← Part 2: Decide Why You Want to Speak

Part 3 of 8 in A Guide to Speaking at Technology Conferences.

Selection is usually program design, not a ranking of speakers from best to worst. A strong proposal can be declined because it duplicates another session, misses the theme, targets the wrong level, or does not fit the available schedule.

This article expands on CFP Land’s archived “How Conferences Choose Their Speakers”.

How the CFP process works

Most speakers enter through a public call for proposals rather than a personal invitation. Organizers publish the tracks, formats, deadlines, and submission form, often using a dedicated CFP platform. Invited speakers and keynotes may fill some places, but the open CFP supplies much of the program.

Conferences commonly review proposals in one of three ways. Rolling review begins before the deadline and may reward an early submission. Public voting asks a community to express interest, usually with organizers retaining the final decision so popularity does not determine the whole program. Post-deadline review evaluates the complete pool together, making submission time irrelevant as long as the proposal is on time. Read the published process; if rolling review would change your timing and the page is unclear, ask the organizers.

Eligibility and initial review

Organizers may first remove incomplete, late, commercial, off-topic, or code-of-conduct-incompatible submissions. Following the instructions is the easiest selection factor to control.

Reviewers then assess some combination of relevance, clarity, usefulness, originality, evidence, audience fit, and feasibility. In anonymous review, they may not see your name or biography at this stage.

Program balance

The committee has to assemble a whole program. It may need a mix of beginner and advanced sessions, technical and human topics, talk formats, industries, and perspectives. Ten excellent proposals about the same popular tool cannot all occupy one track.

Organizers may also consider speaker availability, travel budget, room capacity, previous program repetition, and whether a session depends on equipment they cannot support.

Reputation and qualifications can affect risk. An experienced speaker may have recordings that show reliable delivery, while a first-time speaker can establish credibility through practical experience, writing, teaching, open-source work, or a well-developed private outline. Some events deliberately reserve support or places for new voices.

A thoughtful program also represents different identities, regions, company sizes, industries, educational paths, and career stages. Diversity is not a decorative final check: it changes which problems, assumptions, and solutions the audience encounters.

Travel budgets may limit how many distant speakers an event can support. Sponsor sessions may be selected through a separate commercial process and should be labeled clearly rather than presented as ordinary peer-reviewed talks.

Notification and confirmation

Selection can take weeks because organizers must contact accepted speakers, wait for confirmation, and use a waitlist when someone declines. A published lineup does not always mean every decision has been sent. Record the expected notification date and make a polite inquiry only after it passes.

What you can influence

You cannot control the other submissions or the program’s constraints. You can make the proposal easy to evaluate:

• Match the stated audience and theme
• Describe a focused problem and outcome
• Show a realistic plan for the time available
• Support claims and avoid hype
• Explain what distinguishes the session
• Follow every submission instruction

Do not try to reverse-engineer a secret formula. Review processes vary, and a technique that worked at one event may be irrelevant at another.

Improve through reviewing

If a community offers open proposal mentoring or volunteer reviewing, participate when you are qualified and have the time. Reading proposals teaches you how quickly ambiguity, excessive scope, and missing outcomes become visible. Respect confidentiality and declare conflicts of interest.

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← Part 2: Decide Why You Want to Speak · Part 4: Find Calls for Proposals →