Organizing, Managing, and Surviving the CFP Process

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