self-organized-sessions on CCC Event Blog

39C3: Self-organized Sessions

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 12:00:00 +0000

TL;DR

Workshops, group meetings, short talks, … – Our collective term for all of these is Self-organized Sessions.
You can create Self-organized Sessions already, but dedicated rooms will become bookable gradually this time. The start date for each round has now been determined, see below!
An overview of all Self-organized Sessions can be found in the Hub.
If you are interested in a session, log in and mark it as a favourite – this helps us estimate how large the room needs to be.
To create new sessions yourself, use the Hub’s Backoffice.
Assemblies can decide whether they want to open their “rooms” for Self-organized Sessions. To use that feature, please contact the Hub Support.

Self-organization is the magic word

You want to organize a group meeting or a gathering on a specific topic? Run a workshop? Host a competition or a game? Have you organized something outside the building? Would you like to give a short talk or screen a film? Start a follow-up discussion to one of the main talks? Or plan anything else that needs a place at Congress?

Instead of listing all these things individually or making separate categories, we introduced the term Self-organized Session (SoS) a few years ago. As the name says: these sessions are organized by you.

To create a session, click the plus icon in the top-right corner of the Hub homepage and then select “Self-organized Session”. You will be forwarded to the Hub Backoffice. If you don’t have a Hub account yet, you should create one first.

More details can be found in the Events Howto.

Room booking

Self-organized Sessions can take place almost anywhere as long as you follow the rules. This is why the location field is a free-text field. Of course, you should check beforehand whether the place you want to use is actually available. For example, you can meet at a bar or inside an assembly (please coordinate with the assembly in advance!). Areas that cannot be used under any circumstances include escape routes – meaning any type of passageway, corridor, hallway, etc.

If you need a space for more people, you can book one of the rooms listed below, or ask an assembly whether they have space available for your session.

When publishing the session, the system checks whether the selected room is still available at your chosen time; otherwise you will see an error message. Once you have filled in the information and saved and published the session, it will appear in the overview so that other participants can find it. If you selected one of the pre-defined rooms, it will later also appear in the full schedule.

This year, not all slots will be released at the same time. Booking for the central SoS locations will open in multiple rounds, so new sessions can still be added throughout the entire period.

The first round will start on Sunday, December 21st at 11:00 CET.
The subsequent rounds will start in Days 1, 2, and 3 at 11:00 CET, i.e., every 24 hours. So new sessions can be added throughout the entire period.

Also new this year: When you select a room, the free 25-, 50- or 80-minute time slots will be shown. Sessions therefore always start on the full hour or on the half-hour.

The following rooms are available for Self-organized Sessions:

SoS Stage H for up to 200 people, located in the center of Hall H (ground floor),
SoS Lecture E with theatre-style seating (chairs in rows) + banquet seating (5 large, round tables) in the back, approx. 235 seats; (Hall E, 2nd floor),
SoS Workshop D with banquet seating (large round tables – ideal for workshops), approx. 120 seats (Hall D, 2nd floor), and
SoS Lecture 6 with theatre-style seating for approx. 60 people (Hall 6, 1st floor).

These four SoS rooms will become bookable via the Hub at specific times yet to be announced.

Please note that each round follows a “first come, first served” principle. Some slots may already be used for team meetings or, for example, the CCC regional meetup before public booking phases open.

In addition, the following lecture halls are coordinated by assemblies:

You can find further event locations on the venue overview page in the Hub.

Equipment

All rooms listed above are equipped with a projector/screen and a sound system, but sessions will not be streamed or recorded by the VOC.

What is not okay?

Commercial advertising & crypto-shilling
Off-topic content
Discrimination

Closing remarks

We trust you to submit cool and relevant sessions. Slots will be released in phases and will be visible immediately after booking.

If you come across sessions that seem problematic, you can flag them. Our moderation team will review and decide.

If you have any further questions about Self-organized Sessions or workshops, feel free to contact 39c3-sessions@cccv.de, or go to the Infodesk during Congress. When contacting us, please always include a link to the relevant Self-organized Session — preferably the URL of an SoS draft created in the Hub Backoffice, or the public event URL https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/hub/event/detail/XXX.

Image by Yves Sorge, CC BY-SA 2.0

38C3: Self-organized Sessions

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 07:00:00 +0000

TL;DR

We categorize workshops, group meetings, short presentations, etc. as Self-organized Sessions.
You can create self-organized sessions stubs now, but public room booking will only be possible from 17 December.
An overview of all self-organized sessions can be found in the Hub.
To register a self-organized session, use the Backoffice of the Hub.

The magic word is self-organization

You want to arrange a meeting of a group or a discussion about a specific topic? Give a workshop? Host a competition or a game? Organize something outside the building? Want to give a short talk or show a movie? Start a follow-up discussion to one of the big talks? Or plan something else that needs a place at Congress?

Instead of listing all these things individually or creating categories for them, we introduced the term self-organized session a few years ago. Self-organized sessions are, as the name suggests, organized by all of you.

To create a session, click the plus sign in the top right-hand corner of the Hub homepage and then go to “Self-organized Session”. You will be redirected to the Backoffice. If you don’t yet have an account in the Hub, you should create one beforehand. When the session will take place, how long it will last, what you will do there and where it takes place is up to you. For example, you can meet at a bar or in an assembly (please check with those assemblies beforehand!).

If you need a room for more people, you can also book rooms for this purpose from 17 December. When you save the session, a check is made to see whether the selected room is still available at the selected time, otherwise an error message is displayed. Once you have supplied all these details and saved the session, it will appear in the Overview where other participants can find it. If you have selected one of the specified rooms, it will also appear in the schedule (Fahrplan) later.

The following rooms are available for self-organized sessions:

Saal E with theatre-style seating (chairs in rows), approx. 250 seats,
Saal D with banquet seating (large, round tables, e.g. for workshops), approx. 120 seats, and
Saal 6 with theatre-style seating, approx. 60 seats.

These rooms are bookable via the hub, equipped with projector/display and PA, but sessions are neither streamed nor recorded by the VOC.

Further self-organized rooms can be found on the overview page in the hub.

If you have any questions regarding Self-organized Sessions / Workshops, free to contact the “Off Stages & Space Session Orchestration (OSSSO)” Helpdesk via 38c3-ossso@cccv.de or in person at Congress, by visting our desk next to the Infodesk.

Please note that this system runs on a first come, first served basis. The Hub enforces that there can only be one session in a given time slot per room. Some slots might already be reserved by “Orga” team meetings or other sessions (e.g. CCC Regiotreffen) before the public booking phase.

Header image from Yves Sorge, CC BY-SA 2.0

37C3: Self-organized Sessions

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

TL;DR

We categorize workshops, group meetings, short presentations, etc. as Self-organized Sessions.
Starting now, you can create self-organized sessions and book rooms for them.
An overview of all self-organized sessions can be found in the Hub.
The registration of a self-organized session takes place in the Backoffice of the Hub.

The magic word is self-organization

To create a session, click the plus in the top right-hand corner of the Hub homepage and then go to “Self-organized Session”. You will be redirected to the Backoffice. If you don’t yet have an account in the Hub, you should create one beforehand. When the session will take place, how long it will last, what you will do there and where it takes place is up to you. For example, you can meet at a bar or in an assembly (please check with those assemblies beforehand!). If you need a room for more people, you can also book rooms for this purpose as of today. When saving the session, a check is made to see whether the selected room is still available at the selected time, otherwise an error message is displayed. Once you have filled in this information and saved the session, it will appear in the Overview, where other participants can find it. If you have selected one of the specified rooms, it will also appear in the timetable later.

The following rooms are available for self-organized sessions:

Hall D
Hall E

Both rooms are free bookable via the hub. Room E will also host the Lightning Talks. Room E is equipped with a streaming/recording setup.

In addition, two self-managed stages are available:

Stage H
Stage X

Further self-organized rooms can be found on the overview page in the hub.

Please note that this system runs on a first come, first served basis. Therefore, check the calendar before you create a session to see which rooms are still available at which times.

Self-Organized-Sessions open to get filled by you!

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 22:32:32 +0000

Self-Organized-Sessions are your chance to present a topic that is dear to you in a way that works best for you: It may be a workshop or a lecture, it may be a discussion, but it could also be a contest or a game. You can choose any duration between as short as 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Choose any topic you care about – your favorite programming language, a hobby you’ve started hacking, or a discussion group to find friends with similar interests – expand the topics and the program of 36C3!

Please head on to the Wiki and enter your session to contribute your bit to a diverse and versatile Chaos Communication Congress!

Registrations for Self-Organized Sessions for #35C3 are open

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:31:19 +0000

We’ve finally put everything together and are happy to announce: The registrations for the Self-Organized Sessions are open and waiting for you in the 35C3 event wiki.

Self-Organized Sessions are your chance to present a topic that is dear to you in a way that works best for you: It may be a workshop or a lecture, it may be a discussion, but it could also be a contest or a game. You can choose any duration between as short as 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

For 35C3 we’ll have six rooms designated for self-organized sessions. They vary in size, seating and equipment. The smallest of these is for about ten people in a banquette seating, whereas the biggest is more like a lecture hall with room for up to 200 participants. Beside the official rooms, there will be assemblies or clusters providing room as well. They’ll show up over the course of the next days.

Choose any topic you care about – your favourite programming language, a hobby you’ve started hacking, or a discussion group to find friends with similar interests – expand the topics and the program of 35C3 and contribute your bit to a diverse and versatile Chaos Communication Congress!

Image by Yves Sorge, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Enter your Self-Organized Sessions and Lightning Talks!

Mon, 21 Nov 2016 23:29:38 +0000

The Call-For-Participation to submit a talk for the main halls is long over – but congress wouldn’t be congress if there weren’t many more options to get on a stage to tell a crowd of curious listeners what you have to say!

Two of those options are waiting for your entries:

Lightning Talks:

These fast paced sessions are perfect for pitching new software or hardware projects, exploits, creative pranks or strange ideas you need to get out to a global audience. Even if you don’t have an awesome idea or project to share, a Lightning Talk is perfect for pitching your Assembly, your workshop or even a longer talk you’ll give as a Self-Organized Session.

Did you think that the thrill of sharing your ideas in front of a huge audience at a C3 was something you’d never experience? Do you work on a cool project and want to get the word out? Was your talk one of the hundreds that got rejected? Did you come up with an awesome hack that you need to share? Go ahead and enter your Lightning Talk now!

Self-Organized Session:

Self-Organized Sessions used to be called “workshops”, but we changed the name to include everything – even if it’s not hands-on or about making things – as long as it’s done by you for all of us!

It doesn’t matter whether you want to give an introduction to your favorite programming language or want to make new friends with similar interests, if you want to screen a movie or if you want to organize a follow-up from a presentation on the big stages: All you have to do is use the wiki to create a Self-Organized Session and choose a free space and time to get going!

As usual both options come with the first-come-first-serve principle, please check the calendar carefully to see what rooms and slots are still available.

Self Organized Sessions

Fri, 04 Dec 2015 15:13:09 +0000

Finally we figured out what rooms we can provide for self organized sessions. Please go ahead and enter yours!