Talk Proposal guidelines for a FOSS Conference & Meetup

IndiaFOSS Conference
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Short Version

Talks have to be informative and based on the work done by the speaker or the expertise of the speaker in the given talk. The talks should be about:

  1. Introducing a FOSS project or a new version of a popular project
  2. Tutorial about using a FOSS project
  3. Contributing to FOSS
  4. Technology architecture
  5. Engineering practice - productivity, debugging
  6. Technology / FOSS licenses, policy
  7. Story of a FOSS project - from inception to growth

This can be considered as a reference for talks at FOSS meetups too.

Speaker requirements:

  1. FOSS contributor - A FOSS contributor is not just one who codes; they can report issues, enhance documentation, or support the community through guidance. Enthusiasm in using and aiding the FOSS ecosystem defines contribution. (OR)
  2. Expert in the topic

Long Version

1. Conference Theme:

  • Our conference theme is “Free and Open Source (FOSS) for All”.
  • The purpose of this conference is to explore the benefits and challenges of FOSS development and to discuss ways to make FOSS accessible to everyone.
  • Examples of topics that fit within the theme include FOSS in education, FOSS for social good, Free and Open hardware, Open data, Open Illustration, FOSS licensing, and FOSS in government.

2. Target Audience:

  • Our target audience includes developers, software engineers, open source (FOSS) enthusiasts, educators, and students.
  • We aim to create an inclusive conference that welcomes individuals from all backgrounds and experience levels.
  • Our goal is to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in FOSS development.

3. Session Types:

  • We will offer:
    a. Talks with demos: Brief, fast-paced presentations that include a live demo or code walkthrough to showcase a particular technology or project.
    b. Panel discussions: Small group discussions led by a facilitator on a specific topic, often with a focus on sharing experiences and best practices.
    c. Poster sessions: An opportunity for speakers to present their work or research in the form of a poster, and to engage in one-on-one conversations with other attendees.
  • Talks with demos will be 20 minutes in length, panel discussions will be 30-45 minutes, and poster sessions will be 10-20 minutes.
  • Presenters will have the option to include live coding or demonstrations, but it is not required.

4. Submission Guidelines:

  • Proposals must be submitted by a specific deadline and in a specific format.
  • Proposals must include a title and a description in bullet points (up to 300 words).
  • Proposals will be evaluated based on relevance to the conference theme, originality, speaker expertise, and types of audience (professionals or students).
  • Speakers are encouraged to use inclusive language (https://heyguys.cc) and provide content warnings when appropriate.
  • We discourage submitting AI generated talk proposals.

5. Review Process:

  • Proposals will be reviewed by a diverse committee of FOSS experts and enthusiasts.
  • Selected presenters will be notified by a specific date and given feedback on their proposals if requested.
  • Speakers will be required to adhere the code-of-conduct it throughout the conference.

6. Support for Speakers:

  • While we are not able to provide financial support to speakers, we will offer other forms of assistance to help ensure a successful presentation.
  • Presenters will have access to equipment and technology support and will be provided with templates for slide decks and other resources.
  • Speakers will be encouraged to network with other attendees and connect with other presenters before, during, and after the conference.

7. Our thoughts on web3 / blockchain:

We believe it’s important to approach the hype around blockchain and cryptocurrencies with caution. While blockchain technology may have niche use cases, we caution against the fervor with which it is being marketed as a solution to wide-ranging societal problems. We recommend that institutions objectively evaluate tried and tested technology choices before considering blockchain-based solutions. It’s worth noting that we don’t accept proposals from speakers who are engaged in blockchain development or promotion, unless they offer something new and interesting. Read more here.

By creating comprehensive guidelines for our conference, we hope to attract a diverse and knowledgeable group of speakers who will help us achieve our goal of promoting FOSS in India.

If you have any suggestions, please comment.

Important Links:

  1. FOSS Conference Standards
  2. Tasklist for Conference Organizers [Quick Guideline]
  3. Telegram group for queries
  4. Conference Organizer Handbook
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Find our previous talks on our youtube channel for reference - FOSS United - YouTube

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The final step in selecting talks for IndiaFOSS 2024 was mock presentations from the potential speakers. On a tangential note, we invited the community to sit in on the mock presentations and provide feedback to the potential speakers. It was a last-minute decision but given the response we received, we will be actively seek a larger reviewer pool, who can also sit in on the mock presentations for IndiaFOSS 2025. I attended almost all of the mock presentations to provide feedback to the speakers and to enable @ansh to take the final call on the proposal. During the mock presentations, I noticed that the review comments I made were different from the comments that others were providing so I am writing down notes to hopefully enable potential speakers to craft better presentations and to also provide heuristics to future reviewers.

My comments below are heavily inspired by good PR review practices (and good PR creation practices). See How to Do Code Reviews Like a Human (Part One) · mtlynch.io and How to Do Code Reviews Like a Human (Part Two) · mtlynch.io. See also How to Make Your Code Reviewer Fall in Love with You · mtlynch.io.

Fundamentals

  • Is the talk appropriate at a National conference? IndiaFOSS is a once-an-year National conference where people from the FOSS United and the broader FOSS community come together. The IndiaFOSS program committee therefore needs to ensure that the talk is appropriate at a National conference. It is difficult to define what is “appropriate” at IndiaFOSS but it is easy to define what is not appropriate - talks by non-practitioners and introductory talks on FOSS projects by speakers who don’t have significant experience with the FOSS project
  • Is the talk appropriate for the IndiaFOSS audience? The IndiaFOSS audience will usually be split 50-50 between students and professionals. Even among the professionals, the ratio leans heavily towards young-career professionals with a small % (10-20%) of the audience being senior professionals, including those who contribute directly to FOSS projects
  • Is the talk meant for the community or for enterprises? All things being equal, talks for the community are prioritized over talks for enterprises. This is because there are sufficient other avenues (e.g. national conferences, meetups) of knowledge sharing by enterprises for enterprises whereas very few exist by the community for the community

Talk “architecture”

  • Is the talk the right way to present the underlying concepts? There are a lot of ways to convey the same underlying concepts. The “right” way to present the underlying concepts is context-specific and, like before, it is easier to see the “wrong” ways
  • Is the talk accessible to a majority of the audience? Accessibility here refers to whether prior knowledge about the topic/problem is necessary to be able to make sense of the talk. As much as possible, we want everyone to walk away from the talk with something new e.g. beginners should know new concepts and experienced professionals could walk away with a new library or a new way of solving a relevant problem
  • Does the talk provide actionable insights to a significant % of the audience? Making the talk accessible to the majority of the audience doesn’t mean that no one walks away with actionable insights. Some talks are meant for beginners and some talks are meant for professionals. We should prevent talks from becoming too generic, thereby preventing them from providing actionable insights to anyone

Talk “flow”

  • Is the presentation text-heavy and can visuals better convey the information?
  • Does the talk follow the “reverse bollywood format” i.e. put their main conclusion upfront? At any point in time, a lot is happening at the IndiaFOSS conference. The audience could be engaging with sponsors, interact with Project Showcase and Community booths, attend workshops, join Birds of a Feather sessions, listen to talk, or just network with the community. Audience are welcome to leave talks as and when they see fit. The talk does not have a monopoly on audience attention and as such, you need to hook the attention of the audience, and starting the talk with the main conclusion is one way to do so

@ansh do you remember any other “category” of comments that aren’t included in the above?

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