EmberConf 2020 CFP

EmberConf 2020 is now accepting proposals for talks. Join us March 16-18 in the great city of Portland, OR!

Proposals will be accepted from October 21st through December 1st at 11:59pm pacific time. We'll be voting on and reviewing talks on a rolling basis, and will attempt to send feedback sooner than our final evaluation, so the earlier you submit, the more chance you'll have to tweak your pitch and improve your odds.

The first several rounds of reviews in our CFP are blind. To respect this process, please refrain from including biographical information in your talk abstract or details. Note that this also means if you receive any feedback, the reviewers don't know who you are. Again, refrain from identifying yourself (or any existing relationships with the reviewer) in any exchanges as part of this process.

Most conference talks will be 30 minutes total; this year we'll also be experimenting with 15 minute talks following their great reception at EmberFest, though the expense funding for 15 minute talks is still TBD.

Due to the size of the audience and the logistics involved, we don't do Q&A, however most speakers will end up entertaining questions beside the stage for a few minutes post-talk.

You may also submit Workshop, BonusConf and MiniTalk proposals.

If your 30m Conference Talk or 3h Workshop is selected you'll receive the following:

• —a free pass to attend the conference
• —$500 speaker honorarium
• —invitation to a yummy speaker dinner
• —special speaker-only gifts
• —$800 in airfare or hotel funding
• —likely additional expense coverage

...and other special speaker privileges and invitations.

If your BonusConf talk is accepted (or your regular conference talk invited to a BonusConf slot), you will receive a free pass to attend the conference. There are no specific benefits for MiniTalks, which are essentially lightning talk slots for folks already planning to attend, and benefits for the experimental 15m talks are TBD. For the 15m talks, the most likely outcome is half the funds allocated for a 30m talk, since it's effectively the same policy as two-speaker talks.

Each year we hope and plan to help put additional moneys towards expenses (as in, in addition to the honorarium and baseline $800), but this will depend upon sponsorships and ticket sales. We're optimistic and will update speakers as things develop. The last five years we were able to reimburse speakers for 100% of travel and accommodation expenses, in addition to the honoraria.

General Note: While there are sometimes talks that could be good fits for any generic technical conference, it is important that talks at EmberConf make sure to tie their topics into Ember. For example, if you have a general talk with demos, expect to update your demos to work with Ember. If you're digging into a larger CS concept or lesson, tie the concepts into Ember specifically wherever possible.

EmberConf is intended to be an inclusive, welcoming conference for everyone. Our Code of Conduct can be found here: http://emberconf.com/about.html#code-of-conduct.

NOTE: If you are accepted as a speaker and have already purchased a ticket, we'll refund it, 100%. So don't wait, be sure you have a seat either way!

If you have questions others might, or want to brainstorm with Ember friends, there's an ember-conf channel in the Ember Community Discord, as well as a talks channel.

For those of you with family obligations, note that EmberConf will have on-site childcare and nursing mother facilities available both conference days. You'll be asked about this upon registration if accepted, and if purchasing a regular conference ticket. Pre-registration is required.

We will also have closed captioning, an accessible venue, gender-neutral restrooms, vegan/vegetarian/allergy-friendly food options, and a host of other accommodations. Feel free to reach out if you're concerned about anything that isn't spelled out here or in our event FAQ.

Conference information: http://www.emberconf.com/
Questions? Bugs? email [email protected].

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FAQs:

We'll add to this as we notice questions coming from multiple sources.

1. Can I edit my proposal after I submit it?

Very much yes! In fact, that's the idea—you get feedback, and then you edit to improve, and then you get accepted <3

Once the CFP ends of course, things get a lot more final fast.

2. Can I have more than one presenter?

Our thoughts on this are nuanced. The blanket answer is yes, you can submit a talk with as many presenters as you'd like—the app will allow it.

Digging in a bit though, talks with multiple speakers are significantly less likely to get accepted. If we have any, it'll probably be limited to one in the entire program. In practice, they're just incredibly difficult to do well, and so when there are enough single-speaker proposals, we're more likely to choose the less risky path.

Please note: we budget for one honorarium and one expense coverage budget per speaker. Talks with multiple speakers will most likely end up needing to split their allocation.

3. I submitted a proposal but haven't received any feedback. Is everything alright?

Yep! Not all submissions will receive feedback. This is partially because our resources are limited, but also because some of them will be 100% clear, and no clarifications will be required. So not getting any feedback isn't an indicator of how your proposal has been received.

Also, of course, the earlier you submit, the more likely it is that you'll receive questions and/or feedback from reviewers.

4. I want to submit a Workshop proposal. Can you tell me more?

To submit a Workshop, be sure you've tagged your proposal as such.

Workshops take place Monday, the day before the first day of the conference. There are morning and afternoon slots and they're each three hours long, including breaks (when and how long are up to the instructor).

Class sizes can range from 30 to 50 depending on instructor comfort levels, and at least one Teacher's Assistant is required (two full instructors may be helpful too, depending on the curriculum). If you have a workshop but no TA, we may be able to help with that, depending on your topic. Just be sure to include any specifications in your Details section.

Primary Workshop Speakers receive all the same perks and reimbursements as regular conference speakers, and a limited number of TA's or secondary instructors (depending on class size) receive free conference admission for each accepted workshop. There may also be additional accommodations for workshops depending on needs and arrangements, and we're happy to work with you to make sure everything feels fair and worthwhile for you.

5. My employer can cover my travel expenses. Can they receive sponsorship credit for that?

They can indeed! Please inform us upon acceptance. We haven't added anything asking about this to the submission form, as we don't want financial considerations to accidentally influence final acceptances. Employer sponsorship helps us greatly on the budgetary front—thanks to you and them for considering it! Employer sponsorships are available for conference speakers, trainers, TAs, as well as BonusConf speakers.