Call for Speakers Details

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.

Call for Speakers is now closed! Stay tuned for information on accepted sessions.

The Drupal Association reserves the right to add sessions and/or speakers that are topical and part of the organization's strategic direction.

Timeline
  • 29 September 2023 - Call for Speakers submissions open
  • 12 November 2023 - Call for Speakers submissions close
  • 6 February 2024 - Accepted Speakers and Facilitators notified  
  • 13 February 2024 - Accepted Speakers and Facilitators confirmation
Making DrupalCon Diverse and Inclusive

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.

Guidelines for Submissions
  • 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 recommend partnerships between speakers and panel facilitators from different organizations.
  • The number of speakers and panel facilitators per session is limited. See information in the session types section below.
  • To support diversity of our speakers and programming, we will only accept panel proposals that include speakers from underrepresented communities.
  • Speakers are allowed to submit a maximum of two session proposals.
  • Accepted speakers and panel facilitators may participate in up to two sessions, with only one being a solo session.
  • All speakers and panel facilitators must read and adhere to the DrupalCon Code of Conduct.
  • Submitters may edit their submission until the submission deadline.
Session Types

All sessions have a duration of 50 minutes.

  • Fireside chat: These are informal conversations featuring a facilitator, an interviewee, and audience interaction, conducted without slides. (1 facilitator and 1 interviewee)
  • Lecture presentation: A standard conference-style presentation with a focus on engaging the audience through Q&A. (1-2 speakers)
  • Panel: Panels bring together diverse perspectives for spirited debate and discussion between panelists and participants without slides. Panels are not a series of short presentations. (1 facilitator and up to 3 panelists)
  • Workshop: Workshops offer hands-on, immersive learning experiences with the goal of imparting practical skills or tangible results. (1-2 facilitators and speakers)
Content Focus Areas
Community Health This track focuses on promoting the happiness and health of all Drupal community members at work, fostering productive teamwork, and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. Sessions may include ideas about building community and increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Drupal community as well as providing insights into improving mental and physical well-being.
Content and Marketing  Calling all content managers, digital strategists, and marketers—this track is for you! We’re looking for sessions on Drupal’s capabilities for content management and digital marketing, as well as creative ways to use Drupal for achieving digital campaign goals.
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.
DevOps his track is designed for the behind-the-scenes Drupal experts who focus on deploying high-quality code continuously. Topics include infrastructure, quality assurance, and testing, performance, and scaling.
Drupal Showcase Inspire your peers and shine a spotlight on your recent Drupal projects. We're seeking case studies that delve into project intricacies, team involvement, processes and methodologies, challenges or opportunities addressed, and how Drupal played a pivotal role in making it all possible. Please note that this track is about showcasing, not selling.
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 Drupal sites using the administrative interface. We welcome submissions on site building approaches and modules.
User Experience, Accessibility, and Design Designing for usability, accessibility, and universal access and inclusion should be prioritized. This track is for anyone interested in making Drupal and the web more user-friendly and accessible.
Difficulty Criteria

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

Drupal Showcase

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 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 design 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!

Evaluation 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