an outline for talks to be submitted to PaperCall.io
This document is a collection of resources and helpful information for writing a good CFP. Many of the notes and tips are direct quotes from the resources listed below. They are mostly notes I took as I read. The outline itself is formatted for PaperCall.io, and the italicized notes are from their site as well.
"The person reading these submissions is always looking for a way to save time. Don't give them a reason to reject you out of hand. That means: if they have a format, hit the format. If they have a word count, hit the word count. Spell words correctly. Write in grammatical English. Sure, the reader might take extra time to figure you out if you bend the submission rules. But why take the chance?"
- Sarah Mei's "What Your Conference Talk is Missing"
- Noell Rappin's "Conference Prompts"
- Noell Rappin's "What I learned from reading 429 conference proposals"
PaperCall Note: You have 300 characters to sell your talk. This is known as the "elevator pitch". Make it as exciting and enticing as possible.
Keep it audience-centric. Give people an idea of what to expect. This is a sales pitch, not academic writing. Your abstract should convince people to come to the talk. Think about what you would tell somebody to convince them that they needed to see your talk.
PaperCall Note:
The description will be seen by reviewers during the CFP process and may eventually be seen by the attendees of the event. You should make the description of your talk as compelling and exciting as possible. Remember, you're selling both the organizers of the events to select your talk, as well as trying to convince attendees your talk is the one they should see.
- Who the audience is
- What they should expect
- What they will learn
- Lack of detail / vague audience
- Being Pitchy (don't sell your company / product / service)
- Being Agressive (watch your language, be nice toward other devs)
- Being Prideful (you can be excited about your idea without being arrogant)
PaperCall Note:
Notes will only be seen by reviewers during the CFP process. This is where you should explain things such as technical requirements, why you're the best person to speak on this subject, etc...
You don't need to oversell your expertise. If there's a reason why you have insight, include it. But you don't need vast experience or to be the top expert on a particular subject to give a talk about it. Also, remember to say thank you to your reviewer.