Call for Speakers
AWS Community Day South Africa 2025
20 Sep 2025
Amazon Headquarters - Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa
awscommunityday.co.za
AWS Community Day South Africa 2025 is a community-driven, one-day event in the Mother City, happening on September 20th, 2025. It focuses on cloud technology with an emphasis on AWS, catering to both professionals and enthusiasts to learn, network and build regardless of your exposure. The event offers valuable insights and networking opportunities. In 2025, It will be our first event!
Our vision is to offer a vendor-neutral day for professionals in software, cloud, and technology, focusing on the tools, practices, principles, and innovations that are relevant to solving both current and future challenges faced globally.
🎤 Style of Talk 🎤
AWS Community Day South Africa 2025 is an event designed to foster learning, networking, and inspiration, catering to all levels of expertise in cloud technologies and AWS. Whether you're just starting out or an experienced professional, there's something for everyone to discover and explore.
Each session last either 15, 30 or 40 minutes, including time for Q&A. Speakers will present from the stage, using a large screen to display slides, videos, and code, while the audience sits in cinema-style seating. The total timeframe covers everything, so it's a well-paced and engaging experience for both speakers and attendees.
Types:
- 15min Lightning Talk
- 30min Session
- 40min Session
Our audience spans a wide range of skill levels, from junior developers to senior management. We encourage submissions from all backgrounds, whether you're a hobbyist, professional developer, student, non-developer, or a first-time speaker. Our aim is to create an inclusive and diverse space for both speakers and attendees. There are no restrictions based on specific technologies or vendors – we welcome insights from all tools and tech! The majority of attendees are professional software or cloud engineers. Hence, we find that talks that help them in their careers and focus on exploring tech or solving problems are really well received.
Note: AWS Community Day South Africa 2025 would is an in-person event and we are not accepting remote/virtual presentations.
🗓️ When 🗓️
AWS Community Day South Africa 2025 is a community-driven, one-day event in the Mother City (Cape Town), happening on September 20th, 2025
🗣️ Accepted Speakers 🗣️
All selected speakers for AWS Community Day South Africa 2025 will receive a pass for the event they're presenting at, along with an exclusive invitation to the speakers-only dinner.
Travel and accommodation are not included. We are looking at options to support this in future.
✈️ International Speakers ✈️
We welcome international speakers to submit talks for AWS Community Day South Africa 2025. We do not cover flights and accommodation for international speakers. We are looking at options to support this in future.
⏳ Timeline ⏳
We are accepting papers from 1 April 2025 at 00:00 SAST
We will close the call for speakers on 1 July 2025 at 23:59 SAST
Every talk will be scored by a diverse panel of reviewers.
Based on the scoring, a proposed agenda will be drafted in August.
Selected speakers will be emailed by 1st August 2025 (please make sure you check your spam folder).
Speakers are to confirm, by email by 14th August 2025. Any speaker who does not confirm will forfeit their slot.
🍽 Additional events for speakers 🍽
In addition to the presentation on the days of the event, we will have additional functions for speakers which we believe add massive value:
The day before each event we will have a tech check at the conference venue from 4 pm. It should take no longer than an hour.
The night before and after the events we will have a speaker's dinner near the venue and we would love for you to attend and meet the other speakers.
Important: These are highly valuable but we can work with you if you cannot attend them. Do not let this stop you from submitting!
Call for Speakers
01 Apr 2025
01 Jul 2025
👀 What kind of content are we looking for? 👀
We’re excited to hear from developers on a wide range of topics—from innovations, to AI, coding, platforms, security, and so much more. We are not looking for sales pitches, rather come show us some cool stuff you have been working on or what you built.
Whether you're speaking for the first time or you’re an experienced presenter, there’s a spot for you! We want to offer a platform for all voices. We also encourage non-developers to submit talks that are relevant and beneficial to the community. Subjects like security, databases, UI, and other technical topics are always popular and well-received by our audience. Our goal is to support new speakers and ensure that every speaker has a rewarding experience.
✅ What kinds of talks do we love? ✅
- Offering a fresh, unique perspective on a topic
- You don’t have to be a developer—diverse viewpoints are incredibly valuable, and we want to hear from everyone
- Talks with a focus on the South African 🇿🇦 community are highly encouraged
- Share your personal, real-world experiences and lessons learned
- Live demonstrations > slides (especially for technical talks)
If you've presented this talk before and love it, don’t hesitate to submit it again!
📛 What types of talks should we avoid? 📛
- Marketing or sales-driven content—let your clients tell their stories instead!
- Workshops (unfortunately, we can’t accommodate these)
🎤 Style of Talk 🎤
15min Lightning Talk
30min Session
40min Session
👻 Anonymous Review 👻
All submissions undergo an anonymous review process. Make sure you don’t include any personally identifying information in your talk description or notes. If you’ve presented your talk elsewhere or have links to videos, please use the dedicated field for that.
🪒 How will talks be ranked? 🪒
Our reviewers will rank talks based on their knowledge and experience. We use the Sessionize ranking system—feel free to check it out in the test event.
💡 Submission Tips 💡
Use plain text in all fields (Markdown and HTML aren’t supported).
Your talk doesn’t need to be fully ready now; you can make adjustments before the event if selected.
The “notes” field is for additional information or special requests, not personal info.
The “track” and “level” fields are for event planning—choose the best fit for your talk; it won’t impact your selection.
💬 Talk Outline 💬
Submit your talk as a bullet-pointed outline that covers the main content you’ll present.
📜 Important Notes 📜
By submitting a CFP, you’ll be added to our mailing list to receive event updates. You can unsubscribe anytime, but we recommend staying on the list if selected, as we’ll use it to communicate important speaker details.
You can submit up to three talks.
Ensure your speaker bio is in the third person—bios in the first or second person may affect your submission.
Write your description for the audience—only the review panel will see your notes and outline.
We can’t wait to hear from you! 🌟
event fee
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