DjangoCon US 2023

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Call for Proposals: DjangoCon US 2023

DjangoCon US is an annual conference dedicated to teaching, inspiring, and sharing with the Django community. We are dedicated to expanding our inclusive culture, promoting and celebrating diversity, supporting each other personally and professionally, and contributing to our amazing web framework.

Our conference this year is at the Durham Convention Center in Durham, NC and runs from October 16th - 20th, 2023 with online tutorials on October 8.

Schedule

Tutorials - Online Only - October 8th
Talks - October 16th - 18th
Sprints - October 19th - 20th

Call for Proposals

We want you! We don’t just want to hear from the experts or big names - other perspectives are just as valuable. If you’ve done something that other people might be interested in or should know about, please submit a proposal!

We desire diversity! Our community is made better by a diverse set of voices, perspectives, and opinions. We love having an intersectional group of presenters as diverse as our wonderful community.

We fancy first-timers! If you haven’t spoken at a conference or given a tutorial before, this is your invitation to do so. Don’t let the idea that you’re not famous or an expert stop you from submitting. It certainly won’t stop us from selecting your talk or tutorial and it won’t stop the audience from enjoying it!

Plus there are perks! Presenters get free admission to DjangoCon US! Grants to assist with your travel and lodging expenses are available as well. Fill out the Opportunity Grant form by May 15, 2023. Decision notifications will be sent by June 28, 2023.

How about some help?! Presenters, regardless of experience, sometimes want a little help. If you’d like any help in proposing, preparing, or presenting your talk, feel free to contact one of our mentors! A mentor is an experienced presenter who has volunteered to help other presenters. For first-time presenters, non-native English speakers, under-confident or uncertain speakers, or anyone who would just appreciate another set of eyes, our mentors are here to help. You’ll get the best results by forming a relationship with one mentor, rather than contacting several.

And if you would like to be a speaker mentor, let us know!

Talks

  • Length: 25 minutes or 45 minutes

We are looking for original and interesting talks that can benefit the diverse interests of our audience. Don’t feel boxed into Django-centric themes; we also love talks about community, web development, user experience, and more. If you’re a first timer - don’t fret! We would love to be remembered as the conference where you started your speaking career!

If you are interested in your talk being considered for the deep dive day, select the deep dive tag in the “Tags” section of the submission page. See the “Other Info” section below for more details on deep dive day.

Do you have a great idea, but are unsure if you can find the resources to attend? If your talk is selected, your DjangoCon ticket is on us! Plus, we offer opportunity grants to assist with other expenses like travel and lodging. Fill out our Opportunity Grant form by May 15, 2023. Decision notifications will be sent by June 28, 2023.

Still not convinced? Feel free to reach out to our speaker mentors and take advantage of the helpful hints listed below!

Important elements to include!

To make sure that your proposal resonates with the reviewers, be sure you include the following elements in your submission.

  • WHAT you’re going to be talking about or teaching (a topic sentence telling us what your audience will learn)
  • WHY you think this talk/tutorial is important/interesting/helpful (persuasive sentence)
  • HOW you’re going to get your point across (provide an outline, a couple paragraphs on what you plan to say, a link to slides, or a list of concepts you plan to touch on)
  • WHO will benefit from your talk/tutorial (especially note concepts that attendees should be familiar with in order to get the most out of your presentation - ex: Models and/or Basic Database Design)

Here are all the talks from DjangoCon US 2019 through 2022:

Some specific examples from past years

Tutorials

  • Length: ~3 - 3.5 hours
  • Format: online

Due to venue availability constraints, we're doing tutorials exclusively online for 2023. Each tutorial session will have one main virtual classroom and breakout rooms for attendees to work together. We will also have the attendee chat in which you'll have a private channel to discuss with your attendees. Teaching assistants are welcome; just let the organizers know beforehand so we invite them to the right places.

We’re open to all kinds of ideas, especially ones we haven’t thought of! Technical tutorials tend to be more popular, but we welcome all topics! Tutorials can be targeted at any experience level, just be sure to indicate clearly what you expect your students to already know or have experience with in your proposal!

Still unsure if you should submit? Not only will we cover your DjangoCon ticket, but tutorials are compensated! However, they do not include the price of your travel or lodging. If you need help with these costs, fill out the Opportunity Grant form by May 15, 2023. Decision notifications will be sent by June 28, 2023.

Important elements to include!

To make sure that your proposal resonates with the reviewers, be sure you include the following elements in your submission.

  • WHAT you’re going to be teaching (a topic sentence telling us what your audience will learn)
  • WHY you think this tutorial is important/interesting/helpful (persuasive sentence)
  • HOW you’re going to get your point across (provide an outline, a link to slides, or a list of concepts you plan to touch on)
  • WHO will benefit from your tutorial (especially note concepts that attendees
    should be familiar with in order to get the most out of your presentation)

Here are some examples of what has been accepted over the last couple of years:

New Expectations for Tutorials

In order to streamline the tutorial process, we're going to offer volunteer staffed office hours for tutorial attendees to help them get their machine set up. Tutorial presenters are not required to participate in these office hours. We will require that all tutorials include a setup guide by October 1st. This guide is what will be followed during the office hours.

The setup guide should include a step confirming that the setup has been complete. For example, if the tutorial requires a working Django application, having the user create a superuser, run runserver, then log into the Django Administration site would suffice. The goal here is to uncover and resolve setup issues so that the tutorial's time can be spent on content. A thorough example for a setup guide can be found here.

NOTE: Due to the lack of venue availability, all tutorials will exclusively be presented online. Further details about timing will come later, but the general session length will remain the same.

Other Info

COVID-19

At this time, we are planning on most presenters being in Durham to present their talks in person. Things may always change depending on how the pandemic progresses over the year. As in 2022, we will have a handful of online-exclusive talks that will air during the in-person breaks and meals.

Please indicate your format preference (in-person or online) as part of your proposal.

Multiple presenters

We do allow for multiple presenters, but we ask that you and your team present one proposal. Submit the proposal under the profile of the person who wishes to be the main point of contact for reviewers and the program team. If your talk or tutorial is accepted, we will then require information about your co-presenters.

If you are giving a tutorial, compensation will be paid out to only one person. It will be up to you and your fellow presenters to distribute the funds appropriately.

Recording

Every session at DjangoCon US will have professionally-produced video recordings published to our YouTube channel.

If you do not wish to have your talk or tutorial recorded, please note this in your submission. Doing so will not influence the selection process in any way.

Lightning Talks (⚡️Talks)

  • Time Limit: 5 minutes

Not up for a full talk or tutorial? Looking to give your first talk at a conference? Lightning talks are talks of 5 minutes or less, with or without slides, on almost any topic you want! Even if you’re nervous or shy, remember: it’s a MAXIMUM of 5 minutes. Sign-ups will happen at the conference and more details will be forthcoming.

Selection Process

We’ll choose a selection of talks and tutorials that we feel add up to the most enjoyable and engaging program for our attendees. Volunteers from the Django community are invited to help us pick talks, and we rely heavily on them to help us select ones that are interesting and beneficial to our attendees. Community volunteers and conference organizers will all be reviewing anonymized submissions and collectively deciding which ones to accept. We’ll publish the list of selected talks as soon as we can after the deadline.

While we all love Python and Django, we recognize the strengths of other technologies as well. Talks that insult other technologies and the people who use them will not be accepted and are in violation of our Code of Conduct.

Deep Dive Talks

This year, we will be curating a deep dive day to focus on exploring Django and Django-adjacent topics in detail. Deep dive day is meant to follow in the footsteps of Django Under the Hood and will provide a range of topics presented in depth, targeting varying levels of Django experience. Talks of this nature will be a mix of community submissions and personal invitations. If you believe your talk is a good fit, please indicate so on your submission to our CFP by choosing the “deep dive” tag! We reserve the right to move talks in or out of the deep dive day depending on a number of factors, including conference fit, talk topic, and likelihood of audience engagement (among others).

Pre-conference information

You will have the option to upload a rough transcript of your talk approximately two weeks before the conference to give the captioning team a chance to train on any jargon you might use in your talk. This is by no means required but it will provide a more accessible experience to your audience.

The organizing team reserves the right to request a review of draft slides at any point up to the start of the conference for any reason including but not limited to content, messaging quality, and more. Failure to provide these slides in a timely manner may result in your removal from the program. We understand that the slides are draft quality and will not be shared outside the program and code of conduct teams.

Travel reimbursement

All speakers are eligible to receive up to $500 in travel reimbursement to cover hotel, transportation, and visa costs. If your employer is paying for your travel, please use their money first!

Online speaker gear reimbursement

If you are speaking online, we are pleased to offer up to $500 for recording gear reimbursement to be used on qualifying expenses (camera, light, microphone, etc.). This cannot be used in conjunction with the above travel reimbursement (it's an either/or proposition).

This Call for Papers closed on 2023-05-15 18:00 (America/New_York).

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