Join us for CascadiaJS 2020!

Call for Presenters

Deadline extended to 7/21

CascadiaJS 2018 speaker

Thank you for your interest in speaking at CascadiaJS 🌲. Here are a few important notes before you continue:

Please review the information below before you submit to the CFP.

Who we are looking for

This year's CFP is open to both experienced speakers and folks who have never given a big conference talk. The criteria we will use for evaluating submissions will be the same, and no added weight will be awarded to folks just because they've spoken before. Some of the best talks given at past CascadiaJS events have come from folks giving their first conference talk.

EVERY DEVELOPER HAS A STORY: about how they got into this industry, how their team solved a problem, how they used the open web to create an amazing experience. We hope that you’ll tell us about yours!

Representation in tech

We are also looking for stories from folks who belong to underrepresented groups (URMs) in our industry. Seattle (and the Pacific Northwest) has a bad reputation for being pretty homogenous, and we want to create an environment for all kinds of speakers, from all kinds of backgrounds, because we believe that makes a difference in shifting the inclusivity of our industry forward.

Code of conduct

Please review our Code of Conduct. Everyone who participates in our conference agrees to the enforcement of our CoC, and includes our friends, speakers, staff, sponsors, and attendees.

Perks

If we accept your proposal to speak, the following items are taken care of by us:

One ticket to the conference

Lodging for 3 nights in Seattle

Travel to/from Seattle

A few surprises 😊

Topics

We are looking for talks that help us all learn something about building for the open web and creating a healthier and happier environment to do this work in. Check-out the talks from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 to get a feel for what kind of talks we gravitate towards.

There are a few things we are NOT looking for:

What we are looking for:

A great talk tells a story -- it can address issues that developers struggle with, break down and explain complicated topics, and cover new ground in web technology. Below are a few topics that we think are interesting, but it’s more about you and the story you want to tell.

How to submit a proposal

First, make sure you're available to attend the conference. It will be held on November 7-8, 2019.

Talk submissions are done as 2 minute videos. Your goal here is not to produce a perfectly executed mini-talk, it is to describe your talk idea informally. What's the topic? How do you want to approach it? Why is it interesting?

We won't make the videos public, so no need to worry about random Internet people seeing them. But we feel this is a good opportunity to start building a comfort level with talking about your idea in front of an audience.

Below are a couple of submissions from two of our 2018 speakers, Elgin-Skye McLaren and Atishay Jain. These videos are not meant to be templates, they're just here to illustrate a few goals: be clear about your topic, share some context for why you care, and please be yourself!

If you're still hesitant about the video, here's a suggestion. Forget recording for now. Stand up, in a place where no one can hear you, and describe your talk idea out loud. When you're done, start over and do it again, ten times in a row. With a two-minute limit, ten tries only take about 20 minutes. After your tenth try, you may feel much more confident.

Once you’ve recorded your 2-minute video, just upload it to a public but obfuscated place. Some suggestions: Youtube (mark as unlisted), Dropbox, S3, your own web host.

Exceptions to our video submission policy

We have heard from a few people that video submissions presents a barrier to them. If this is true for you, please feel free to substitute a link to a written proposal in place of a link to a video. PLEASE, keep the written proposal short and concise. Reading and reviewing the proposal should take no more than ~2 minutes.

We’re here to help!

There are a million reasons why you might not think you’re qualified or capable of giving a talk, let alone at CascadiaJS. We are here to prove you wrong. If all you have is a gut feeling that you have something important to share with people, we are here to help you hone your idea and craft a great submission. We are happy to connect you with experienced speakers to help prepare your submission. Just join our Slack and head over to the #cfp channel.

If you are a new speaker, once your talk has been accepted we will commit to working with you to give an awesome talk. This includes reviewing and advising on slides and helping you practice giving your talk. We can hook you up with local groups or set up a stage for you and a bunch of friends in advance, so you can practice in front of a friendly crowd. Again, whatever else you might need, we’re here to help.

The selection process

Submissions close on July 21, 2019. We will get back to all speakers as soon as possible. We will email all speakers at roughly the same time, so everyone will hear back on the same day.

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