Some Tips on Submitting Conference Proposals
Posted by Brian
Here’s some general advice on submitting proposals to tech conferences (this isn’t specific to O’Reilly conferences, it’s just some things I’ve picked up after speaking at a few conferences myself):
- Check out the previous year’s conference to get some ideas of the talks that got accepted. But you also need to look through the CFP and understand what they conference organizers are looking for because it might be different than last year (for example, this year’s ETech is looking for magic that “makes complex things simple or makes the impossible possible”).
- In general, avoid product pitches because in most cases you’ll be talking to geeks like yourself. Even the people who are there to learn about new companies will be basing their judgments on your tech chops.
- And if you do get a paper accepted, you can usually expect to get free admission to the conference. Airfare and lodging is up to you. The only exception is with conferences that have tutorial tracks. If you’re doing a half-day tutorial, you might get a small honorarium and/or some travel allowance. But this varies among conferences and conference organizers.
And if you’ve written up a proposal that you want some feedback on, ask a fellow Providence Geek to take a look! (And check out this forum thread for upcoming conferences that might be of interest to Providence Geeks).