Organizing, Managing, and Surviving the CFP Process
A presentation at DevRelCon Prague 2022 in in Prague, Czechia by David G. Simmons
Organizing, Managing, and Surviving the CFP Process David G. Simmons Head of Developer Advocacy davidgsIoT
What We’ll Cover 01 StarTree Developer Advocacy Team 02 CFP Process 03 StarTree’s CFP Process 04 How We Built It Services we provide The Problem A Solution, not The Solution How it works (so far) davidgsIoT
StarTree Developer Advocacy ● Currently a team of 3 advocates (including me) ○ ○ ○ ● Content Creation ○ ○ ○ ● I am hiring!! 1 Senior Developer Advocate (US-Based) 1 Developer Advocate (any level, based in India) Blog posts ‘Recipes’ for solving user questions Conference speakers Cross-functional collaboration ○ Cross-company stakeholder meetings (Engineering, Marketing, Product Management, Customer Service, Developer Advocacy) davidgsIoT
Conference & CFP Services ● ● ● ● ● Curated list of conferences and open CFPs ○ Notifications for new conferences ○ Notifications of soon-to-close CFPs Curated list of internal speakers Library of talk abstracts** Library of talks/slides** Booth duty at sponsored events* ** Currently under development
- On a limited basis, contingent on availability davidgsIoT
Speaker Services ● Speaker training ○ Assistance with crafting and submitting CFPs ○ Help with producing slides ○ Tips for speakers ○ Rehearsal ‘audience’ and feedback davidgsIoT
Let’s get to the CFP stuff already! davidgsIoT
“To manage CFPs, create a system for organizing and tracking information, set priorities, delegate tasks, and regularly communicate with team members and stakeholders.” — ChatGPT “Tell me how to manage CFPs in 50 words or less.” davidgsIoT
Let’s level-set a bit ● We need to handle conferences and CFPs for the whole company ○ ● ● ● See previous slides There are an almost infinite number of conferences There are a large number of data points for each conference Managing all of that is a nightmare davidgsIoT
Does this look at all familiar? davidgsIoT
That was awful davidgsIoT
So I made it worse davidgsIoT
davidgsIoT
Google Sheets vs. AirTable ✅ ✅ ✅ Forms front end Powerful sorting options Linking between different sheets ✅ ✅ ✅ ● ？ ✅ ● ？ ✅ ● ● ● ● ● ● Forms front end Powerful sorting options Linking between different bases Ability to present a variety of ‘Views’ Powerful integrations for notifications, etc. davidgsIoT
This is much more manageable! davidgsIoT
And the detail is still there davidgsIoT
Easy to read and understand Color-coded for easy identification ● ● ● CFP is already closed CFP is still open CFP is closing within a week davidgsIoT
Easy to Enter Conferences Simple form to fill out ● ● ● Require fields for data consistency Format fields to avoid errors Anyone can submit a conference Submitted Conferences are vetted and then added to the Calendar davidgsIoT
Register Speakers Simple form to fill out ● ● ● Speakers can identify interest areas Speakers can choose if/how they want to be notified Anyone can sign up to be a speaker davidgsIoT
Tell us when you submit Simple form to fill out ● ● ● ● Choose from existing conferences Enter the abstract Anyone can submit their abstract Submission shows up in the details on the calendar page. Remember the “Library of CFP Abstracts” from earlier? davidgsIoT
We are not there yet ● ● ● ● Better system for vetting submitted conferences Easier mechanism to update data for submitted conferences Make the submitted abstracts (the “Library”) available to all Overall streamlining of the process davidgsIoT
“Okay, imagine you have a big jar of money and you want to use it to do something fun or helpful. That’s like the CFP process. First, you have to decide what you want to do with the money, like buy a new toy or donate to a charity. Then, you have to make a plan and figure out how much money you need and how you’re going to get it. After that, you have to tell other people about your plan and ask them if they want to help. Finally, if enough people say yes, you can use the money to do what you want..” — ChatGPT “explain the CFP Process to me like I’m a 5 year old davidgsIoT
Thank you and may your CFP management be easier Feel free to contact me about how to implement a system like this davidgs@startree.ai Linkedin.com/in/davidgsimmons davidgsIoT
The lifeblood of most Developer Advocates is speaking at conferences. We are constantly searching for new and interesting CFPs to submit where we can get ourselves, and our companies, noticed.
But how do you manage the flood of available CFPs? How do we keep track of them all, evaluate them, find the right person in the company to speak, and the myriad other decisions that have to be made around conferences?
In this talk, David will walk through how they at StarTree are managing that flow to better target their resources, surface the right conferences and speakers, and make the most of their conference budget. He’ll walk through the automations they’ve built, and how they’re involving more than just Developer Advocacy in the CFP-to-presentation process.
If you’re still using a spreadsheet to manage your CFP process, you’ll want to come see this talk!
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