How do I fix video or audio playback issues?

Most playback issues are quick to fix, and the easiest things to try first are on your own setup.

Start with these

Refresh the page.
Try a different browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge are all supported).
Clear your browser cache and cookies.
Temporarily disable browser extensions or ad blockers, which can sometimes interfere with video players.
Make sure your browser is up to date.

If the video still won't load

Check your internet connection speed.
Close other tabs or apps using bandwidth.
Move closer to your router, or try switching to a different network or to mobile data.

If you're having audio problems

Check that your device isn't muted.
Check that the video player isn't muted (look for the speaker icon in the player controls).
Try headphones or another audio output to confirm your device audio is working.
Test audio with another app or video to rule out your device.

If video is buffering or stuttering

Pause for a moment to let the video catch up.
Lower the video quality in the player if the option is available.
Close other tabs or apps using your internet connection.

Pre-recorded sessions

Most of our sessions are pre-recorded, which means the video is hosted and ready to play whenever you are. If a specific pre-recorded session won't play but others work fine, the issue may be with that session's file rather than your setup. Let us know and we'll check it.

Live sessions and live streams

Live sessions are a different story. We use various live-streaming software depending on the session, and the realities of streaming mean issues can sometimes happen on the broadcaster's end rather than yours. That's outside your control and outside ours.

If a live stream isn't working at the time, don't panic:

We keep a backup recording and will make a replay available afterwards.
The session itself won't be lost.
The trade-off is that interactive elements (live Q&A, real-time participation) can't be recreated after the fact. Where a session is genuinely live-only and interactive, we'll do everything we can to keep it running.

If something's going wrong at our end

If there's a wider issue affecting the summit, we'll let you know:

An update will be posted on the summit website.
For anything significant, we'll also send an email.

If something doesn't feel right and you're not sure whether it's you or us, the summit website is the first place to check.

In rare situations beyond our control (significant platform outages, force majeure events, and similar), service may be temporarily affected. Where that happens, we'll communicate with attendees directly about what's affected and how we're handling it. Our full rights and responsibilities in these situations are set out in our terms and conditions.

Still stuck?

If you've worked through the basics and it's still not playing properly, email hello@futureative.com with:

A description of what's happening
Your device and browser (for example, "iPhone 14, Safari" or "Windows laptop, Chrome")
Which session you're trying to access
Any error messages you're seeing

That information helps us get to the cause quickly.