Call for proposals

We are happy that you’re interested in speaking at DragonPy Ljubljana 2020. Deadline is January 31st 2020, but we encourage you to submit a proposal before then. You will be able to edit the proposal as many times as you want before the deadline. You will also be able to receive some feedback.

We invite speakers of all experience levels to apply. Even if you’ve never spoken at a conference before, we are here to help you make it happen. If you need some support, please don’t hesitate to email us. Some examples of what we can help you with:

• talking over and brainstorming your ideas for a talk
• connecting you with speaker mentors that will help you with proposal and talk preparations
• review your outline, slides

Key Dates

• December 5th 2019: CFP opens
• January 31st 2020: CFP closes
• End of February 2020: Speakers are notified about talk selection
• March 2020: We announce the talks on our website

Speaker Benefits

• Free ticket to DragonPy 2020
• A recording of your talk (if you want)
• Speaker training program - 1 on 1 calls and (hopefully) a speaker workshop
• A great way to expand your technical, professional, and personal networks
• Financial aid to cover travel costs (we have a limited budget, but we will try to help as much as we can)

Topics

We are looking for 20 min talks and/or 3 hour workshops on the topics below. Feel free to submit multiple proposals. We also accept proposals for talks that you’ve given before (but mention this in the proposal). Promotional talks will not be accepted.

• Interesting stories of using Python in production/real life
• Deep dives into specific Python related topics or into Python itself
• Interesting uses of Python: how are you using Python?
• How to be a healthy/successful/happy Python (or any other) developer
• Python community
• How-to’s in Python (for workshops)
• Other topics you deem appropriate (if you’re unsure, you can also ask us directly)

Guidelines

• We will not accept late submissions.
• All talks will be in English.
• Spend some time and effort on your proposal and be diligent. Typos, poorly formatted proposals, unfinished sentences are things that make your proposal less likely to be accepted. If you are unsure about anything, it’s a good idea to ask a friend or a mentor for help (feel free to email us and we can connect you with a mentor).
• When writing your proposal keep in mind that we receive a lot of proposals. Anything that you can do to help us get a clearer idea of what your talk will look like, is very helpful. Things like:
  • a complete outline of the talk (feel free to put as much detail here as you want. You can also put this in the “notes” section). This is especially important if you’re submitting a workshop!
  • describe what’s your intention with the talk (what do you hope attendees will get out of your talk)
  • describe what’s the problem you’re addressing with the talk
  • think about the narrative your talk will have. Even technical talks are far more interesting when they’re told as a story (with a clear beginning, middle and end)
• For companies and employers: promotional talks will not be accepted, but if your company has supported your process of creating and giving the talk you are of course welcome to mention this support during a talk. If your employer or company covers travel and accommodation costs, we have a sponsor recognition policy, meaning the company or organisation can join as a sponsor. Please get in touch with sponsors@dragonpy.com to hear more.

Beginners Section

Is this your first time giving a talk? Are you still unsure whether you should submit a proposal? Here’s some good advice on these topics:

• Yes, you can be a public speaker — Saron Yitbarek (2017)

• So you want to speak at tech conferences but you have nothing to talk about… — Nadia Odunayo (2018)

• On Conference Speaking — Hynek Schlawack (2017)

• How to Get Your Talk Into PyCon — Ned Jackson Lovely

• Rejected PyCon Proposals — Allison Kaptur (2014)

• Example PyCon talk proposals — Brandon Rhodes (2013)

• Pro Tips for Conference Talks — Craig Kerstiens (2012)

Selection Process

We’ll choose talks that we believe will provide the most engaging and enjoyable programme for our attendees. We will also ask volunteers from the Python community to help us review and rate the proposals, so that we can take into consideration what the community wants to see and hear at this conference.