RubyConf 2020 CFP

Thank you for your interest in speaking at RubyConf 2020! The conference is November 17-19, 2020 and will be VIRTUAL!!!!

Please read through and follow ALL guidelines below to boost your proposal’s chances of being accepted! If you have questions about any of these guidelines, you can reach us at rubyconf@rubycentral.org.

Topics

We’d love for you to come share your knowledge with ~400 (but maybe a whole lot more!) of your closest colleagues & friends. We welcome all talks and workshops related to the Ruby programming language, from the mainstream and basic to the niche and obscure.

The only exception: if your talk is primarily about Ruby on Rails, then please don’t submit it to RubyConf. Hold off and submit it to RailsConf in Spring 2021 instead. Thanks!

This year we have a different option as well: an Engagement Track. With doing everything virtually, it’s important to us to include engaging, fun sessions that bring us together as a community even though we can’t be together in person. More information on all of these options below.

RubyConf will run from 11am - around 5pm CST/UTC-6. If you submit a talk, you will have the choice of either presenting live or submitting a pre-recorded version of your talk. Proposals submitted to the Engagement Track should be for facilitated, real-time, live activities. Finally, this year, we will not have any subject-matter tracks; just a general program for your enjoyment and viewing pleasure.

We require all selected talks to comply wholly with our Anti-Harassment Policy. If you have any questions about the suitability of your talk, or anything else in this CFP, email us at rubyconf@rubycentral.org.

Proposing a Talk

Talks should be a maximum of 30 minutes long. If you want to take questions, we’d encourage you to plan for 20-25 minutes of presentation and to leave the rest of the time for questions. Talks should be lecture-style presentations.

Proposing a Workshop

Workshops should be a maximum of 2 hours long. Workshops should have some lecture- or tutorial-style presentations, along with some time for interaction with the workshop audience.

Proposing an Engagement Session

Engagement Sessions should be a maximum of 30 minutes long. We’re looking for fun proposals that bring the community together and help people learn something interesting or get to know one another. Examples may include a game show, learning how to juggle, or the best ice breakers you’ve ever experienced. Engagement Sessions will be scheduled concurrently with breaks and Exhibit Hall opportunities and will not be during normal session times.

Proposals can be submitted through August 27, 2020. We will be reviewing talks as they come in. The earlier you submit, the more likely you are to receive feedback on how to amend your proposal, which betters your ultimate odds of acceptance. Ultimately, our aim is to have every proposal responded to with an acceptance, waitlist, or decline by September 17, 2020.

For those of you new to speaking (but passionate and knowledgeable!), worry not: we love first-time speakers and are happy to help you out! If you want to learn more about how to improve your talk submission, this post and this one are good places to get started.

For more information on how RubyConf proposals are selected, read the "About the Review Process" below. If you have questions after that, we’re happy to answer them or aid in other ways -- just let us know!

About the Review Process

Proposals will go through two rounds of evaluation. The first-round review will be anonymous — reviewers do not have access to information about you, only what is in your proposal itself, to keep basic biases out of our calculations. 🚨 Please respect this process by keeping your biographical information out of the proposal itself. 🚨

In the second round, proposals that have cleared the first round will be reviewed along with your information. The purpose of this round is to evaluate proposals alongside your past speaking experience, relevant credentials, and anything else that you provide that would help our committee see what a great job you’ll do. The Program Committee is heavily committed to selecting a diverse group of speakers.

During the first round, Program Committee members may have questions and feedback for you about your proposal. The CFP application allows for two-way correspondence without revealing speaker identities. You’ll receive an email notification when a reviewer leaves feedback for you. Please reply promptly and consider adjustments when requested. Our committee will have hundreds of proposals to look over, so you’ll want to be sure that you’re not a process blocker.

Every proposal submission will be responded to, whether or not the talk is accepted. Please only contact us with questions on this if you have not heard back by September 18.

Speaker Benefits

If your session is selected for inclusion in our program, you get:

1. Free admission to the conference (for up to two Speakers).
2. Free admission to one future in-person Ruby Central conference, within three years.
3. Speaker goodies needed for a successful virtual presentation.