ChefConf brings together the best voices in the DevOps and automation industry for a week of insightful, disruptive, and thought-provoking conversations driving digital change in IT. Keynotes, workshops, breakout sessions, and training are all curated and calibrated to help our global community learn about the state of the art and the state of the future from the minds shaping the direction of modern apps and teams.

ChefConf 2019 calls us home to our Seattle roots. It’s the ideal and logical location - a city that is rapidly growing and transforming as it explores the possibilities of the future. Yet it brazenly protects and celebrates its history, diversity, culture, and eccentricities.

Who attends ChefConf?

Anyone who wants to be at ChefConf is welcome. But developers, engineers, architects, sys admins, and IT or DevSec leaders that are trying to figure out how to ship applications faster, safer, and better (and at a scale and across multiple infrastructures) probably find the material the most useful.

Who are we looking for?

We welcome all types of speakers - experienced and first-timers. If you have something cool to say, we want to hear from you! If you are a first-time speaker, don’t fret, we will work with you on your topic, your presentation, or your talk. Bring ideas to us and we can shape it with you no matter your experience level.

What is the deadline to submit a proposal?

UPDATE! We’ve extended the deadline to submit CFPs for ChefConf! The deadline is Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 08:01 UTC. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the ChefConf team at chefconf@chef.io. We’re happy to help with your submission ideas and anything else you need!

As our way of saying “thanks for helping make ChefConf great!”, speakers will receive a complimentary ticket to ChefConf 2019.

The Basics

ChefConf 2019 will take place May 20 to 23 at the Hyatt Regency Seattle in the heart of downtown Seattle, and the deadline for submissions is Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 08:01 UTC, so mark your calendar!

While we don’t offer travel assistance, ChefConf speakers will receive a complimentary ticket to ChefConf 2019 and professional coaching where desired. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the ChefConf team at chefconf@chef.io. We’re happy to help with your submission ideas and anything else you need!

What are we looking for in a talk?

ChefConf is our premier event for our Chef, InSpec, and Habitat communities to meet and share ideas. Our communities are driven by sharing stories, experiences, challenges, successes, everything in between. Share how you adopted new tools and ways of thinking about your goals. Tell us about your journey to be a learning organization or how your teams became more outcome oriented. What tips and tricks do you have for improving speed and quality in your projects? We’re here to learn, and everyone has something to teach.

Have lots of ideas? Submit a few. We’re excited to find out what’s on your mind.

What’s in a good ChefConf proposal?

Be clear about what your talk will focus on. We love a catchy title and a slick abstract, but (more importantly) give us the key points you’re planning to cover, who your audience is and what they will find compelling within your presentation, and why you’re the best person to speak on the topic.

Let us know if you’re presenting jointly with a colleague, or if you’re planning to share your technical ideas with a demo! We can also accommodate panel discussions, but please reach out directly to us for those.

Talk Tracks

Infrastructure Automation

Infrastructure as code, automating the cloud, and configuration management. What tools and practices have you put in place to improve your infrastructure automation? This may include tools for local development and testing (Chef Development Kit, ChefSpec, Test Kitchen, etc.), Cookbooks, and other tools used to describe, build, and manage your infrastructure as code. The following are ideas that fit in this track, do not be limited by them.

Assessing Current State
Modeling Desired State
Local Development
Cloud Migrations
Cloud Automation
Getting Started with Infrastructure Automation

Application Automation

How do you build, deploy, and manage your applications? Share your stories about Habitat and other tools and processes you are using for application automation. The following are ideas that fit in this track, do not be limited by them.

Habitat and Distributed Systems
Habitat and Container Builds
Habitat and Export Formats
Packaging Application Frameworks with Habitat
Packaging and Running Distributed Databases with Habitat
Habitat’s Impact on the Development Process
Modernizing and Moving Legacy applications with Habitat
Getting Started with Application Automation

Compliance Automation

Moving fast does not mean giving up safety. In fact, speed increases your compliance! How are you adopting compliance at velocity? What technologies and workflows are working for you? The following are ideas that fit in this track, do not be limited by them.

Assessing Current State with InSpec
Compliance profiles
Custom InSpec Resources
Local Development
Compliance and Governance in the Cloud
Application Governance
DevSecOps – The Evolution of SecOps
Getting Started with Compliance Automation

Cloud, Microservices, and Modern Architectures

Application architectures have gone through a massive change, from monoliths to microservices, flexing the power of APIs and services focused on single tasks. These evolutions have changed the practice of creating, operating, and maintaining services. Share with us your experiences in this fast-paced ecosystem. The following are ideas that fit in this track, do not be limited by them.

Cloud Automation and Migrations
Migrating from Monolith to Microservice
Scaling out Containers and Running Them in Production
Modernizing and Building Modern Teams
Compliance and Governance in the Cloud

People Processes, and Teams

Whether you call it “devops,” “automation,” or something else, you’re probably changing the way you work. We’d love to hear about both the successes and the pitfalls you’ve encountered along the way. What are the lessons learned you wish you knew before you started your project? The following are ideas that fit in this track, do not be limited by them.

Considering Your People and Your Users
Agile, Lean, DevOps, Scrum, Kanban, Post Mortems, Learning Reviews, Etc.
Collaboration Up, Down, Across and Within Teams

Delivering Delight, Doing Change, and All The Other Interesting Stuff

As a company and as a community we are in the constant pursuit of the little things (and the bigger ones) that make a difference. How do you move the needle to realize better outcomes for you customers, your people, and your communities? The following are ideas that fit in this track, do not be limited by them.

Understanding What Customers Want and Measuring the Impact of New Features
What Happens When You Concentrate on Delighting Customers
Your Toolchain and Effectively Getting Delightful Features to Your Customers
Changing Cultures, Tools, and Processes to Deliver Delight
Putting Your People First
Changing to Minimize Your Ecological Impact
Outreach to Underserved and Underrepresented communities in Tech
Organizational Projects/Efforts that Serve the Less Fortunate

Don’t Label Me

We know that Chef, InSpec, and Habitat are pieces of a technical ecosystem that reaches out into developer practices, deployment methods, compliance and governance, and so many other interesting topics. What else are you plugging into your workflows? Tell us all about it. The following are ideas that fit in this track, do not be limited by them.

Metrics and Monitoring in Distributed Systems
Career Growth and Change Experiences
Accessibility, UX in Tools for Techies
Continuously Delivering Documentation
Plugging Serverless Functions into Your Topology
Surprise us! (No, really, surprise us.)

ChefConf 2019

Hyatt Regency Seattle, May 20-23

CFP closed at January 22, 2019 08:01 UTC

January 22, 2019 08:01 UTC (Local)