5 LAKES Front is the premier front end development conference in the 5 Great Lakes region. Designed to bring together developers to explore and share ways of creating experiences for users that are unique, thoughtful and impactful. Whether that be through fantastic user experiences, stylistic design, animation work, seamless architecture or clever ways of handling data and state, web applications, augmented/virtual reality or games, 5 LAKES Front aims to share it all.

Please read through these guidelines before submitting a talk. We look forward to reviewing your proposals!

Important Dates

    Call for Speakers Opens: Saturday, January 18, 2020
    Deadline for Submissions: Tuesday, February 18, 2020
    Speakers Announced: Friday, February 28, 2020
    5 LAKES Front: Friday, May 15, 2020

Topics of Interest

If you’re a passionate individual who has a story to tell or learned something amazing that you’d like to share, please submit your proposal to be considered. 5 LAKES Front aims to explore anything related to what a user can touch and interact with. Whether it is how a user works through an application, how it looks, what it is made with, or how the data is structured, we want to hear from you. Bonus points if you have a story that combines technology with any of those worlds.

Talks are 45-minute blocks. Below is a list of topics that our audience would enjoy:

    Programming languages
    Web development
    The business of development
    Creating unique experiences
    The future of front end tech
    Personal and team productivity
    Design and user experience
    Professional skills and self-care
    Unique perspectives on development
    Team leadership, collaboration, and motivation

Speaker Selection

As the committee reviews submissions, we will be looking for sessions that:

    Illustrate the speaker’s depth of knowledge or hands-on experience with the subject matter.
    Inspire or educate attendees in interesting ways.
    Are presented in clear and compelling ways by well-spoken presenters.

We’re looking for a diverse group of speakers, and we encourage everyone to submit a proposal. When reviewing submissions, sessions are anonymized by removing all information about the speaker (name, bio, email, etc.). Please refrain from using identifying information in your titles, abstracts, descriptions and notes to the committee. Any identifying information will force an immediate removal from consideration.

After the submission deadline, the speaker committee will review the submissions and select the ones that best fit the conference. We will take a second pass over these selections with speaker information visible to make sure we deliver a diverse and inclusive lineup.

If You’re Selected

All speakers will receive entry to 5 LAKES Front. This isn't just another tech conference — as a speaker, you'll cross paths with speakers from very different industries and backgrounds.

We will do our best to cover travel and accommodation expenses as our budget allows, and as needed.

If you or your employer can fully cover your travel expenses, let us know, and we will add you or them to our list of sponsors!

If you require travel assistance, please estimate the amount in the "How much travel assistance do you need?" field at the time of submission. Telling us up front will help us plan our travel budget appropriately.

As 5 LAKES Front draws near, we will be in contact with selected speakers to give more details about speaking..

Code of Conduct

Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expressions, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter, and other online media.

We will do our best to cover travel and accommodation expenses as our budget allows, and as needed. If you or your employer can fully cover your travel expenses, let us know, and we will add you or them to our list of sponsors! If you need travel assistance, please specify in the "How much travel assistance do you need?" field.