How to: Conference Proposals
The DjangoCon US 2017 Call for Proposals is now open! This seems like a great time to talk about submitting proposals to conferences.
I gave my first conference talk at Django Birthday in the summer of 2015. One of the conference organizers, Jacob Kaplan-Moss, had heard about some work I was doing with Django Girls and asked me if I wanted to speak. Incredibly nervous and intimidated, I proposed a topic, Jacob said that sounded great, and a couple months later I was warmly welcomed onstage in Kansas.
It was awesome.
A Django conference is a fantastic place to give your first conference talk. Our community is supportive and welcoming, and our audience is eager to hear your perspective on whatever it is you're speaking about. We're very proud that DjangoCon US has a reputation for being a warm, friendly, easygoing conference. So you should totally submit a proposal before the deadline on April 10. Here are some resources to help!
- My PyLadies Remote presentation, "Your First Conference Proposal"
- Catt Small's blog series, How to become a public speaker in 1 year
- Jeff Triplett's 2016 post, "DjangoCon US Talks I'd Like to See" (He's updating this for 2017, but so many of these topics are evergreen)
- Sarah Mei's "What Your Conference Proposal Is Missing"
- Barbara Shaurette, "Public Speaking for Nerds" (includes some great information about conquering a fear of public speaking)
- Julie Pagano's talk and list of resources, "It's Dangerous to Go Alone: Battling the Invisible Monsters in Tech"
DjangoCon US has speaker mentors, too. Speaker mentors are volunteers from the community who want to help you and your talk succeed. They'll help you refine ideas, revise your proposal, and review your slides.
Your experience and perspective are so valuable to DjangoCon. We want to hear what you have to say. So what are you waiting for? Get started on your proposal!