At DrupalCon, our speakers and participants represent the diverse and vibrant Drupal community, including end-users, translators, organizers, executives, marketers, editors, content strategists, designers, developers, and more.
Your contribution of knowledge and expertise plays a crucial role in driving Drupal's ongoing growth and success. Speaking at DrupalCon provides a unique opportunity to enhance your visibility and establish yourself as a thought leader.
Before you submit your session, please review the following information. Additionally, add speaking@association.drupal.org to your contact list to stay informed about important updates regarding your session.
The Drupal Association reserves the right to add sessions and/or speakers that are topical and part of the organization's strategic direction.
The submission deadline was Wednesday, 23 October 2024 at 23:59 EST. Call for Speakers is now closed.
- 11 September 2024 - Call for Speakers submissions open
- 23 October 2024 - Call for Speakers submissions close
- 18 December 2024 - Accepted Speakers and Facilitators notified
- 8 January 2025 - Accepted Speakers and Facilitators confirmation
The Drupal Association is dedicated to creating an event that is welcoming and inclusive to everyone, regardless of age, body size, caste, disability, ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, physical appearance, race, religion, sexuality, or socioeconomic status.
We strongly encourage submissions from speakers and facilitators who have been marginalized due to racism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, and other forms of globalized oppression.
- Sessions should focus on sharing knowledge and enriching the community—rather than promoting products or services.
- Priority will be given to sessions that offer unique content not readily available online.
- We encourage experienced DrupalCon speakers to collaborate with other community members, and we warmly welcome new speakers.
- To ensure diverse perspectives and well-rounded presentations, we encourage partnerships between service providers and clients and recommend that speakers and panel facilitators represent different organizations.
- The number of speakers and panel facilitators per session is limited. See information in the session types section below.
- To support the diversity of our speakers and programming, we will only accept panels that include some speakers from underrepresented communities.
- Speakers are allowed to submit a maximum of two session proposals.
- Accepted speakers and panel facilitators may participate in a maximum of two sessions, only one of which can be a solo session.
- Speakers and panel facilitators are required to read and adhere to the DrupalCon Code of Conduct.
- Submitters may edit their submission until the submission deadline.
50-minute sessions
- Workshop: Workshops provide active and in-depth learning through hands-on activities. Participants should leave with a tangible skill or product. (1-2 Facilitators and speakers)
- Fireside chat: Fireside chats are casual conversations between a facilitator, an interviewee, and the audience, without the aid of slides. (1 facilitator and 1 interviewee)
- Lecture presentation: Your typical conference presentation. Q&A is highly encouraged. (1-2 speakers)
- Panel: Panels bring together diverse perspectives for spirited debate and discussion between panelists and participants without the aid of slides. Panels are not a series of short presentations. (1 facilitator and up to 3 panelists)
**Your submission may be considered for use in an Industry Summit or Industry Training.
| Community Health |
This track focuses on promoting the happiness and health of open source community members at work. Sessions may include ideas about increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion, fostering productive teamwork, and providing insights into improving mental and physical well-being. |
| Content and Marketing |
We’re looking for sessions about content strategy best practices, digital marketing techniques, and creative examples of achieving digital campaign goals. We’re open to sessions about working with third-party marketing tools, open source technologies, as well as Drupal-specific solutions. |
| Core Contributions | This track is for active and prospective core contributors to share ideas about Drupal core and Drupal.org. We’re looking for big ideas about the future of Drupal, as well as discussions about where we want to go and how we're going to get there. |
| Development and Coding |
This track is for front-end and back-end developers alike, covering all things front-end, back-end, migration, decoupling, and more. We’d love to hear about Drupal and adjacent technologies and how your team is innovating. |
| DevOps |
This track is designed for the behind-the-scenes experts who focus on deploying high-quality code continuously. Topics include infrastructure, quality assurance, and testing, performance, and scaling. |
| Drupal CMS (Starshot) |
This track is about Drupal CMS, a product being developed by the Drupal Starshot Initiative. Drupal CMS enables marketers, content teams, and site builders to create websites faster and more easily, while leveraging the power and flexibility of Drupal. |
| Leadership, Management, and Business | This track is for agency leaders, executives, and people and project managers. Submissions should share your business strategy and development ideas, human resources, staff management, and project management. |
| Site Building |
This track is for those who build and manage websites. We welcome submissions on best practices and techniques for site builders, everything from how to select and configure Drupal modules, low code/no code solutions, and adjacent technologies that can empower site builders. |
| Success Stories and Innovation |
Inspire your peers and shine a spotlight on your recent work. We’re seeking case studies that delve into project intricacies, team involvement, processes and methodologies, and challenges or opportunities addressed. We’d love to hear what role Drupal played or what the Drupal community can learn from your project. Please note that this track is about showcasing, not selling. |
| User Experience, Accessibility, and Design | This track is for anyone interested in making digital experiences more user-friendly and accessible. We are looking for talks about building better design processes, techniques to improve usability and accessibility, and creating design systems that work across digital channels and technologies. |
Content Focus |
Beginner |
Intermediate |
Advanced |
Anyone |
| Community Health | I am new to the Drupal community, and looking for ways to plug in | I am an experienced community member who is actively contributing | I am a community leader/subject matter expert | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
| Leadership, Management, and Business | I work in an agency team or business that uses or is looking to use Drupal | I am a senior team member in an agency or business that uses or is looking to use Drupal | I am an agency owner or leader of teams that use or are looking to use Drupal | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
| Development and Coding | I am a junior developer or student looking to become a developer | I am a developer with experience in Drupal and associated technologies | I am an experienced developer with expertise in Drupal and associated technologies | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
| Success Stories | agency team or business that uses or is looking to use Drupal | I am a senior team member in an agency or business that uses or is looking to use Drupal | I am a business leader or lead teams that use or are looking to use Drupal | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
| Content and Marketing | I am new to content strategy & marketing but want to learn more | I am familiar with content strategy & marketing but want to improve my knowledge | I am an experienced content strategist and Drupal CMS user | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
| DevOps | I am a junior developer or student looking to become a developer | I am a developer with experience in Drupal and associated technologies | I am an experience developer with expertise in Drupal and associated technologies | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
| User Experience, Accessibility, and Design | I am a junior designer or I work with designers and interested to know more | I am a designer or UX professional or work with design team to implement their designs | I am an experienced designer or UX professional or work with design teams to implement their designs | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
| Site Building | I am new to building websites on Drupal but want to learn more | I am familiar with Drupal as a CMS but want to improve my knowledge | I am an experience Drupal CMS user | This session is appropriate for audiences of all levels |
A big thanks to Will Huggins for his collaboration in developing these criteria!
A First Choice Submission |
A Second Choice Submission |
A Third Choice Submission |
| * The session has been cultivated to ensure it is accessible and inclusive of anyone who may be in the target audience. | The session is either accessible or inclusive, but not both. | The session is not accessible or inclusive. |
|
Content of the session is very well-suited to the content area. |
Content of the session is fairly well-suited to the content area. | Content of the session is hardly well-suited to the content area or not at all. |
|
The session is highly engaging and interesting for an in-person audience. |
The session is fairly engaging and interesting for an in-person audience |
The session is hardly engaging for an in-person audience or not at all. |
|
The session description contains a high level of detail that demonstrates knowledge of the content area, as well as facilitation style. |
The session description contains some detail that demonstrates knowledge of the content area and/or facilitation style. |
The session description is not very detailed, and/or content and facilitation style is unclear. |
|
The speaker has self-identified as a member of a historically marginalized group and is highly qualified. |
The speaker has self-identified as a member of a historically marginalized group. |
The speaker has not self-identified as a member of a historically marginalized group and/or is not qualified. |
|
The speaker has a strong connection to the content with which they are presenting and is identified as a content expert. |
The speaker is connected to the content with which they are presenting, but may not necessarily be a content expert. |
The speaker does not have a strong connection to the topic with which they are presenting. |
|
* The session is novel: either is unduplicated or is the very best representation of a session topic. |
The session is unduplicated. |
Either the session is unduplicated, but not contemporary or it is duplicated and is NOT the best representation of the session topic. |
* This criterion is required for all first choice sessions
