devopsdays Edinburgh - propose

Call for proposals opens Monday, Apr 17, 2017.
Call for proposals closes Saturday, Jun 10, 2017.
Selected proposals will be announced on Saturday, Jun 24, 2017.

We want to hear from you!

We are devoted to inclusivity and welcome talk proposals from anyone who wishes to tender, regardless of race, gender or experience. All proposals will be anonymised before review. Our anonymity process will involve stripping any identifiable information from proposals including name, gender, geography and company.

The people involved in anonymising the proposals will not be involved in their selection. Once the proposals have been anonymised, a team of reviewers will individually rate and categorise all proposals before coming together to discuss each category. Our team of reviewers will include members from under-represented groups. A draft conference program will follow and submitters will be notified via email before the program is finalised and announced.

Session Formats

Devopsdays Edinburgh is a single track, two-day event. The format will include main track presentations, Ignite talks, and Open Spaces sessions, i.e.

A 30-minute talk or panel presented during the conference, usually in the mornings. These are 30 minute slots that will have the full attention of all delegates. We welcome all submissions.
An Ignite talk presented during the Ignite sessions (scheduling varies). These are 5 minutes slots with slides changing every 15 seconds (20 slides total), also presented to all attendees in main conference room. We welcome all submissions.
Open Space: The Open Space breakout sessions allow you to propose, lead or participate in open group discussions. It is not necessary to propose topics ahead of time - these can be suggested in person at the conference.

If you would like to demo a product or service at devopsdays then we encourage you to sponsor the event and set up demos at your dedicated sponsor's booth/table, where you will be able to engage directly with fellow engineers.

How to submit a proposal

To propose a talk or ignite, please fill out the application form

Some advice for your submission:

It’s always great to be specific; the more you can tell us the better, but please do keep it concise (e.g. 20 or so lines should be enough).
Detail is awesome, but not as important as explaining why your proposal would be interesting to conference attendees.
Multiple proposals from the same person are most definitely welcome - please just perform multiple submissions (i.e. one per proposal) as that would help us out massively in the selection process.

Selection Considerations

Choosing talks is part art and part science; here are some factors we consider when considering our program:

Broad appeal: How will your talk play out in a room of people with a variety of skills and backgrounds?
Under-represented voices: We want to hear all voices and strongly encourage diversity in all forms; you are the only one who can tell your story.
Original content: We will lean towards original talks, those that have not already been presented at other (especially local) events and those not available as online recordedings.
No vendor pitches: We value our vendors and sponsors; however we will not accept a talk that appears to be a sales pitch. If you would like to demo your product or service, please consider sponsoring the event instead. This will provide a more direct level of engagement with attendees.
No third-party submissions: This is a small community-driven event and want to hear from speakers who are engaging with us directly.

Travel Expenses

Speakers at Devopsdays Edinburgh will receive a free ticket for the 2-day conference. We also feel you should not incur out-of-pocket travel expenses in order to participate, so if your employer is unable to cover your travel expenses then we may be able to help.