June 26 2025 GM

2025 Global Gathering Ask Me Anything (AMA)

• Date: Thursday, June 26
• Time: 9am EDT / 1pm UTC
• Facilitator: Mardiya
• Featured Guest: Erin, Team CommUNITY's Event and VPN Community Lead
• Where: On TCU Mattermost "IF Square" Channel.
  • Don't have an account to the TCU Mattermost? you can request one following the directions here.

Join the Global Gathering Ask Me Anything (AMA) session to have all of your 2025 GG questions answered. This is a chat-based Q&A that will take place on June 19 at 13:00 UTC / 9:00 AM EDT on the IF Channel on Mattermost. Come and learn about this year’s dynamic programming structure, what makes a strong Booth proposal, how to creatively engage with GG participants, and how to start planning your trip!

Glitter Meetups Notes from Past Glitter Meetups Virtual Events Calendar

What is Glitter Meetup?

Glitter Meetup is the weekly town hall of the digital rights and Internet Freedom community at the IF Square on the TCU Mattermost, at 9am EDT / 2pm UTC. It is a text-based chat where digital rights defenders can share regional and project updates, expertise, ask questions, and connect with others from all over the world! Do you need an invite? Learn how to get one here.

Notes

For people who are not familiar with the Global Gathering, can you give an overview of the gathering and the current format?

Sure! To start, the event is a a 3-day event that brings together individuals working across the digital rights sector to network and collaborate. Our goal for the event is for it to create an environment in which technologists, activists, digital security trainers, policy advocates, and more can interact and create the trust-based relationships needed to work together on global digital rights issues. This means several things:

a) We take a bit of a different approach to applications, programming, and venue.

b) Vetting; We highly prioritize the security and safety of participants at the event to ensure attendees feel safe connecting with other attendees and having more sensitive conversions. We have an in depth application vetting process in which we engage trusted regional community nodes; we work with security consultants to provide risk assessments prior to the event and physical security during the event; and we have a Code of Conduct team and psychosocial support team as well as to support attendees contending with the layered struggles impacting many in our community.

c) We also offer lighter programming than many other events. This is to make sure attendees are able to connect in meaningful ways at the event. We are trying to create an environment that mimics the “water cooler” or corridors where you catch up with individuals after a session. We make sure there is at least 30 minutes in between discussions and we make sure there is a lot of lounge space and picnic tables where people can sit and connect and collaborate instead of running from session to session.

d) Lastly, the event is hosted in a fully outdoor space that looks more like a fair ground than a conference center, and is ONLY a 15 minute walk from the beach. We want attendees to be able to relax and regenerate and find creativity at the venue. The laid-back vibe, surrounded by trees, sun and fresh air, make for the perfect environment to meet new people with less stress.

About how many people are expected?

So essentially, we have an open application and as you know this year things are a bit chaotic because of the developments that happened earlier this year, which has impacted everyone. This year we expect anwyhere between 500 to 600 folks. More people registered but there is always atrition(sp??)

This is a great amount - the same amount as the first year when we re-launched after the pandemic but it breaks my heart a bit because we were expecting three times that this year but the impact of the funding freeze has impacted hundreds of orgs in our space.

Can you tell us how the current landscape has shaped the design and formatting of this year's event? Going back to the first year, and responding to the current and future needs of the industry. What should attendees broadly expect?

If you attended in the last two years, you will see a few differences this year. However the foundation, tone and style of the programming will still remain the same. We will continue hosting Booths, Circles, and Villages throughout the event along with social and networking events.

1) Before I jump into that though, important to note: We will open the venue from 9 - 12 for organizations and collectives who would like to host private events. If you are interested in hosting a private event at the GG venue from 9 - 12, highly encourage you all to connect with us as soon as you can (its right around the corner) our email is gather@digitalrights.community This includes if you are intersted in partnerships/sponsorship as well.

2) The second shift in our programming is that while the Booth proposals are open, we will not open Circle proposals until about a month prior to the event. This is to help keep the event programming dynamic in a period in which we are all facing a lot of uncertainty and constantly shifting challenges. We want to make sure that the Circle discussions that happen at the Global Gathering are addressing the most urgent and relevant concerns of event attendees.

This year attendees will also still have the option to propose Self-Organized Circles at the event itself, so that ideas that are sparked from new connections and conversations can find a space in the agenda. It goes without saying, that this year is about action and coordination - so I would highly suggest folks keep that in mind.

Can you tell us the differences between each, that is booths, villages and self-organized circles?

First, for reference, here is our programming overview on our wiki: https://wiki.digitalrights.community/index.php?title=2025_Global_Gathering_Programming

a) Booths: Booths are so so so much more than an expo tables. Think of them as little homes. They take place in stationary wooden rooms of either 3x3 meters or 3x6 where projects can showcase their work in a myriad of ways during 2-hour shifts. They also have electricity and lights (some even water).

Note, however, we do not offer any additional technical equipment, so if you want to use monitors or other resources, you will need to bring them yourselves. Highly encourage you check this out to see how different folks have used them in the past: https://www.digitalrights.community/blog/how-gg-booths-help-you-achieve-your-goals

You can decorate your booth however you like. You can bring org signs, swag, hang decorations in and outside the booth… And if you request a 3x6 meter booth, your booth will also contain a table and 6 chairs so that you can host meetings or activities inside your booth with participants. Everyone has the opportunity to apply for a 2-hour booth. However, some organizations wanted multiple day booths or villages, thus those are partners.

One person can propose booths for multiple different projects. They can definitely submit as many booth proposals as they want - however, we try to ensure every network, organization, project gets at least a 2 hour slot. Here are some examples so its a bit clear:

• Showcase your project or organization and connect with attendees through conversation, materials, and Q&A.
• Run a tool demo, allowing participants to try out your project firsthand.
• Host a game or activity, especially one with an educational or awareness-raising goal.
• Host a community space inside your booth, creating a hub for individuals from a particular network to collaborate, share, and network.
• Offer a service, such as digital security support or UX consultations.
• Curate an exhibit that creatively showcases your work at the intersection of digital and human rights.
• Share research or published work with participants and answer their questions.
• Host a mini-workshop that allows attendees to engage with your team and learn something new.

What are the costs for the Global Gathering? For any hosting of spaces at the GG? Are these posted?

The best way to know the cost for you to come to the Global Gathering is emailing us. We have a sliding scale because every organization is different. Larger organizations have more budget than smaller ones obviously, so we try to work with each project.

Given the safety concerns for all involved, what are the documentation practices permitted at the GG?

We have a security policy - and we follow chatham house rules, that means you can share data that you obtained as long as no personal information or identifying information is shared, also, no pictures are allowed on the venue.

What usually happens is this that we encourage folks to collectively take notes during meetups/sessions. They send that to us, and then we produce a report.