So you want to be a conference speaker? Are you sure?
Recently, a few people have asked me what it's actually like to speak at tech conferences. How do you get accepted? What does preparation look like? And what happens behind the scenes? So I decided to write about it. And let me warn you: the reality isn't always pretty. In fact, after hearing about my experiences, one person has already put their conference-speaking plans on hold indefinitely. π
Because conferences aren't just about getting on stage and having fun. They're also about rejected abstracts, endless preparation, stress, and logistics. And is it actually worth it? Let's find out! π
One little disclaimer: everything I'm about to share is based on my own experiences and observations. Other speakers might have completely different perspectives, and I'd love to hear them in the comments!
First, a Little About My Conference Experience
Before we start, let me briefly tell you about my conference "achievements," so you know where I'm coming from. I gave various talks and workshops around 2019, then took a break for several years to focus on my professional development, occasionally running a workshop here and there.
About a year ago, I decided to get back into conference speaking seriously. Since then, I've spoken at:
- JS Poland
- jsday Bologna
- JSNation (online)
- AGNTCon + MCPCon Europe (Amsterdam)
- FrontKon (Prague)
And I still have two conferences coming up this year:
- iJS Munich
- AI Coding Summit Berlin
I even had to turn down one invitation because I simply couldn't fit it into my schedule anymore. :( I still regret it!
I got accepted to some through CFPs, was invited to others, and got a few opportunities partly through connections (for example, because another speaker remembered me from a previous conference).
I'm not a keynote speaker. I often speak on additional tracks or in smaller rooms, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Actually, I think that's what makes my perspective interesting. I'm not a conference veteran with ten years of experience whom organizers are fighting to book.
And while I feel pretty confident about blogging these days, conference speaking still gives me a massive case of impostor syndrome. Especially since English isn't my native language. I always think nobody will ever invite me again. And somehow, people keep inviting me. π
Getting Accepted: The Wonderful World of CFPs
Okay, so how do you actually get accepted as a conference speaker?
If you're not the face of a huge tech company, the maintainer of a famous library, or some kind of tech celebrity, your main option is to apply through a CFP (Call for Papers). Most major conferences accept talk proposals, so you just need to check their websites for submission deadlines.
Sounds simple, right? Well, if only conference organizers were sitting there, eagerly waiting for our submissions!
Let's say a conference has 20 speaking slots. That doesn't mean organizers will select 20 people from the CFP. Quite a few slots might go to invited speakers β well-known names who help sell tickets. Others might go to sponsors. And who knows who else! When hundreds of submissions compete for the remaining places, your chances aren't exactly amazing.
Rejections are completely normal, and they don't necessarily tell you much about the quality of your abstract. Your topic might have been great but didn't fit the agenda, or the organizers decided it wasn't relevant to their audience.
But let's not fool ourselves, either. Your topic might simply have been weak, and submitting it twenty times won't magically make it better. You can ask organizers for feedback, but they're under no obligation to provide it.
How to Make Your Talk Stand Out
As someone who has lost quite a few CFP battles but managed to win a few as well, I can offer some advice.
First, look at your abstract from the organizers' perspective. They're not selecting you just to make you happy. You need to bring something valuable to their conference.
If you're not famous enough to sell tickets just by having your name on the agenda (and I'm guessing you're not, unless you're just reading this out of curiosity), you need an exceptionally interesting topic. Something original that hasn't already been submitted by 20 other people.
Ideally, a case study from your work or personal projects, or a fresh perspective on a familiar subject. Your topic should be original, but not too niche, either. After all, people still need to be interested in it.
For example, I've traveled to a few conferences with a talk about WebGPU, but I presented it more broadly as "Your Browser Is a Compute Platform." It was a big-picture talk about what browsers can do these days, including running LLMs directly in the browser. Because if I'd submitted something like "Introduction to WebGPU with Shaders," I'm pretty sure nobody would have cared.
Spend some time working on your abstract, too. Ask yourself: what will attendees actually take away from this talk? This will also help you prepare the narrative later. And who knows? You might realize your talk isn't particularly useful in its current form and that you should rethink the approach.
The Catch: Nobody Knows If You Can Actually Speak
Now, here's another problem. You might have a fantastic topic and a beautifully written abstract, but if you have absolutely no speaking experience, getting accepted will be much harder β especially at prestigious conferences.
Again, put yourself in the organizers' shoes. How do they know whether someone who's never stood on a stage can handle the stress, deliver an interesting presentation, and finish on time? (By the way, finishing one minute early is much better than finishing five minutes late.)
Blogging or making YouTube videos can help, because they at least demonstrate your storytelling skills. And of course, some conferences happily accept first-time speakers.
But if you're struggling to get accepted anywhere, consider starting with a local meetup. There's usually less competition, and you'll have a speaking engagement to put on your CV. π The more you speak, the better you become, which improves your chances of getting accepted in the future.
Congratulations, You're a Speaker! Where's the Money? πΈ
Okay, you've been accepted! Is this where the fame and fortune begin? Hahahaha. I seriously doubt it.
People often ask me whether conference speakers get paid. Well, some do, especially famous keynote speakers who can command speaking fees. But if you're a regular speaker accepted through a CFP, you probably shouldn't expect payment. At least, that's been my experience. I know there are exceptions, so feel free to correct me!
Conferences often cover travel and accommodation, but read their policies carefully. Personally, I always make sure those costs are covered. I mean, okay, I might not earn anything, but I'm certainly not going to pay out of my own pocket for the privilege of speaking. So check this before submitting your proposal.
Sometimes your employer will cover your expenses if they consider your appearance good publicity for the company. But again, make sure that's actually the case before committing to the trip.
Preparing a Talk: How Much Work Are We Talking About?
So, how much work does it take to prepare a conference talk? Well, it depends!
My first conferences took absolutely ridiculous amounts of preparation. Weeks of research, creating slides, endless rehearsals, and carefully weighing every sentence. Because what if someone decided I was an idiot?!
I also had this habit of writing down all the absolute must-have information. Somehow, I'd end up with 45 minutes of material for a 20-minute talk. Well, apparently the audience doesn't need to know absolutely everything. π
Before my first conference after my long break, I experienced something very close to anxiety attacks almost three weeks in advance! It was awful. Consciously, I knew that even if I walked onto the stage and burst into tears, nothing particularly terrible would happen. π But my subconscious had other ideas.
Conference preparation can consume practically unlimited amounts of time and emotional energy. And if you start speaking regularly, you eventually need to get that under control. Otherwise, you might as well give up and find something more productive to do with your life.
What Works for Me Now
These days, I often speak about topics I've already covered on my blog, which makes my life much easier. I already have the narrative, a working demo, and even comments from readers that give me additional perspectives.
All I need to do is put everything together, prepare slides, and rehearse a few times to check whether the presentation flows naturally and fits within the time limit.
Nowadays, this usually takes me about two weeks, and I'm not working on it every day. During the final stage, I generally do just one rehearsal per day, meaning less than an hour of work. But remember: I've already done the research while preparing the original article!
You can also reuse presentations at different conferences. In fact, organizers often prefer talks that have already been delivered successfully. That doesn't mean traveling around with exactly the same slides, though. Usually, you'll need to adjust something: make it longer, shorten it, or approach the subject from a different angle.
So yes, preparation gets easier. But it definitely doesn't drop to zero.
Your Talk Is Not a University Lecture
There's one trap beginners sometimes fall into. A 30-minute or even 45-minute conference presentation isn't a deep dive or a workshop. You don't need to transfer every piece of knowledge you have into the audience's brains. They won't remember it all anyway.
Your job is to inspire people and show them new possibilities. If they're interested in the details, they can explore them later. After all, people attending tech conferences are intelligent adults. They can figure things out!
I actually think conference presentations should be treated a little like a show. Of course, we're still talking about technical conferences, not TED Talks or theatrical performances. But the entertainment aspect matters.
There are plenty of techniques for engaging an audience, and I'm not going to list them all here. But here's my minimum rule: if you're doing a dry run and start getting bored at some point, imagine how bored the audience will be. That's probably a good place to introduce something more entertaining. π
And Then There's the Logistics βοΈ
After all those rehearsals, you still need to actually get to the conference. Which means flights, airports, transportation, hotels, and all the other wonderful aspects of traveling.
Very often, you'll need to arrange your flights yourself. Accommodation is more frequently booked by the conference, but that varies too. And even if your expenses are covered, you might not get reimbursed until after the event. So you need to pay upfront.
If you have a family, well, they'll have to manage without you for a few days. And you're lucky if your employer supports your speaking activities and continues paying your normal salary. Because if they don't? You're simply taking time off work.
Suddenly that "free trip" isn't looking quite so free anymore.
Stage Fright Never Really Goes Away
Now, let's talk about the actual presentation. Getting on stage comes with stress, whether you're speaking for the first time or the hundredth. Even Luca Mezzalira, with around twenty years of experience, once joked on LinkedIn that before every talk, he wonders why he didn't become a shepherd instead.
I think the difference is mostly about how long you feel stressed. These days, I usually start experiencing mild panic about an hour before my talk. π Progress!
But here's another funny thing: every speaker seems to worry about two things. Will anyone show up? And did I do a good job?
Seriously. At one conference, I was surprised when some very well-known female speakers, who had delivered keynotes in an auditorium with an audience of around 2,000 people, asked how many people had attended my WebMCP talk. (It was a full room!) They were interested because their talks covered similar topics. π±
And even speakers at that level appreciate hearing that their presentation was good. So if you're attending a conference and enjoy someone's talk, don't hesitate to tell them! I promise they'll appreciate it. π
So... Is Conference Speaking Actually Worth It?
Okay, but why go through all this? What are the actual benefits of public speaking? Well, in my opinion... Not nearly as many as you might expect.
You get a free trip, sometimes a T-shirt or a baseball cap. You meet other speakers and make lots of connections. π (And sometimes you might even make actual friends!) You can take souvenir selfies with tech celebrities and collect LinkedIn connections from the local community.
Plus, of course, you get a nice new entry on your CV.
But will your career suddenly take off? Probably not, especially after just one single talk.
Sure, if you're selling consulting services, courses, or something similar, conferences can be an excellent way to reach customers. But that's a different story, and if that's your business model, you probably already know how it works. If you're a DevRel, it's basically your job.
If you're not selling anything, though β like me β speaking gives you some credibility points. But that's about it! Okay, okay. You also make connections that might become useful someday. Or they might not. Who knows?
And let's be honest, you don't actually need to be a speaker to enjoy many of the benefits. You can attend a conference, meet interesting people, make connections, and enjoy the whole experience without spending weeks preparing a talk or questioning your life choices backstage. π
Why Blogging Has Been More Valuable to Me
When it comes to my career, blogging has actually helped me much more than conference speaking. And the potential audience is much bigger.
Think about it. How many people attend one of my talks? Maybe 200 or 300? And perhaps another thousand watch the recording on YouTube, if I'm lucky.
Meanwhile, on my blog, I can publish whatever I want, whenever I want, about whatever interests me. I reach people from all over the world, and my articles keep working for me even while I'm sleeping. I don't need to book flights, prepare slides, rehearse for days, or stand nervously backstage wondering whether anyone will show up.
I just write. And the content keeps reaching new people long after I've published it.
So if you're thinking about conference speaking but you're terrified of public speaking or overwhelmed by the amount of work, I genuinely encourage you to think twice about whether it's worth it. π There are other ways to share your knowledge and build a reputation in tech, and some might be a much better fit for you.
And Yet... I'd Do It All Again β€οΈ
Despite everything I've written, I absolutely love speaking at conferences. I love traveling, meeting new people, the atmosphere, the conversations, and being part of the international tech community.
Unfortunately, there's something a little addictive about it. That rush of adrenaline when you step onto a stage is something even the most successful blog post can't quite replicate.
So, is conference speaking worth all the stress, preparation, rejected abstracts, logistical headaches, and questionable ROI? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure.
Will I do it again? Absolutely. π
And even though I still have no idea whether anyone will ever invite me to speak again π , I hope you'll see me on more European stages in the future. And hopefully, not just European ones!
But that's just my perspective. If you're a conference speaker, I'd love to hear about your experiences. Do you get paid for your talks? Has speaking made a difference to your career? Do you also question all your life choices an hour before going on stage?
And if you're thinking about becoming a speaker, did I encourage you or scare you away completely?
Let me know in the comments! π
And if you'd like to follow my adventures in tech, blogging, and conference speaking, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn! π
Top comments (34)
lol I like the title of where you give a tutorial on becoming a conference speaker but also a downside to it.
Speaking in public for me has never been a thing I want to do, mostly because of stage freights. It's not that I don't know what to say, I tend to plan things ahead and know what I need to do, but seeing people just gives me anxiety and it causes me to stutter my words.
I tend to write it out since I have more time to think about it as well as being able to share what I know.
Glad you have the courage to speak in Public Sylwia!
Hey Francis! π And that's exactly what I wanted to get across in this article: it's totally okay! Public speaking certainly isn't for everyone, but it's not a must-have skill either. There are so many other ways to share your knowledge and grow professionally!
I'm glad you're choosing a path that works for you and your mental well-being. That's what really matters! β€οΈ
I have a lot of discussions with people who are interested in speaking, but are really nervous to be in front of people they know. If it's a group of total strangers, they seem way more comfortable with the idea.
For me the logistics of getting to the conference is always where I'm most nervous. I don't know if it was age or experience (or both!) but one day I woke up and decided I had so little control over it, why worry about it.
Great post! I've been paid for some speaking engagements, as well as offered donations to my charity of choice. If I'm speaking on behalf of my employer, I'm usually not offered any sort of payment and I'm not sure I would take it either. The networking alone that comes with being a conference speaker has been a huge benefit to my career.
Hey Amara, thank you so much for sharing your perspective! β€οΈ A few things caught my attention! First, if people are nervous about speaking in front of people they know, but think speaking in front of complete strangers would be more comfortable... well, I'm afraid they might just think so! π But hey, it's always worth giving it a try if it's something they're excited about!
As for logistics, that's actually not what scares me the most. Although I have to admit, I deal with uncertainty by being a total control freak and always having plans A, B, and C! π For example, I'm flying to Munich next week, and I could have taken a later flight via Copenhagen. But if something went wrong (and things do go wrong surprisingly often!), I'd be stuck there, with my talk scheduled for 9 AM the next morning! So I chose an early flight via Frankfurt instead. At least if something goes wrong, I'll already be in Germany! π Of course, a million things can still go wrong, but hey, we're only human!
And your point about charity reminded me that after one conference, apparently a tree was planted in my name! At least that's what the email said. π Other than that, I've never earned a penny from conference speaking, unless we count running workshops.
And yes, the networking is absolutely wonderful! Although, for any introverts out there experiencing FOMO, I'd add that I've also made some amazing connections right here through blogging! π
This is me taking the direct flight from Austin, TX to London. I've made it across the pond, I'm not still stuck in the US, and at this point I have unlocked train travel as an option!
Amazing post, as always! So much valuable advice here, especially the logistics part for me. And I'm not surprised that a certain ANONYMOUS person decided to put their conference-speaking plans on hold indefinitely π€£π€£
Hahaha, I wonder who that mysterious person could be! π€£ But seriously, quite a few people have been asking me about conference speaking lately!
Oh, and when it comes to logistics, I actually have one huge advantage: I live literally about 6 km from the airport, and I can get there in just 15 minutes by public bus! π That definitely makes all this traveling a lot easier!
Only 6 km from GdaΕsk Airport? Sounds like you can hear every plane landing or taking off. π π€£
Hi Sylwia, thanks for sharing your experience.
This idea is haunting me, even that i put it in this post:
Dreams & Cheers
Previously I had 2-3 little experiences,
one in a local conf in my mother language, many years ago. It was nice, as i remember (so long ago) :)
And then, again quite a time ago, i gave a project pitch (in English) for a European funding platform to a big audience, it was limited to 3-4 minutes and the night before i rehearsed all night :)
I wonder how much rehearsal i would need for a talk in one of these conferences you mentioned above.
Last year I made a CFP to a relatively small but then turned to be something big conference in a city, which is one of my fav. The community there is quite nice and technically very good. So I was quite interested and excited about this. The guys were so kind while rejecting me :)
Anyway,
Unfortunately, as always, time is a big problem.
So I am more focused on writing blogs. And I am kind of following your recommendation about it.
BR
Thank you so much, Alptekin! π And if you're still interested in speaking at conferences, I'd definitely encourage you to submit a few more CFPs! It's honestly a bit of a lottery, and rejections are a huge part of the process, so don't let one discourage you! π
And yes, in the meantime, blogging is absolutely a great way to keep sharing your knowledge! π
oh yes, I am absolutely interested. I wonder whether you have a way to check CFP due times? I once found a website, but I am not sure whether this is the best way.
Yes! I use a website to keep track of CFP deadlines, but I also often just submit proposals directly to conferences I already know and like.
Thanks a lot.
Same energy. I remember my very first talk, I was invited mainly because I know how to bullshit my way around any topic you could think of except, on a talk, I can't bs so the hardest thing for me first time was hoping I don't drift away from the main topic so I planned a 2 page script of the things I MUST talk. When the day came, I was so nervous because i kept forgetting the script but then I was like, okay no, screw this, I threw away the script and went natural.
And I was surprised that I managed to slip in background stories, jokes and not drift away from the main topic and I received alot of positive feedback haha.
but the thing I love about most is meeting people. whether it's those more experienced that I could learn from or those who love to come up to me to tell me what they've been building and it's so rewarding to see how ambitious & passionate they are with their projects. it's all laughter, love, passion & lively energy in the room.
I'm having another one this November and I'm so excited!
Wow, congrats!!! Will there be a recording of your November talk? I'd love to watch it! π
And I can totally relate! At my last conference, I had everything beautifully prepared in my speaker notes. Not a word-for-word script, of course, but all the key points I wanted to cover. And guess what? With the conference setup, I couldn't even access my notes! Hahaha. So I just went with the flow, speaking from memory, and it actually turned out great!
And yes, attending conferences is amazing too, but as a speaker, you're much more in the spotlight. Some people love that, others don't... and apparently, we're both in the first group! π
Itβs amazing that youβve already given so many conference talks! π
Iβm not good at speaking in front of people, so Iβll probably never experience this myself πΏ But I can easily imagine how stressful it must be, and I completely understand the panic before a talk. π
Still, getting a baseball cap sounds a little attractive. π§’πΉ
I also really liked your point about abstraction. In a limited amount of time, you canβt explain every detail, so choosing what really matters and turning it into something clear and easy to understand is such an important skill.
I think this is also very similar to writing articles. We canβt put every detail into an article either, and we need to find a good level of abstraction so people can easily follow the main idea.
That actually made me think, βAh, maybe this is why your articles are always so easy to read.β πΊ
Please keep going! Iβm always looking forward to your next articles and talks. π
Aww, thank you so much! β€οΈ And that's exactly what I wanted to get across in this article: if someone is an introvert and doesn't feel comfortable on stage, but thinks they HAVE to become a speaker to advance their career... well, they really don't! π There are so many other ways to share your knowledge and make an impact!
And thank you for saying my articles are easy to read! π₯Ή That's actually something I always try really hard to achieve, so it means a lot to me! β€οΈ
One thing I'd add is that the value of a technical talk isn't always visible in the room. For example, a talk about migrating a production service from REST to gRPC might get great feedback, but the more useful outcome could be whether another team can apply the lessons to its own latency, schema evolution, and backward-compatibility problems months later.
That's where publishing the demo, benchmarks, and the trade-offs you discovered can make a difference. The talk creates the conversation, while the technical write-up gives people something they can revisit when they're actually facing the same problem.
I guess that's one advantage of blogging: you don't have to choose between sharing an idea and documenting the details behind it.
That's a great point! Although I'd say conference speaking doesn't necessarily exclude that either. I always share my slides and code with the audience afterward, so people can revisit the technical details whenever they need to.
Of course, the ideal scenario is to have it all: the talk, the slides, the code, and a more in-depth article (or even several!) exploring the topic further. π
Exactly, and I think the interesting part is what happens when someone tries to use that material in a real system. A demo can show a successful REST-to-gRPC migration, but the harder questions often appear later: what happens when old clients are still running, a new field changes business logic, or a rollout leaves two contract versions active at the same time?
That's where documenting the decisions behind the code becomes really valuable. Why was a particular compatibility strategy chosen? Which latency gains held up under production traffic, and what new operational costs came with them? Those details are hard to fit into a talk, but they're often what another engineer needs when facing the same migration.
I like your approach of building talks around topics you've already explored in your blog. It means the talk can open the door, while the deeper technical material gives people a way to work through the problem long after the event.
Sylwia, thank you for being honest about the cost. Your blog point matches my experience. One of my posts reached a conference in San Francisco. I published it from my phone in Port Harcourt. I needed no flight and no visa. I know the blogging side better than the stage side. Your post made the real work behind a talk clear. I hope your next stage is in Africa. I would come to hear you.
Thank you, Daniel! π Oh, I'd absolutely love to speak at a conference in Africa, especially in Nigeria!
BTW, before I started blogging here, I had no idea Nigeria had such an amazing developer community! It's been one of the nicest discoveries of my blogging journey.
That makes me happy to read. Nigerian developers would welcome you. I hope a CFP opens in Nigeria soon. Thank you for noticing our community.
Really enjoyed this, Sylwia! π
I appreciate how openly you shared both the exciting and exhausting sides of conference speaking.
Your point about blogging particularly resonated with me. Sometimes a single thoughtful article can reach and inspire people for years.
And I loved the ending! After all those challenges, youβd still do it again. That says a lot about your passion. π
Thanks for sharing such an honest perspective!
Thanks, Mustafa! π That's exactly how it is! I may complain a lot, but speaking at conferences is still an unforgettable experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything! π
But if someone is an introvert and feels like they have to do it because it's somehow the natural next step in their career... well, they really don't! π
Absolutely agree, Sylwia! π
Thereβs no single path to growing in tech. Some people shine on stage, others through writing, building, or quietly helping others.
What matters is sharing what we know in a way that feels natural to us.
And Iβm glad youβre still enjoying the stage, despite all the chaos! ππ
Youβre such an inspiration! Iβm here to learn from your experience π This raw, real story is amazing, loved it!
Aww, thank you so much, Lingfeng! β€οΈ I'm really glad you enjoyed it! π