Update January 29: The Call for Speakers is now closed.
If you submitted an application, you’ll be notified shortly.
WCATL prides itself on a diverse group of talented speakers and a wide variety of topics.
We aim to offer something for everyone in the WordPress Community – all skill levels, and all specialties, including bloggers, designers, developers, agencies, and freelancers.
We would love to have you apply to speak!
Who
Anyone and everyone can apply to speak. You don’t have to be a professional presenter or know more about WordPress than the average attendee. We do ask that your presentation is relevant to WordPress in some significant way. Come share what you’ve learned about WordPress and how you are working with it!
We do favor local speakers over out-of-town speakers. If you are local, join and regularly attend a local WordPress meetup. If you haven’t spoken before, ask to speak at your meetup for practice!
What
Make sure your presentation isn’t a sales pitch. WordCamps are educational events, not marketing opportunities.
When deciding what to talk about, ask yourself:
- What are you really excited about?
- What are you currently working on learning?
- What do you know that other people would benefit from knowing?
- What do you do abnormally well? Why?
- What are people talking about right now? Do you have an interesting insight into it?
We are looking for speakers who can present on topics such as:
- Accessibility
- Analytics
- Branding
- Business / Freelancing
- Design
- Development
- E-commerce
- Mental Health / Wellness
- Privacy
- Search Engine Optimization
- Security
We have 3 formats available:
- Lightning talks (15 minutes)
- Full-length talks (30 to 45 minutes)
- Workshops (about 3 hours)
Our primary focus for workshops this year will be on freelancing. So if you have business experience that relates to running a WordPress business, we’d love to have you pitch a workshop as well.
Keep in mind that you can pitch multiple talks and offer to do a talk in different formats.
When
Speaker applications will open on December 2nd, 2019 and run until January 17th, 2020.
Where
Once speaker applications are open, we’ll add a link to the application form here.
Why
Presenting on a topic will help you better understand the topic. Speaking at WordCamps is a great way to become even better at what you do.
Presenting is also a great way to connect with the greater WordPress community.
While speakers aren’t paid, they do get a free ticket to WordCamp and a personal invite to a special VIP dinner just for speakers, sponsors, and volunteers!
How
When pitching your talk, be sure you focus your title and description on the audience… not the people selecting the talks. If your talk is selected, we publish the title and description you submit on the website for everyone to see… so don’t add special notes to the organizers (we’ll have a special field for that).
Make it clear what people will learn and why it is important. Be detailed, but succinct. A lack of detail can leave us wondering what exactly your talk is about. Really long descriptions make the review process more arduous and are less likely to be read in their entirety.
Be clear in your talk description exactly why you are qualified to speak on a topic. Again, you don’t have to be an expert, but we will be more likely to select your talk if we feel like you know what you’re talking about.
See you at #WCATL. We’re looking forward to hearing what you have to share!