How to Get Your Talk Accepted at Conferences

Speaking at conferences is one of the most rewarding ways to share your expertise, build your professional network, and grow your career. But if you're new to the process, submitting a Call for Proposal (CFP) can feel intimidating and frustrating.

How do you craft a proposal that stands out? How do you increase your chances of getting accepted? In this post, I'll share practical, actionable nuggets to help you navigate the CFP process and land your first (or next) speaking gig.

Start With Conferences You Already Know

One of the best ways to increase your chances of acceptance is to prioritize conferences you're already connected with. Have you previously attended, sponsored, or even spoken at a particular event? If so, start there. Conference organizers tend to prefer speakers who already have some level of engagement or alignment with their event. It shows you're genuinely interested and familiar with their audience and style. That you’re there to share knowledge and experience rather than sales pitches.

Additionally, many conferences are part of larger networks or communities. Once you're accepted into one event, it becomes significantly easier to get accepted into others within the same network. Building relationships with organizers and attendees at one conference can open doors to many more speaking opportunities down the road.

Write a Strong Abstract First—Worry About the Talk Later

When submitting a CFP, you typically only need to provide an abstract and some details about yourself. Focus on making both of these strong, and don’t be afraid about bragging. Make sure to briefly emphasize your experience and qualifications. Organizers and attendees will read your synopsis; demonstrate to them why you’re a great person to give this talk.

Likewise, don’t stress about creating your entire slide deck or detailed talking points before submitting. Instead, focus your energy on crafting a clear, compelling abstract tailored specifically to the conference. Your abstract should clearly communicate the value your talk will provide to attendees and align closely with the conference's themes and audience.

Once your talk is accepted, you'll have plenty of time to build out your presentation. For now, your goal is simply to demonstrate to the organizers how your talk is relevant, valuable, and engaging.

Do Your Research on Past Talks

Before submitting your proposal, spend some time researching previous years' conferences. Look at the talks they accepted in the past. While you shouldn't repeat the same talk, you can identify themes, topics, and styles that resonate with the organizers and audience.

Ask yourself questions like:

• Is the conference more business-focused or tech-focused?
• Do they prefer high-level thought leadership or deep dives?
• What kinds of topics have been successful in the past?
• What are the formats of the talks? How long are they?

Understanding these nuances will help you craft a proposal that aligns closely with what the organizers are looking for. Tailoring your abstract to match the conference's style and audience significantly increases your chances of acceptance.

Most importantly while everyone would love to give a keynote or a standard talk take a look at what’s actually available. Are there lots of workshops? Perhaps lots of lightning talks? Applying for the most common types of presentations is a great way to increase your odds of getting accepted.

Lean on the Experience of Your Team and Community

Many first-time speakers assume their talk must be a personal story of "How I built this..." But that's not always necessary. You can leverage the collective experience of your team or community to create a compelling talk.

You can talk about a big challenge that your engineers tackled and how the audience can use that approach in their own work. Or a new tech stack or library that your developers were able to leverage to great success. Maybe an open source project that you're contributing back to.

Broadening your approach and topic can paradoxically make your talk more relatable and valuable to the audience. It also takes some pressure off you personally, allowing you to share insights from other's perspectives.

Focus on Audience Growth and Takeaways, Not Product Pitches

When proposing your talk, prioritize the audience's growth and actionable takeaways. Avoid making your proposal sound like a product pitch. Ironically, talks that genuinely help the audience and provide meaningful insights often lead to more interest in your product or service. You’re demonstrating not just a solution but a professional team or organization that knows how to tackle big problems.

You can always subtly mention what your organization does during the talk, but the primary focus should always be on delivering value to attendees. Conference organizers are wary of overly promotional talks, so emphasizing audience value in your abstract will greatly improve your chances of acceptance.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Getting your CFP accepted is just the first step. Delivering a great talk is equally important. Conference organizers love inviting back speakers who deliver engaging, polished presentations. Whether you're giving a solo presentation or participating in a panel, make sure to practice extensively beforehand.

For presentations, I personally write detailed notes—almost word-for-word—to clarify my thoughts. I don't memorize them, but this helps solidify my key points and ensures I cover everything important. For panels, have someone (or even an AI assistant) ask you potential questions and practice answering them out loud.

The more comfortable you are with your material, the more confident and engaging you'll be on stage. Good delivery not only makes your talk memorable but also increases your chances of being invited back in the future.

Add a Little Humanity to Your Talk

A bit of humor and levity can significantly enhance your talk, making it more engaging and memorable. You don't need to be a comedian—just a few light-hearted comments or relatable anecdotes can help break the ice and keep your audience interested. Humanize yourself as a speaker and focus on building rapport with your audience, making your talk more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Don't Stress About Covering Every Detail

When speaking, it's easy to get caught up trying to mention every single detail. But remember, flow and clarity are more important than exhaustive detail. It's okay if you miss a few minor points—your audience won't notice. Focusing on the overall narrative and key takeaways prevents you from getting overwhelmed or “drawing a blank” during your talk.

Personally, I've found that when I let go of the need to cover every single detail, my talks become more natural, engaging, and enjoyable for both me and my audience.

Apply Early to Show You're Serious

Remember that CFPs typically open months before the actual conference. Submitting your proposal early signals to organizers that you're genuinely interested and serious about their event. Early submissions also give you a slight advantage, as organizers often start reviewing proposals as soon as they come in.

Apply Late if They Extend Applications

I know I just said to apply early but sometimes you’ll see conferences extend their submission deadline. This could be for many different reasons but a common one is that they haven’t yet received enough proposals to fill the time slots that they want to fill. This can be your chance to wow them and deliver a proposal that really meets their needs.

If you have connections to any of the organizers feel free to reach out and ask if there’s anything specific they’re looking for. Maybe you’re a good fit for what they need, or maybe you know someone within your organization or network who is and can tell them about the opportunity.

Promote your Talk

Believe it or not most people are happy to hear about what you’re doing. It can feel a bit awkward at first but making people aware of your talk is the first step to getting them in seats to listen to your talk. Organizers will definitely notice when you draw a crowd. You should do this both before and at the conference.

Before the conference make sure to reach out to as many people who are going to be there as you can; especially those with jobs and industries that overlap well with your talk. When you get to the conference do the same, chat people up. Oftentimes your badge will say you’re a Speaker and you’ll likely find plenty of people asking you what your talk is about. Lead with a question, ask them what they do, and if they do something that overlaps with your talk then tell them about it in a way that communicates the benefit for them specifically.

Final Thoughts

Speaking at conferences is a rewarding experience that can significantly boost your career and professional network. By prioritizing relevant conferences, crafting strong abstracts, researching past talks, leveraging team experiences, focusing on audience value, practicing thoroughly, adding humor, maintaining flow, and applying early (or late!), you'll greatly increase your chances of getting your CFP accepted.

Now, go out there and submit your next proposal with confidence—you've got this!

And as always, here's another photo of Asher. This time tucked in for a nap. Napping is one of his favorite things to do.