Submit a Session

DrupalCon sessions aim to gather citizens of the Drupal ecosystem to learn from each other and work collaboratively to drive the project forward.

We invite people from all backgrounds and areas of expertise to submit to help us achieve these goals.

Important Dates:

Deadlines are at 11:59 PM PDT (UTC -8).

  • October 26 - Early submission acceptances announced 
  • October 31 - Call for Papers submission closes 11:59 PM PDT (UTC -8), grant and scholarship applications due
  • November 28 - Selected submissions published, Grant and scholarship recipients announced

 

2019 Conference Tracks: Serving Drupal's Personas 

DrupalCon’s overall programming is now many conferences in one, and the conference you participate in depends on who you are and how your role uses Drupal. We’ll carve the Washington State Convention Center into 4 distinct areas; one for each track:

 

These tracks can better inform each group, allowing attendees’ time to be targeted and well-spent at DrupalCon as a whole. Each of these tracks will have their own space, their own journey, and their own content -- with opportunities to come together in keynotes, social events, and the hallway track for the cross-pollination, community building, and DrupalCon’s culture of collaboration, which remain core benefits of attending the conference.

Submissions in the Builder Track are also encouraged to select up to three tags to assist with categorizing the content of the proposal. Acquaint yourself with the Builder submission tags prior to initiating your submission.  We also encourage you to reach out to the team that is selecting sessions on your tag.  You can find a list of them on our team page.

Submissions will be accepted for the Builder Track, Agency Leadership Track, and the Content and Digital Marketing Track. Please submit a proposal to the track that will foster meaningful engagement for you.

Where should you submit?

Builder Track
The Builder Track is for those who make the software and create the experience.  These can be developers, site builders, project managers, designers, managers and more.  Sessions can be submitted for a 30-minute presentation or as a longer 90-minute session. If you would like to submit both a 30-minute presentation proposal and 90-minute presentation proposal, please submit twice. Be sure to identify what else is included in the 90-minute session that would not be covered in your 30-minute session.   Please review our list of topic areas, tags, to decide which topics you'd like to share your knowledge on.  

Agency Leadership Track
The Agency Leadership Track is for management level staff in Drupal agencies serving mid-market to enterprise, as well as those exploring Drupal.  Sessions can be submitted for a 40-minute presentation or as a 5 - 7 minute lighting presentation. A lightning presentation is a high-level knowledge share which should stimulate interest for further discussion during networking sessions or post-DrupalCon. 

Content & Digital Marketing Track 
The Content & Digital Marketing Track will provide those on marketing teams—responsible for content generation, demand generation, user journeys, and compelling websites—with inspiration and ideas for doing more with Drupal.  Sessions can be submitted for a 20-minute presentation or as a 5 - 7 minute lighting presentation. A lightning presentation is a high-level knowledge share which should stimulate interest for further discussion during networking sessions or post-DrupalCon. 

Speaker Benefits:

Speaking at a DrupalCon is considered a voluntary contribution to the Drupal project. We are happy to offer the following to our speakers:

  • One DrupalCon ticket per session to attend the selected track. 
  • Archived video of your session available on YouTube shortly after your presentation, which can be used for promotion or in your speaker reel

Speakers can expect to pay for travel and lodging expenses incurred while traveling to and attending the conference.

Speaker Resources:

We want to support you as a speaker along your journey. We offer:

  • Pre-submission mentoring - We know submitting a conference proposal can be intimidating, especially for newer speakers. We want to support you, and encourage you to use the HelpMeAbstract to obtain feedback from veteran open source speakers. If you would like to setup a video call with one of our Session Submission Mentors, please email our Program Manager, Amanda Gonser.
  • Access to a variety of support Slack channels. The #session-help Slack channel is dedicated to submission support and feedback. 
  • Contact with the Selection Team - We encourage you to reach out to your Program Team. You can ask for their feedback on a part of your submission; ask a specific question about what they are looking for; ask about end goals of your session; etc.
  • First-Time Speaker Resources - Speaking at DrupalCon for the first time is exciting and fun, but it may come with some nerves. We will ask if this is your first time presenting at DrupalCon when you submit your session, and if it is, we’d like to support you by offering additional speaking resources, video calls with past speakers and trainers, and an open line of communication to ensure you feel comfortable and have a great session.
  • Support during the conference in the form of quiet spaces and networking with other speakers

Inclusion Funds for Speakers:

We are dedicated to increasing diversity of speakers at DrupalCon to more closely reflect the community we serve.

During the session submission process, we will ask an optional question where you can identify with one or more underrepresented groups. We ask in an effort to better understand our current diversity in speakers as well as to make sure we clearly identify areas of improvement for our future Cons. We appreciate your cooperation in helping us gather data to support these efforts. This information will not affect your session selection status.

If you identify with an underrepresented group and are selected to speak, you are able to request up to $750 for travel and lodging expenses. While submitting your session, please indicate if that is something that would enable you to speak at our conference.

Please note: Consideration in the Inclusion Fund for speakers will not be a factor in session selection and will not affect your selection status. Our goal is to support those who need it and as a direct action to increase speaker diversity.

The funds will be distributed after receipts are provided for travel (to/from the conference) and lodging (while at the conference). Names of recipients of this fund will not be shared publicly.

Submission Requirements:

Before submitting a session, we recommend that you read the following information:

  • Familiarize yourself with the conference Code of Conduct. All speakers will be required to adhere to this code.
  • Read and agree to our Speaker Agreement.
  • Create a Drupal.org account to proceed with the submission process {if you do not already have a Drupal.org account, you'll need to establish one}.