Anyone who wants to apply to speak at a WordCamp wants to know what makes a successful submission. We don’t have an answer: we feel that what stands out about all our successful submissions is that they have nothing in common.
We want speakers who will entertain, educate, inform and delight our attendees; below are two successful submissions to our call for papers from WordCamp London 2016 designed to inspire you and encourage you to apply with your idea.
[We’ve added two submissions here. The first is from Ross Wintle.]
Talk Title:
User Experience: it’s for everyone, it’s important and it’s really hard!
Talk Format:
Long Form
Who is your intended audience?
Anyone who makes things that others will use.
Please provide a description of the talk you’re proposing.
Not sure what user experience (UX) is? (Neither am I). Or whether it matters to you? (It TOTALLY does!) Or why it’s important? (Let’s find out!). I’m not a UX expert, but I don’t think you have to be: we should all be thinking about how people interact with the things that we make. Let’s take a really (really!) simple web app, tear it apart, and realise that UX is hard, very important, and definitely worth thinking about. Expect tips, links, resources, door handles, cars, small children, and possibly a little WordPress.
Tell us about you
Ross is a freelance website developer, communications consultant and accidental WordPress expert who helps organisations use technology to make the world better. He previously worked in aerospace doing safety-critical software engineering, so websites feel a little more down to earth! Ross is a proud dad, a happy cyclist and he loves working with both people and code.
What public speaking experience do you have?
I’ve done two talks at the Bristol WordPress People meetup and have run social media training. I am generally confident with training, running workshops and public speaking.
Why Do You Want To Speak?
I enjoy speaking, I think I have some useful experiences to share, and I like giving back to the WordPress community.
[The second example is from Tammie Lister.]
Talk Title:
Design in patterns
Talk Format:
Long Form
Who is your intended audience?
Designers and front end developers, also good for others to understand concept
Please provide a description of the talk you’re proposing.
Everything we make has a design pattern underneath. It can be broken down, distilled to patterns. When you think in patterns the design process starts to make sense. From pattern libraries to components and atomic design – I’ll show you in this talk, that whatever you label it, the concept is powerful. A fragmented approach to design goes perfectly with new development potential and gives you a robust workflow for the future.
Tell us about you
I work at Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. My background is varied and includes psychology, design, front end development and user experience. I am a contributor to WordPress and passionate about Open Source.
What public speaking experience do you have?
2015: CSS Conf EU – Emotion through CSS: https://youtu.be/C9im1tkit0E, Reasons to be creative – Brighton- Structure for creativity with pattern libraries, ThemeConf – Thinking in patterns, WordCamp Europe – Mighty Morphing Design, WordCamp London – Colour theory and psychology, WordCamp Maui – Theme don’t be my everything, Brighton WordUp – Contributing to WordPress. 2014: London Sass – A tale of Sass in Open Source, Brighton WordUp – BuddyPress 101, WordCamp Toronto – Level up with theme reviewing, WordCamp New York – Get involved in speaking workshop, Montreal – Get involved in speaking workshop, WP Sessions – BuddyPress theme development, WordCamp Manchester – A journey into Underscores, WordCamp Hamburg – The theme is in the details, WordCamp Sheffield – The theme is in the details, WordCamp Miami – Kids workshop getting them started with WordPress, BuddyCamp Miami – BuddyPress theme do and don’ts. 2013: WordCamp London – BuddyPress myth busting, Digital Barnsley – Herding Humans, WordCamp Europe – Life of a theme, WordCamp San Francisco – Beyond the default, Future of Web Design – Beyond the noise of social networks, WordCamp Norway – Herding Humans. 2012: Inspire Conference – Designing for humans not robots, WordCamp Edinburgh, UK – Designing with communities for BuddyPress, WordCamp NYC – Express yourself with BuddyPress themes, WordCamp Netherlands – Design for humans with BuddyPress, London WordPress meetup – Designing for humans with WordPress. https://speakerdeck.com/tammielis, Videos: http://wordpress.tv/speakers/tammie-lister/
Why Do You Want To Speak?
I want to be part of what I know will be an amazing WordCamp. I think it’s also important to have not just developer talks at a WordCamp and hope to bring that.
Ready to submit? We can’t wait to see you on stage!
