With all conferences going virtual this year, it's easier than ever to give a presentation: no travel days and no hotel costs. So how do you convince the organizers of an event that you're the right person with the right topic? MongoDB veteran speakers Lauren Schaefer and Sven Peters have spoken at over 300 events and will share their tips and tricks and how to avoid pitfalls when submitting a proposal to speak at a conference. In this workshop, you'll learn how to identify a topic that is perfect for both you and the conference, create a compelling title, and write a convincing abstract. And don't worry—you don't need to have tons of experience in public speaking to land your first gig.

1. Sven Peters | Developer Advocate | MongoDB | @svenpet
Lauren Hayward Schaefer | Developer Advocate | MongoDB | @Lauren_Schaefer
How to Become a
Conference Speaker

2. How did we become
conference speakers?

3. The Program Committee
First you need to convince

4. Invited Call for speakers
Opens for 1-2 months
3 - 5 months before the conference

5. Where to find
conferences?
Co-Workers
Newsletter: SeeCFP or CFP Land
Twitter
Other Presenters

6. Schedule
from last year
Does it
resonate?
Find a Topic
AttendeesPassion

7. Popular Topics
Multiple submissions
Popular speakers

8. Popular Topics
Future
3 Slots
10 Submissions
Methodology &
DevOps
5 Slots
102 Submissions

9. A typical submission
Title
Abstract
More info
About you

10. The Talk Title
Catch the attention - Make your talk stick

11. MongoDB Retail Use Case
Need for Speed

12. 50 - 80 chars Avoid “super clever”
titles
Ingredients
Hungry for moreSimple & Clear

13. Catch the attention
Make it stick
Represents your
message
For Reviewers

14. 7 Things: How to Tune Your Database
Sharding: The Data Jigsaw Puzzle

15. Take your time.

16. Convince the committee (and the attendees)
The Abstract

17. Problem
Pain Points
Relatable
Daily situations

18. Problem
Solution
Solve the problem
Be concrete
Examples

19. Problem
Takeways
LearningsSolution

20. A successful application will require
modifications over its lifetime. The question is
not if, but when.
This presentation will follow the life of an
application and the diverse life-altering events
it will go through. Events that require changes
to the schema, the resources it needs, growing
into a sharded cluster and, the security
requirements it must satisfy.
Knowing that you can evolve your application
without downtime may be for you a sufficient
single reason to use MongoDB for your
applications.
Problem

21. A successful application will require
modifications over its lifetime. The question is
not if, but when.
This presentation will follow the life of an
application and the diverse life-altering events
it will go through. Events that require changes
to the schema, the resources it needs, growing
into a sharded cluster and, the security
requirements it must satisfy.
Knowing that you can evolve your application
without downtime may be for you a sufficient
single reason to use MongoDB for your
applications.
Solution

22. A successful application will require
modifications over its lifetime. The question is
not if, but when.
This presentation will follow the life of an
application and the diverse life-altering events
it will go through. Events that require changes
to the schema, the resources it needs, growing
into a sharded cluster and, the security
requirements it must satisfy.
Knowing that you can evolve your application
without downtime may be for you a sufficient
single reason to use MongoDB for your
applications.
Learnings

23. Solution
Learnings
Problem

24. Use a spell checker Ask a native speaker

25. Decision on your submission

26. You’ve come a long way….
More Info

28. Behind
the
Scenes

29. Qualifications
Talk Outline
More examples
Topic relevance
Conference acceptance

30. A bit about you
Bio

31. Sven Peters, developer advocate at MongoDB, has
been studying trends in software development for
the last 10 years uncovering the cultural and
technical attributes to help development teams work
effectively and drive innovation. He has 20 years
experience in writing code, leading teams, and
sharing his experience with thousands of developers
at uncountable conferences in 25+ countries.

32. Great submission
…but are you a good speaker?

33. Share your work

34. There is no video of you presenting?
Create one!

35. Summary

36. A typical submission
Title
Abstract
More info
About you
First impression / sticky
Convincing the committee
The final punch
You’re a great presenter

37. The Title
Let’s write a submission

38. Keep yourself alive
Try 1

39. Burnout at the Workplace
Try 2

40. Try 3
Keep yourself alive
Stopping the Effects of Burnout

41. The Abstract
Let’s write a submission

42. I will talk about why burnout culture takes away from
inclusion and how to identifying burnout within yourself
and your teams.

43. The tech community puts a warped badge of honor
around burnout. It’s often seen as an indicator of success
and working hard when it’s actually harming the growth of
our developer communities and teams.
By helping to recognize the signs in yourself and others,
we can solve one of the least talked about and most
dangerous problems in tech -- and hopefully save some
lives.
I will talk about why burnout culture takes away from
inclusion and how to identifying burnout within yourself
and your teams.

44. The tech community puts a warped badge of honor
around burnout. It’s often seen as an indicator of success
and working hard when it’s actually harming the growth of
our developer communities and teams.
By helping to recognize the signs in yourself and others,
we can solve one of the least talked about and most
dangerous problems in tech -- and hopefully save some
lives.
I will talk about why burnout culture takes away from
inclusion and how to identifying burnout within yourself
and your teams.
You'll learn how to bring a healthy work and growth ethic to
your team, no matter if you’re the newcomer or the tech
lead.

45. The tech community puts a warped badge of honor
around burnout. It’s often seen as an indicator of success
and working hard when it’s actually harming the growth of
our developer communities and teams.
By helping to recognize the signs in yourself and others,
we can solve one of the least talked about and most
dangerous problems in tech -- and hopefully save some
lives.
I will talk about why burnout culture takes away from
inclusion and how to identifying burnout within yourself
and your teams.
You'll learn how to bring a healthy work and growth ethic to
your team, no matter if you’re the newcomer or the tech
lead.

46. there’s more
But wait

47. Community Speaker Program
CFP
https://www.mongodb.com/world
https://developer.mongodb.com/
community/speaker-program/
Talk about MongoDB