devopsdays Berlin - Propose
Call for proposals opens Tuesday, Feb 12, 2019.
Call for proposals closes Wednesday, Jul 31, 2019.
Selected proposals will be announced on Thursday, Aug 15, 2019.
There are three ways to propose a topic at devopsdays:
- A 30-minute talk presented during the conference, usually in the mornings.
- An Ignite talk presented during the Ignite sessions (scheduling varies). These are 5 minutes slots with slides changing every 15 seconds (20 slides total).
- Open Space: If you'd like to lead a group discussion during the attendee-suggested Open Space breakout sessions, it is not necessary to propose it ahead of time. Those topics are suggested in person at the conference. If you'd like to demo your product or service, you should sponsor the event and demo it at your table.
- Hands-On session: If your talk is of a technical nature, maybe it makes more sense to show others what and how you do it. These are 45 minute sessions parallel to the Open Space sessions. Give people a chance for questions. Please: No product demos.
If you’d like to demo your product or service, you should sponsor the event and demo it at your table.
What are we looking for?
Can you talk about this?
We at DevOpsDays Berlin do prefer cultural talks over technical talks. So if you have a hiring success story, can talk about diversity in Teams or Leadership, have a great tale to tell about spreading DevOps to the rest of the company - we would like to hear that.
On the other hand: We’re still engineers deep in our heart - so if you have some uncommon technical story to tell, we also like to hear from you. Please also think about submitting a Hands-On Workshop, if what you want to tell can also be shown to a broader audience
General Tips & Tricks
Choosing talks is part art, part science; here are some factors we consider when trying to assemble the best possible program for our local audience:
- broad appeal: How will your talk play out in a room of people with a variety of backgrounds? Technical deep dives need more levels to provide value for the whole room, some of whom might not use your specific tool.
- new local presenters: You are the only one who can tell your story. We are very interested in the challenges and successes being experienced in our local area. We are happy to provide guidance/coaching for new speakers upon request.
- under-represented voices: We want to hear all voices, including those that may speak less frequently at similar events. Whether you’re in a field not typically thought of as a technology field, you’re in a large, traditional organization, or you’re the only person at your organization with your background, we are interested in your unique experience.
- original content: We will consider talks that have already been presented elsewhere, but we prefer talks that the local area isn’t likely to have already seen.
- no third-party submissions: This is a small community-driven event, and speakers need to be directly engaged with the organizers and attendees. If a PR firm or your marketing department is proposing the talk, you’ve already shown that as a speaker you’re distant from the process.
- no vendor pitches: As much as we value vendors and sponsors, we are not going to accept a talk that appears to be a pitch for your product.
How to submit a proposal:
We’re going with papercall.io this time, so please enter your submission at the DevOpsDays Berlin 2019 page there.