How To Propose a Talk for Pixels Camp v4.0 (2020)

Talk proposals for Pixels Camp must be submitted as GitHub pull requests. Please follow these steps:

1. Make sure you're logged in to GitHub;
2. Fork this repository into your account;
3. Copy the talk-title_presenter-name.md template into a new file;
4. Rename the new file using your talk's title and your name (eg. introduction-to-foo_john-doe.md);
5. Edit the new file and fill in each section (do not delete the template file);
6. When you're done, submit a Pull Request, using your talk's title as the PRs title and the contents of your .md file as its description.

Our backoffice uses the PR title and description during the review process (the .md file is used later on to build the schedule). This also allows the public to comment/vote on proposals.

NOTE: If you're proposing more than one talk, please open separate Pull Requests for each one.

What Happens Next?

• Your proposal will be reviewed by the Pixels Camp organizers.
• You'll be asked for more information, or to touch up existing information.
• If your talk is accepted, we'll merge the PR.
• You'll get feedback even if the talk isn't accepted.

Rules

• The deadline for submitting self-proposed talks is January 20, 2020;
• Speakers must also be general attendees, you must also apply for Pixels Camp here, before submitting your proposal: https://pixels.camp;
• Having your talk accepted also means you're accepted as an attendee (of course);
• Proposals must have a minimum set of information (see the template) to be considered for revision;
• All stage slots are 1 hour long, so talks should be around 45-50 minutes (plus setup time), with a minimum of 30 minutes (not ideal, since it wastes stage time). Only workshops may be longer (up to 2 hours);
• Talks may be delivered in English or Portuguese, but talk proposals must always be written in English.

Contact Information

Make sure we have a way to contact you privately if needed. Set up an e-mail address in your GitHub profile or include it with your proposal. Also make sure you join us at Slack. Just ask for an invite if you're not there yet.

What Makes a Good Proposal?

There aren't any hard rules besides making it honest and as captivating as you can. We do have a few suggestions though:

• Make it HARD-CORE — This doesn't mean the topic needs to be advanced, or that you need to be a god in the subject matter, it means you'll be speaking to a technical audience made out of intelligent people and shouldn't avoid going all technical. People love the gory details.
• Make it PERSONAL — Especially if you'll be giving an introduction to some topic, make sure you add something of yourself to the subject. Anyone can google for information these days, so remember the audience will be mostly looking for your personal experience/opinion on the matter.
• Make it DIFFERENT — The audience at Pixels Camp has very diverse interests so, if you think about it, almost any topic can be made interesting to some subset of the attendees. Don't limit yourself to popular topics or the new shiny, choose a topic you like and make it about knowledge sharing and not evangelism (sales pitches don't go well with this audience). If you're interested in something and are willing to talk about it on stage, chances are other attendees will be willing to hear you.
• Make it CLEAR — People are more likely to be interested in attending your talk if they get a clear idea of what you'll be talking about. Polish your talk description with clear wording and proper english, and try to come up with an interesting title. Don't overdo it, though... Like in code, excess cleverness may actually work against you.

I Got Accepted!

Congratulations! You're an MVP (Most Valuable Pixel... Camper). The Pixels Camp organizers will be contacting you about some logistics details soon. Meanwhile, you can contact us over Slack (privately or on #speakers channel).

I Got Rejected, Now What?

If your talk proposal gets rejected, don't be disappointed. Don't give up, you may get your chance next time.

Your talk might not have made it for any number of reasons and, most of the time, they have nothing to do with quality or your ability to deliver. Maybe a similar topic got covered in the previous year, or this year, and the reviewers decided not to run it this time. Maybe there were too many similar talks and the reviewers opted for other subjects. Or maybe your proposal just didn’t quite convince us this time around.

Either way, what really matters is that you submitted a talk proposal and you've shown motivation and initiative, which are just the kind of attributes we're looking for in attendees. Karma points for you!

Thanks,

The Pixels Camp crew