Earlier this week, I was talking with my a few speaker friends on submitting talks for conferences – as I’m specifically looking at submitting talks for:
- Ann Arbor Day of .NET (10/29)
- Central Ohio Day of .NET (12/10)
- CodeMash (Event is 1/11/2012 – 1/13/2012; Call for Speakers closes on September 30, 2011 at 11:59 PM Eastern time.)
Strategies in Submitting Talks
It’s interesting to hear some of their strategies. Some of my friends will submit all of their talks that they can do, in hopes of at least one getting picked. Some only submit talks that they’re interested in doing. Some submit talks that they’ve given over and over for the past few years. Some submit talks that they haven’t given yet but would like to give. There’re all sorts of strategies throughout my friends’ speaking submissions.
Preparing to Submit Talks for Multiple Conferences
This morning, I spent time updating my presentation topics and abstracts page. I’ve retired yet another talk, as the technologies have changed and my interests have changed. I’ve also created a new talk, inspired by my recent experiences and research.
I’ve submitted 3 of my talks to CodeMash this morning. One of my talks is brand new, but I think it would fit well with CodeMash and the topics that have appeared in the past and that are still trending. The other 2 talks I’ve given in various forms – separately and mashed together – at user groups and other events. I’ve had fellow community members ask me if I would be giving {insert a topic or presentation here} at {insert a conference here}, and every time I hear people asking for a presentation, I make note of it and try to include it in my submissions. Since CodeMash’s sessions are 60 minutes, I submitted these talks in their whole forms rather than the mashed together version.
By the end of today, I will have my submissions in for Ann Arbor Day of .NET, which happens at the end of October. I’ve got one submission in so far due to requests from the community to submit a talk, but I hope to get at least one more in, possibly my new talk if they’re interested. We’ll see how that goes.
Central Ohio Day of .NET’s call for speakers isn’t open yet. However, they’ve announced their date, which makes it easy for me to check my availability and possibly submit talks. Since I’m already in that groove for submitting talks, it makes it a little easier in determining what I want to submit to Central Ohio Day of .NET.
My Personal Strategies
For me, I’m glad to see all of these Calls for Speakers at once, because then I can get what I want to talk about figured out and submitted all around the same time. These are some of the things I think about when I submit talks to conferences:
- Is the topic something I’m passionate about? If it isn’t something I’m passionate about, then I’m not delivering the talk. For me as an attendee, I hate going to presentations that are given by a passionless speaker. If they don’t have that positive energy and aren’t excited about the technology, I’m not easily sold on why I should be interested in their topics or ideas. As a speaker, I find that it’s a lot easier to prepare and give a talk on something I’m passionate about. As a speaker, I also tend to notice the attendees engaging more and asking more questions when I show that I’m interested in the topic.
- Is the topic relevant to the conference? If it isn’t relevant to the conference, I’m not submitting it.
- Are the technologies/strategies in this presentation still relevant? If the technologies or strategies in a talk are outdated, I look to see (1) if they have been updated, (2) if I am still passionate about the updates, and (3) if they’re worth continuing to present on.
- Is there public interest in this topic? If there isn’t interest in a topic, then there aren’t people to listen to it or to converse with about it, which means there is no point in delivering this presentation.
I don’t think twice about submitting new talks – every talk I’ve given was a new talk at one point in time. Most of the time, I try to debut talks at a smaller event – be it in an office environment for a lunch’n’learn, at a local user group, or at a developer community event.
Conclusion
There are different strategies out there for submitting talks to conferences. My advice is find what works for you and stick with it. Do you have any strategies or advice on submitting talks that you’d like to share? Leave a comment here!