Conference Applications Workshop - Online version.pptx
- 1. How To Apply To Conferences A BSides and DubSec workshop
- 2. Agenda ●Introduction ●Idea Generation ●Proposal Writing ●Writing Your Bio
- 3. Don't wait until you have slides! Lots of people don’t even start their slides until they know they’ve been accepted. You don’t have to have a talk already finished. @angiemckeown
- 4. The Right Idea For The Right Conference If you have an idea, pick the right conference for it ● Think about how much the audience will know about your subject ● Think about what they’re coming to the conference for ● Don’t try to sell them something they already like If you want to talk at a specific conference, look at what type of things they cover ● Is there a theme to the conference? ● What sort of talks do they select – abstract talks about process, specific talks about technical issues, or a mixed bag? ● Does the conference only want to talk about new things? ● Who would you be talking to? ○ What story would grab their attention?
- 5. Idea Generation What do you care about?
- 6. Idea Generation What do you care about? What have you done?
- 7. Idea Generation What do you care about? What do you know that people aren’t talking about? What have you done?
- 8. Idea Generation What do you care about? What do you know that people aren’t talking about? What have you done? What do you wish people would talk about?
- 9. Idea Generation What do you care about? What do you know that people aren’t talking about? What was the last tech blog post/presentation you disagreed with? What have you done? What do you wish people would talk about?
- 10. Idea Generation What do you care about? What do you know that people aren’t talking about? What was the last tech blog post/presentation you disagreed with? What have you done? What do you wish people would talk about? What did you do for the first time recently?
- 11. Idea Generation What do you care about? What do you know that people aren’t talking about? What do you wish someone had told you a year ago? What was the last tech blog post/presentation you disagreed with? What have you done? What do you wish people would talk about? What did you do for the first time recently?
- 12. Idea Generation What do you care about? What do you know that people aren’t talking about? What do you wish someone had told you a year ago? What was the last tech blog post/presentation you disagreed with? What do you want to learn? What have you done? What do you wish people would talk about? What did you do for the first time recently?
- 13. My biggest/riskiest tip is to propose a talk on something you want to know about, rather than something you already know about. Spend the time after it’s accepted learning & building out the talk you wish you'd attended. @bolster
- 14. Example: Bsides Application Guidelines Audience is security professionals – talks need to be about information security and should be a level aimed at practitioners. Has two tracks plus side activities (CTF, BattleBots, etc.) Conference will be a mix of local speakers with those from further afield. Some novice speakers, but focus is on technical content relevant to the attendees. Asks for Title, Description, & Bio. Allows “special notes” for the organizers as well. Standard talks should last for 30 minutes (including Q&A). Lightning talks should be 15 minutes (including Q&A). Proposals must be submitted by 10th January (Dublin) / mid-June (Belfast). https://bsidesdub.ie/cfp.php https://bsidesbelfast.org/speak/ https://bsidesgalway.com/cfp
- 15. Example: NIDC Application Guidelines Audience is the entire software development community – this is a generalist conference. Has four speaker tracks, plus a lightning talk track. Almost all speakers will be part of the Northern Irish development scene. Conference specifically encourages novice speakers to apply. Asks for Title, Description, & Bio. Standard talks should last for 30 minutes. Lightning talks should be up to 10 minutes. Proposals must be submitted by mid-September. https://www.nidevconf.com/
- 16. Top tip - you have something to share, someone else will be interested in the thing you want to talk about 🙂 Go for it! @cybersec_mama
- 17. 17 Idea Generation Time In groups, figure out what you could talk about at a conference or share your great ideas with each other. 17
- 18. What you need in a proposal ● Talk Title ○ Should grab attention but also explain what the talk is about ○ Don’t get too abstract ● Talk Description ○ Description of talk - the main part of the proposal ○ Aimed at conference attendees, will be published in the program ● Talk Outline (not all conferences ask for this) ○ Overview of talk, more detailed description of the structure and contents ○ Aimed at reviewers, will not be published in the program ● Bio ○ Description of yourself, and why you’re the right person to give this talk ○ Aimed at conference attendees, will be published in the program
- 19. Proposal Writing - Things To Include What will people learn? What story are you telling? If you have examples, or a demo, make sure to mention it! What’s the real world impact? Why does this talk matter? Why are you the person to tell it?
- 20. Proposal Writing: The Structured Approach ● Describe the landscape ○ What’s the background to your talk? ○ What is the problem you are addressing?
- 21. Proposal Writing: The Structured Approach ● Describe the landscape ○ What’s the background to your talk? ○ What is the problem you are addressing? ● Explain your insight ○ What’s your talk about? ○ What solution are you bringing?
- 22. Proposal Writing: The Structured Approach ● Describe the landscape ○ What’s the background to your talk? ○ What is the problem you are addressing? ● Explain your insight ○ What’s your talk about? ○ What solution are you bringing? ● Offer people takeaways ○ What will people get out of attending? ○ Why should they come to your talk? ○ What will they learn?
- 23. Example (via oreilly.com) TITLE: How Draw Something Absorbed 50 Million New Users, in 50 Days, With Zero App Downtime DESCRIPTION: OMGPOP’s Draw Something broke all records when it went viral, skyrocketing to more than 50 million downloads and billions of drawings within a few weeks of launch—with no downtime. This session highlights the application architecture and data management technology that enabled this growth, and provides a real-time data management model for developers of any interactive web application. ABSTRACT: Social and online games are a multi-billion market and one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy. With the acceleration of social media, games can go from zero to millions of users overnight, the latest example being OMGPOP’s Draw Something, a Pictionary-like game that broke all records when it went viral and skyrocketed to more than 50 million downloads and billions of drawings within a few weeks of launch. If you are planning to build and launch a web application, growth is what you should be concerned with and prepared for. So how exactly can you architect an application, without breaking the bank, while sustaining a snappy and compelling application experience across the scaling spectrum? In this presentation, Frank Weigel will focus specifically on the data management challenges web application developers face, and provide criteria for selecting a data management model that will provide the scalability and performance needed to support massive growth. The presentation will also highlight the architecture of OMGPOP’s Draw Something, an example of a game that was prepared for growth.
- 24. Make it as clear as possible what people will get out of attending your talk. Why should I go to your talk and not the other track down the hall? @shinyemptyhead
- 25. Pay Attention To The Ask
- 26. Proposal Writing - Things To Avoid Don’t take an aggressive tone Don’t make your proposal sound like an advertisement Most conferences don’t want sales pitches. Don’t be too short, or too long Include enough information to interest people, without being a wall of text Enthusiasm is good,but don’t take it too far. Don’t belittle your subject or yourself Don’t try to be too funny or clever At least, not to the point of making your pitch cryptic. Don’t be vague People shouldn’t have to work to know what your talk is about. People are here to see you and learn about your subject, don’t make it sound pointless.
- 27. 27 Proposal Writing Time Figure out what you’d put in your proposal. You don’t have to write the whole thing, just the content. 27
- 28. Bio Questions What lights you up? Why are you the person to tell this talk? What are you a product of? What do you want people to talk to you about? What’s the coolest thing you’ve done? What’s important about you that’s not on your CV?
- 29. Bio Workshop
- 30. Making Presentations Inclusive ● Assume diversity – design your presentation for everyone ● Avoid exclusionary language ○ Definitely avoid using slurs, even those that are a common part of speech ● Use content warnings where appropriate ○ Ideally include these in your abstract ● Do not rely on audience members reading your slides ● Have a transcript of your talk available
- 31. Meetups ● You’re at one right now :-) ● Generally a lot more focused in topic than a conference ● Less formal application process ○ Usually just ping the organiser and offer to do a talk ○ Meetup organisers are always grateful for speakers but your talk will need to be relevant ● A great place to get your toes wet with speaking ● Also a great place to reuse conference ideas that didn’t fit, additional things you found out while researching, etc.
- 32. Schedule the time to do it. Whether it's the last week, the last day, or the last hour of the CFP. Set aside the time, or it'll fly by. @awflwafl
- 33. Where to apply
- 34. Thank you for attending! https://bsidesdub.ie/ https://bsidesbelfast.org/ https://www.dubsec.ie/