Submit a Talk to PyCon ZA 2020

What Kinds of Proposals are we accepting?

  • Keynote: A 30-45 minute talk on a broad topic that should be of interest to almost all of the attendees.
  • Talk: A conference talk. Talk slots are 30 minutes long, with an additional 10 minutes for discussion at the end. Shared sessions are also possible. Presentations must be in English.

The deadline for talk submissions is Friday, 28th August 2020.

Talk tracks

To simplify scheduling, and help reviewers, this year we are dividing the submissions into a number of tracks.

See the tracks details page for more information.

How To Submit A Proposal

  1. Create a PyCon ZA 2020 account (or login if you already have one) by clicking on the Create Account/login button on the top right.
  2. On your profile page, click Edit User and fill in your name if you didn't do so during account creation.
  3. On your profile page, click Edit Profile and fill in a contact number. Contact numbers are never displayed on the site but organizers need them in case they need to contact speakers urgently (e.g. shortly before or during the conference).
  4. On your profile page, click Submit talk proposal on the right.
  5. Fill in the title and abstract for your talk and select the appropriate speaker (or speakers).
  6. Select the appropriate talk type for your proposal.
  7. Select the appropriate talk track for the proposal. If you're unsure, just use Other.
  8. Done!

What Happens Next?

After you've submitted a talk, we'll email you to let you know that we've received your talk proposal. We'll ask questions if we're unsure of anything and help you make your abstract as shiny as possible.

Then there'll be a long wait while other proposals to come in.

We'll start accepting talks at the end of August. If it's important for you to know before then, let us know and we'll work something out.

What If I'm New to Speaking?

If you're new to speaking and would like assistance preparing your talk, email team@za.pycon.org with a rough draft of your talk proposal and we'll find a suitably experienced speaker to act as a mentor.

FAQ

If I'm a speaker, do I need to purchase a ticket?

Yes. Python conferences have long had a policy of everyone pays. Even the organizers have to purchase tickets.

What platform will be used to stream the talks

We will be using BigBlueButton for the talks, and Discord for other communication.

Will I get a chance to test my talk beforehand

We will be giving accepted speakers early access to our talk infrastructure so they can test their setups and get familiar with the UI. Attendees will not get access to the BigBlueButton setup until the start of the conference.

Should I record my talk beforehand

While the aim is to have live talks. Providing a recorded version as insurance against internet issues or other failures would be appreciated, but is by no means required.

How do I edit my talk submission?

Your talk submissions will be listed on your profile page. If you go to the individual proposal page by clicking on the talk title, you should see an "Edit" button to the right of the title. Note that you can only edit the proposal while it's under consideration. Once a final decision has been made, it can no longer be edited. If you need to add or edit something after a proposal has been accepted, please contact the talk committee with the details.

Can I submit multiple talks?

You can submit multiple Talk and Keynote proposals, but, to encourage speaker diversity, we will generally only accept one of your proposals. If you do submit multiple proposals, please let us know which proposal you would most like to present, so we can use that as a potential tie-breaker.

Where are the tutorials and other options?

Because this is the first time we're running PyCon ZA as an online only event, we have restricted the options we're accepting to keep things manageable. If you really want to submit something else, and have an idea for how it should be run, please email team@za.pycon.org and we can discuss this further.