Cat Herding with Lions and Tigers - Christian Heilmann

A tiny team organizes a massive 15,000-person conference. Discover the automation secrets they use to process terabytes of video and make every talk searchable.

#1about 2 minutes

Organizing a developer conference for 15,000 attendees

A small team of 40 people successfully manages a massive three-day event with 10 stages and 600 presentations.

#2about 5 minutes

Using content channels to build an event community

Nurturing a community through newsletters, magazines, and podcasts is key to finding reliable CFP reviewers, speakers, moderators, and volunteers.

#3about 3 minutes

Selecting strategic partners and essential event tools

Partner with professional AV crews and use specialized tools like Sessionize for CFPs and Tito for ticketing to ensure a smooth event.

#4about 3 minutes

Establishing a single source of truth for all data

Use a unique ID for every speaker and session in a central spreadsheet to avoid chaos and enable post-production automation.

#5about 3 minutes

Automating video post-production with local scripts

Process large volumes of video data efficiently by running local automation scripts with tools like FFmpeg and ImageMagick instead of relying on expensive cloud services.

#6about 5 minutes

Increasing the value of talk recordings post-event

Combat low viewership by using AI to analyze transcripts, create short clips, and build a searchable platform that surfaces specific moments within talks.