Lightning Talk CFP now OPEN!
Come present a lightning talk at SeaGL!
Are you attending SeaGL this year (you really should)? Are you passionate enough about something to talk about it for five minutes (of course you are)? Then you should propose a lightning talk!
This year the SeaGL lightning talks will take place during the conference party the evening of October 7th. We’re looking for eight amusing and informative talks for that segment of the party entertainment.
About lightning talks
Lighting talks are five minute talks. You may use as many (or as few) slides as you wish.
SeaGL’s attendees are fascinating and well-rounded individuals with a lot of different interests. Therefore SeaGL lightning talks may be on any topic whatsoever. There’s no need to stick to technical matters.
There are three criteria for a SeaGL lightning talk:
- The topic is interesting to the SeaGL audience.
- You can present it in five minutes.
- The presentation does not violate the code of conduct.
That’s it! Pretty easy, really.
Topic ideas
Lightning talks can be about anything which you think would hold the interest of the audience for a max of five minutes. For instance:
- How not to crash your drone
- What’s the deal with international paper sizes?
- Your car is a computer which you can hack
- A travelogue of your trip touring Thai Buddhist temples
- An introduction to lactobacillus fermentation
- Mending for geeks: how to save your favorite clothes
- What the heck is this thing?! Bizarre tools of yesteryear
- Lost language: Modem AT Commands
- So you want to buy a house: What to expect
- How to mingle at parties and events
Technical talks, funny talks, WTF talks… If you can make it interesting, then we’d love a proposal about it.
Target dates
- CFP Opens: Monday, September 18
- CFP Closes: Sunday, September 24
- Speaker Notifications: Friday, September 29
- Lightning Talks: Saturday, October 7, during the evening conference party
Talk selection criteria
The main SeaGL program had nine reviewers and a well-documented list of selection criteria.
The lightning talk selection criteria are going to be considerably more casual. The speaker committee will vote on proposals, then the final decisions and schedule will be made by the program chair. It’s going to be a fairly laid back process, keeping with the fun but informative nature of lightning talks themselves.
Proposal and public speaking resources
Never presented at a conference or meetup before? Presented but still not feeling confident? It’s OK, even the most experienced conference presenters aren’t necessarily confident at this stuff.
A lightning talk can be a great way to dip your toe into conference speaking. It’s quick (so the pain of public speaking is over quickly). It’s short (so you don’t have to spend days crafting your talk). It’s fun (you can talk about anything which interests you).
The Public_Speaking repository has collected a lot of resources to help you level up in your conference presenting.
Pay particular attention to the Proposing talks section of this page. Follow these tips and your talk proposals will stand a better chance of being selected.
PLEASE NOTE: Whether your talk is accepted or not often doesn’t have as much to do with how great your proposal is as it does with how many speaking slots the conference has available and the balance of the program the organisers need to craft. It’s nothing personal: we just don’t have enough time to accept all the great lightning talk proposals we receive.
Don’t let that stop you from proposing! You can’t win a race you don’t even run, so click here to propose a lightning talk.
Lightning talk proposal help and feedback
Want to propose a talk but would like feedback on your idea, proposal wording, talk title or just on how to deal with nerves? The speaker committee will do everything possible to help you be successful with your proposal and presentation. There are two ways to ask for help:
- Join us in the
#seaglIRC channel on Freenode IRC. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with IRC. Just click here for the webchat, choose a nickname, and you’re good to go! - Email us at
speakers AT seagl D0T org. We’ll do our best to get back to you within a day.
We stand ready to assist, so please don’t hesitate to ask us for help!
Code of Conduct
All staff, speakers, and attendees of SeaGL must agree and adhere to the Code of Conduct for the safety and enjoyment of all organizers, volunteers, speakers, and attendees. We ask that all prospective speakers review and confirm their willingness to abide by the Code of Conduct terms and expectations when interacting within SeaGL community spaces.
What are you waiting for? Propose a lightning talk now!