There are multiple session types for submission; pick the one most appropriate for your submission!

INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS

Do you have something cool that could benefit the security community? Perhaps it's a software/system you've built, or a strategy you think others could find useful. Informational sessions can be one of:

• 30-minute presentation (regular, 1-2 presenters)
• 45-minute presentation (deep dive, 1-2 presenters)
• 45-minute panel (3-4 panelists, 1 moderator) [1]

[1] Please note that we will not accept manels - we will represent diverse perspectives on stage because that is the right thing to do.

All informational sessions ARE recorded AND streamed.

COLLABORATIVE SESSIONS

Looking to engage the community directly? Submit a proposal for a collaborative session:

• Workshops (120 minutes, 1-2 presenters) [2]
• Birds of a Feather Informal Discussion (45 minutes, 1 facilitator) [3]
• Villages (TBD)

[2] All workshops this year will be held on Sunday, 3/22. There will be no workshops on Saturday.

[3] Birds of a Feather Details: An informal discussion group, typically at a conference, based on a shared interest and without any fixed agenda. These are generally hosted in the theatres; we will provide paper pads and markers for use by the facilitator and participants. You may set whatever additional rules for the session, provided they still align with our code of conduct.

Collaborative sessions will NOT be recorded and NOT be streamed. While rare, you should expect participants to walk in/out at any time.

The Call for Villages will launch at a later date.

DATES

• October 28 - Submissions of any time due at Midnight Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8)!
• December 4 - Presenters will be notified of acceptance.
• March 21-22 - BSidesSF 2026!

Please Note:

• We are a practitioner-focused event, and as such we will be prioritizing submissions from security practitioners; in practice this usually means we'll prioritize submissions from individual contributors and a handful of leaders.
• We will not sell out: please read So You’re A Security Vendor if you work for a company that sells security products or services. 
• We aim to represent different views and voices: (1) a presenter may take the stage for a maximum of one session, and (2) we aim to minimize a high number of sessions from any one company/employer. Note: you may submit multiple submissions, but a maximum of one session per person will be accepted.
• We ARE NOT ABLE TO provide presenter or travel stipends at this time (except on a case-by-case basis with villages). We also DO NOT accept vendor pitches of any sort in our conference program. Thank you for your understanding.
• We operate a 100% double-blind CFP review process. This means the program committee will not know the prospective presenters behind the submission, nor their background! The pros are: if you are an unknown name, this is a great chance to break into the conference-speaking circuit. The cons: you cannot rely on reputation alone to appear on stage. 🙂

As courtesy to your 100% volunteer-run program committee, we ask you to:

• Review your presentation abstract & description for clarity and completeness (we recommend asking a friend/colleague who may not be close to the work to review) - it must be clear to the review committee what you plan to cover and the key takeaways from your presentation. Keeping things mysterious in your abstract is not the move & may mean your submission is not accepted. 
• Here are some examples of clear, well-written submissions from previous years.
• Ensure all presenter emails are added to your submission before hitting submit (we can have a maximum of 2 presenters on stage for presentations - feel free to thank others or highlight contributions during your presentation, but only 2 people can present in a slot).

If accepted, presenters will need to agree to the presenter agreement before being able to present on stage.