MidCamp is looking for folks just like you to speak to our Drupal audience! Experienced speakers are always welcome, but camp is also a great place to start for first-time speakers. From the opening of session submission through the beginning of camp, we'll have communication to assist speakers (new and old) in creating engaging and informative sessions.
Sessions submission will close Saturday, February 18th, 2017.
Topics
MidCamp is soliciting sessions geared toward beginner through advanced Drupal users. Please see our session tracks page to see what talks we are looking for. Subject matter can be Drupal, PHP in general, related technologies, soft skills, testing, tools, workflow, etc.
We are open to innovative ideas!
Have another topic you are itching to present? Something about "Using Drupal to go to Mars" or "Using Views to Carry Out Clandestine Dance Parties"? Want to use music to get your point across?
Session proposal submissions are open
Know someone who might be a new voice, but has something to say? Please suggest they submit a session.
Diversity of speakers
We're committed to fostering diversity on all levels at MidCamp.
Ashe Dryden's "Increasing Diversity at Your Conference" suggests having as diverse a session selection team as possible. You can help by volunteering to be part of that team.
Tweet @midwestcamp to help. See below for a description of our anonymized selection process.
We'll be having session submission and selection as early as possible in order to allow speakers to make arrangements to attend early. Regardless of your skill level or experience with Drupal Development, if you have a session you'd like to present at MidCamp but need help getting to camp or arranging accommodation, please let us know.
MidCamp will be offering both 30 min and 60 min session slots. Our 30 min slots can be great for first- time presenters or for experienced presenters to test out a new session idea.
Guidelines
- We encourage experienced speakers to submit talks for a beginner audience.
- Use a format that works for you and your topic: formal talk, panel, short documentary, spoken word, musical, etc.
- Sessions can be 45 minutes or 30 minutes.
- We prefer sessions be presented in English. If you need a translator, please mention that.
- You are welcome to submit more than one talk, but speakers will usually only have one session selected. (Some might appear also on a panel.)
- You may promote a project or organization you are working on if it is relevant, but please no sales pitches.
- We prefer speakers speak on issues affecting groups they belong to, instead of speaking to issues on another group's behalf. (That is, a panel about "Women in Drupal" should be composed of women.)
- Speakers are expected to follow our code of conduct.
Selection
We will have one keynote which is an invited speaker. All other speakers will go through the selection process. We are reaching out to individuals and groups for submissions and we'd love if you did the same. We want you to submit a talk too.
We will have an anonymized session selection process. We believe blind selection will help remove subconscious biases from the selection process.
- A volunteer who is NOT on the selection team will anonymize and remove gendered pronouns from abstracts/bios.
- The team will make a first round of selections from the anonymized submissions.
- A second round will then make sure we have not selected speakers multiple times (excluding panel participants).
Compensation
Speakers will receive a free ticket to the event.
Travel and accommodation costs can be prohibitive for speakers. If you have a session you'd like to present at MidCamp but need help getting to camp or arranging accommodation, please let us know. Need-based scholarships will be available.
We are not yet able to pay speakers for their time.
Edit your session proposal
Speakers can submit session proposals and edit them right up until the deadline (Feb 18th). Please submit your idea early. If you need to edit the proposal, you'll be able to do so from the My Account page.