Over the last few years I have spoken at a large number of conferences, from small meetups to really big developer conferences. Some talks I get invited to, some talks I know the organiser and agree on a talk, and most are through call for papers (CFP). I have been on the agenda committee for NDC Sydney for a couple of years, so I understand exactly what the people are looking for and how the selection process work, at least for that conference. It is not a straight forward process once you consider all the factors, and a single tweet from a fellow speaker made me consider what the process is.
Do you submit once you have just the idea? The outline? Or only once you’ve worked out the full content?
— David Wengier (@davidwengier) March 31, 2018
This is a great question, if you are new to conference speaking, or just aren’t sure how the process work. There aren’t a black and white approach to this, but let me attempt to fill in some of the gaps.