The call for proposals is open now, until November 14th, 2016. General registration, exhibitor registration, and volunteer applications will open soon.

Do you have a free software-related topic to teach or talk about? You've got until Wednesday, November 14th, 2016 at 18:59 EST (23:59 UTC) to submit your proposals.

Every year, LibrePlanet brings together developers, policy experts, activists, hackers and end users. It's a place to learn new skills, share accomplishments and face challenges to computer user freedom together as a community. If you're new to the community, check out last year's conference site and session videos, including the opening keynote, a conversation with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, for a taste of what's to come.

What kind of sessions are we looking for?

LibrePlanet is defined by its combination of technical talks with non-technical sessions on free software activism, culture and current events. You might:

• Share an update on your free software project
• Examine how free software can aid education, community organizing, medicine, art, or social movements
• Teach a workshop on how to use a free software program or free hardware project
• Lead a project "sprint" (a group work session)
• Explore issues related to free software licensing and copyleft

This year, the theme of LibrePlanet is "The Roots of Freedom." This encompasses the historical "roots" of the free software movement -- the Four Freedoms, the GNU General Public License and copyleft, and a focus on strong security and privacy protections -- and the concept of roots as a strong foundation from which the movement grows. What aspect or advantage of free software is most valuable to you? What's arising from the movement's deep roots, and where? Can you identify exciting developments from the roots of freedom in education, business, activism, or the arts?

We're committed to increasing the participation of speakers belonging to groups traditionally underrepresented at free software conferences, including women and people of color. If you're comfortable sharing demographic information, there is an area for it on the proposal form, but your proposal will not be judged negatively if you leave those fields blank.

It's important to us to provide sessions that are friendly to newcomers, as well as those that help experienced hackers push their technical skills. Whatever your experience level or the experience level of your audience, we want to include your session! (As a corollary of this, we welcome sessions for kids or teens.)

What makes LibrePlanet so special is the thought-provoking, useful, and entertaining contributions from our speakers, attendees, exhibitors, and volunteers. We can't wait to hear your ideas. Submit a proposal now!

If you'd like to sponsor LibrePlanet, please email us at campaigns@fsf.org.