Call for Papers

Proposals will be considered for the following types of presentations:
40 min sessions

Tips for Successful Proposals

Help us understand why your presentation is the right one for Spring Days. Below are some tips for writing a successful proposal. Please keep in mind that this event is by and for community professionals. Our participants expect that all presentations and supporting materials will be respectful, inclusive, and adhere to our Code of Conduct.

• Does your presentation have the participation of a woman, person of color, or member of another group often underrepresented at tech conferences? Diversity is one of the factors we seriously consider when reviewing proposals as we seek to broaden our speaker roster.
• Keep the audience in mind: they’re professional, and already pretty smart.
• Be authentic. Your peers need original ideas in real-world scenarios, relevant examples, and knowledge transfer.
• Include as much detail about the presentation as you can.
• If you are proposing a panel, tell us who else would be on it.
• Keep proposals free of marketing and sales pitches.
• Context is important. If your talk is about something truly ground-breaking, it’ll be helpful if you describe it in terms of things that attendees might already know about.
• Explain why people will want to attend: Is your topic gaining traction? Is it critical to business? Will attendees learn how to use it, program it, or just what it is?
• Repeated talks from the conference circuit are less likely to be appealing. If you speak at a lot of events, be sure to note why this presentation is different.
• Don’t assume that your company’s name buys you credibility. If you’re talking about something important that you have specific knowledge of because of what your company does, spell that out in the description.
• Indicate the experience and knowledge level of the audience that you are targeting: novice, intermediate, or expert.

Other resources to help write your proposals:

• View Matthew McCullough’s presentation on 10 Quick Tips for More Effective Conference Submissions and Presentations.
• View a Women Who Code panel discussion on preparing for and speaking at technical conferences.
• Watch videos and view the agenda from SpringOne Platform 2016.
• Download and read the free ebook Propose, Prepare, Present.

Code of Conduct

We expect all participants, including speakers, to follow our Code of Conduct, the core of which is this: Spring Days should be a safe and productive environment for everyone.