Some facts, hints and stats
The Call for Speakers for DDD East Midlands Conference 2023 opens on the 20th March. I’m sure you are all eager to submit a talk to the conference, and if you are still unsure, know that we will offer speakers as much help and support as we are able.
There are a few things you need to be aware of before you submit the form.
Before you decide to submit
There are few frequently asked questions about talk submission. In this section, we’ll cover the questions that get asked the most.
Are Travel and Expenses Covered?
Unfortunately, we will not be covering travel or expenses (T&E) for speakers, with the exception of the Keynote.
The main reason for this funding. As a not-for-profit with free tickets to attendees, we throw all the funding into the conference and related DDD East Midlands events, which is already an amount which is challenging to raise.
It does also mean that the competition to speak is reduced a bit as due to lack to T&E funding the conference tends to have less international submissions.
We are making efforts to encourage speakers for all experiences and backgrounds locally to submit and hope to still have a diverse range of speakers submit.
What about visas for international speakers?
No we don’t. We don’t have any support for international speakers.
Lengths of talks.
For the 2023 event - you can submit for three different lengths of talks.
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60-minute talks: We suggest a talk length of 45 - 50 minutes and time for questions. These longer talks will have their own slots with breaks before and after. If you do not wish to take questions, please aim to have the talk adaptable so that 10 - 15 minutes can be cut if needed. This is only in case of emergencies, such as the fire alarms in 2019 which resorted in the schedule having to be altered.
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30-minute talks: These talks are shorter and can be a 30 full minutes or 20 - 25 minutes with the remaining time for questions from the audience. These talks will have their own slots with breaks before and after.
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15-minute lightning talks: If you think a 30-minute talk is a bit too intimidating, how about submitting for a lightning talk? Three lightning talks will be presented in a single session, one after the other with breaks before the first talk and after the third.
Who can submit?
Anybody working in or learning about technology! No matter what your discipline or level of experience, you can submit to DDD East Midlands conference.
Designers, developers, managers, founders, user researchers and more! We want submissions from you ALL.
What sort of subjects are you looking for?
Again, anything relevant to the technology industry. Examples of topic areas include:
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Tech Talks: Anything from “a beginners guide to” to war stories and deep dives.
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Core Skills: Some people refer to these as “soft skills” or “people skills”. Talks relating to that skill set we all require - management, ethics, people and more.
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Other Maybe you have experience which means you could talk about another perspective of tech. Legalities, finances or otherwise. You might have a topic that you think would benefit a broad range of technologists.
What is the “anonymous submission” about?
Talks are selected via attendee vote. Attendees are only shown talk titles and descriptions (which is why we ask that these do not contain any identifiable information).
There is more information about the anonymous submission process, and why we run this process in this blog post: The Anonymous Submission Process. This post is from 2019 and due a little update, which will be posted soon!
Is there any information about the previous events?
If you want to know more about who attended the previous events or more about the types of talks submitted check out the Demographics page. This might help you determine what kind of talk to submit and what kind of audience you’ll be trying to appeal to.
What kind of support is available to speakers?
There is a variety of support we are offering to speakers.
- Speakers Workshop: Dependant on sponsorship, Dylan Beattie will be returning to Nottingham to deliver his full day Speakers Workshop. Speakers and volunteers will be invited to attend. For 2023 this will be an in-person event.
You can read a post about the 2019 Speakers Workshop here
- Practice Talks: We can put you in touch with meetups who are looking for speakers so that you can practice your talk.
When you are submitting
A few things to consider when submitting a talk to the conference.
Read and apply the Code Of Conduct
The Code of Conduct applies to all elements of DDD East Midlands - our online and physical presence and the talks that are submitted and presented.
Please ensure both your submissions and content abide to the Code Of Conduct, which can be found here.
Where can you submit to talk?
You can access the submission form here. There will be a blog post later this week which walks through the form and each of it’s fields.
Can multiple talks be submitted per speaker?
Each speaker can submit up to 5 talks to DDD East Midlands Conference
Can one speaker submit multiple lengths of talk?
Yes! You can submit each talk for different lengths if you think you can adapt it, or you can submit different talks at different lengths if you wish.
When sharing your submission
Feel free to share on social media that you have submitted to DDD East Midlands but please do not mention your talk title. We realise that our anonymous process isn’t perfect, but this helps us keep the playing field fair.
