they ask questions that are unrelated to the topic. Here’s a basic guide followed by some examples of questions and comments that should and should not be approved (some of them we actually got as questions, some are made up):

How to ask / vote on questions

  1. Go to www.sli.do and use #pyconcz code to join the event

  2. Choose the room you are in.

  3. Type your question or upvote already existing ones.

How to setup presentation wall view (used on screen after speaker’s slides end)

  1. Follow steps 1 and 2 from How to ask guide.

  2. Click on the tiny link at the bottom left side that says Present view.

  3. Switch the room (right top corner) if needed (the wall doesn’t care about the choice you made when entering the event).

How to moderate

  1. Go to www.sli.do and log in (ask for credentials if you don’t have them, @veruu is your main contact but every moderator should have them).

  2. Choose PyCon CZ <YEAR> event.

  3. In the menu row, click on Questions and switch to the correct room (right side on the same menu) if needed.

  4. New questions will appear in the window on the left side (called Incoming). After you assess it (not rude, dismissive etc. - see examples at the end of this guide, check with CoC or ask other organizers around you or on Slack if you aren’t sure), click on the green check mark to approve the question (only now will it be shown publicly) or the red cross to dismiss it.

  5. After the talk ends, it’s time for Q&A. Going from the top to the bottom of the „Live“ list, click on the double blue arrow to highlight the question which the room moderator should read. After the question is answered, click on the box to archive it and highlight the next one.

  6. If you accidentally dismiss a good question or archive one that wasn’t answered yet, go to the Archived list on the top of the right window and click on the circled arrow to restore the question. Based on whether the question was approved or not, it will show either in the waiting list or the live stream window.

  7. If there are some unanswered questions left after Q&A ends (eg. the time ran out), you can archive them by clicking on Archive all on the right side of the screen (right below the room switcher), no need to archive each question separately. This doesn’t archive the questions in the moderation queue so if there are any, you need to archive them separately. It shouldn’t happen to you though - try to check the questions right as they arrive so people can vote on them longer!

Question examples

The speaker put no effort into the talk and just read everything

It doesn’t matter whether the comment is true or not. Sli.do is not a way to submit feedback to the talk (and even if it was it can be expressed in a nicer way). This question should not be approved.

Are you seeing a girl?

How is this related to the talk, and how is it appropriate to ask a speaker during the conference at all? This is not Tinder and personal questions should not be approved.

You have a nice beard

Inappropriate and shouldn’t be approved, no further explanation needed.

<speaker talks about teaching Python> How did you get to learn Python?

While this is borderline personal question it’s is still on topic for this talk as it’s about learning and getting people to learn; and should be approved

<speaker talks about a technical thing> Do you know library XYZ which does something similar?

Straightforward question that’s on topic that definitely should be approved.

Nice talk

This is a comment that doesn’t have any value and shouldn’t be approved.

Nice talk! I have one comment, you mentioned project ABC didn’t support Python3 but they actually added the support a few months ago

While it’s a comment and not a question, it should be approved as it politely points out something the audience should know that’s related to the talk.

Poznámka

As you can see in the examples it’s usually pretty clear if the question is appropriate or not. General rule of thumb is to not let through rude and dismissive comments and let through the rest. In case you aren’t sure if the question is OK feel free to ask other organizers!