Call for Speakers

{ED. NOTE: the deadline for submitting a talk idea has passed. Thank you for your interest. Please contact us if you have any questions. Follow WordCamp Birmingham by signing up for email updates over in the sidebar, on Twitter, or Facebook. Stay tuned for updates about tickets and the schedule. See you October 29th!}

WordCamp Birmingham is a community event to be held on Saturday, October 29, 2016, that brings together designers, bloggers, developers, artists, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and educators from Alabama and neighboring states. It’s our mission to have WordCamp Birmingham represent the passion, talent and diversity of that community, and we want you to be a part of it!

Tracks…

We’ll have three tracks for presentations this year:

Developers and technical subjects
Website owners and users
Designers and Business subjects

Talks for all skill levels will be considered, and a presentation on things you learned setting up your very first website can be just as valuable as a technical walk-through of how user capabilities and roles are implemented within WordPress.

What we look for…

We are looking for speakers who are knowledgeable and passionate about a WordPress-related topic. You do not need to be famous, an “expert,” a programmer, or specifically credentialed. If you haven’t spoken at a conference before, don’t let that hold you back! Our selection committee will be looking for:

Crystal clear topic description — if the organizing team isn’t sure what you’re talking about, no one will be
The more specific the topic the better — avoid general or broad topics
Uniqueness and popularity of the topic — interesting and applicable topics go to the front of the line
Speaker qualifications and experience — although first-time speakers are encouraged to apply

Your talk should be directly related to WordPress, or immediately applicable and relevant to our audience, and respectful of the WordPress community, the WordCamp code of conduct, and the GPL.

Some suggested themes…

WordPress Basics
Blogging and Content Creation
Custom Website Development
Themes and Front End Development (HTML/CSS/JS, Etc…)
Design and User Experience
Backend Development, Frameworks, Workflow,etc…
Marketing and Branding
Running a WordPress Based Business

Details about our event

Talks will be a total of 45 minutes, but expect to leave about 15 minutes for Q&A.
Talks will be on Saturday, October 29, 2016.
We plan to record all talks and post the videos to WordPress.tv, so speakers will need agree to an A/V release prior to giving their presentation.
Speakers will be offered free admission to WordCamp Birmingham, but will not be otherwise compensated.

What you should know before submitting a talk:

All talks must be focused on WordPress and tie into using or working with WordPress.
Your session is not primarily to promote your own theme, plugin or business. Your talk should not be about self-promotion, and no selling from the stage or front of the room is allowed.
Understand that you must know what you’re talking about well.
Your topic can address skill levels from beginner to advanced, just be sure you know it inside and out.
Please spell WordPress correctly and respect the WordPress logo and trademarks.
While we do advocate for diversity and variety among speakers, our general policy is that we don’t consider the race, sex, religion, or any other factor of the speaker to play a part in our selection process.

Deadline

The Call For Speakers will close at midnight on September 16, 2016
Speakers will be notified of selection on September 22, 2016
Selected speakers will need to confirm their spot no later than September 29, 2016