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PRANJUL RATHOUR
PRANJUL RATHOUR

Posted on Originally published at pranjulrathour.scult.in

Writing a talk abstract that gets accepted, not just submitted

#guestspeaker #talkabstracts #collegefests

A fest's call for speakers gets forty submissions and picks maybe eight. A vague abstract ('an overview of AI and its applications') is instantly forgettable next to one that names a specific problem and a specific outcome.

What makes an abstract get picked

  • A specific claim in the first sentence, not a topic area — 'why your RAG chatbot is confidently wrong' beats 'an introduction to RAG'.
  • One sentence on what the audience leaves with — a mental model, a checklist, a working demo they can reference later.
  • Evidence of a live or interactive element, which reviewers weight heavily against a pure lecture slot.

Length discipline

150 words, no more. A reviewer skimming forty abstracts rewards the one that respects their time as much as the audience's.

See speaking topics I offer colleges for abstracts written this way.

About Pranjul Rathour

Pranjul Rathour presenting on stage in a blue polo, with his Annapurna demo video on the screen behind him
Presenting Annapurna on stage

Pranjul Rathour giving a talk titled 'How and what I do', with demo videos of his products Vaidya and Annapurna on screen
Talking through the products he has shipped

Pranjul Rathour in a black t-shirt holding a microphone in front of a chequered wall
On the mic

Pranjul Rathour pitching with a microphone in front of a projector slide at CSJMU, Kanpur
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour speaking from the podium at VSICS, Kanpur
At the VSICS podium, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour is a GenAI engineer from Kanpur, India, and CTO at SCULT INDIA, currently shipping production RAG,
fine-tuning and agentic AI systems, mentoring 200+ students through TechVerse Enclave, and judging and speaking at
student hackathons across India. Updated 2026-09-07.

Reach out if you want to talk GenAI, book a campus session, or invite him to judge:

Pranjul Rathour · GenAI engineer, 3x hackathon winner, campus mentor. Open for GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks: pranjulrathour41@gmail.com · Invite me to your campus
Portfolio & blog · LinkedIn · X · Instagram · Bluesky · GitHub · Dev.to

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