Case Study: Mozilla Festival (MozFest) achieves a fully virtual, accessible global gathering with nearly 9,800 participants using Zoom Video Communications

Mozilla Hosts 100% Virtual Global MozFest Using Zoom

MozFest, Mozilla’s annual community festival that brings together technologists, artists, and activists to “make the internet a healthier place,” faced a major challenge in 2021: for the first time in 14 years the event had to pivot from an in-person gathering in Amsterdam to a fully virtual festival. Organizers needed to recreate MozFest’s highly participatory, accessible, and inclusive experience for thousands of attendees and hundreds of breakout sessions while contending with global bandwidth differences and safety concerns.

MozFest chose Zoom Meetings as its primary platform, using features such as join-without-login, dial-in audio, closed captioning, sign-language support, breakout rooms, and host controls, alongside registration links, distributed meeting architecture, and a 100+ volunteer safety team to secure sessions. The result: 530 interactive sessions over two weeks, nearly 9,800 participants (versus ~3,000 in 2019), innovative showcases like Project Immerse, and a successful preservation of MozFest’s creative, inclusive spirit.

Mozilla Festival

Kristina Gorr

Communications Manager