Before applying, please read this text carefully, especially the last section. 

We are looking for speakers eager to share their knowledge with data practitioners. We are looking for talks on any subjects that are related to data, for example: 

• Advanced Analytics
• Data Career Skills
• Data-Centric
• Data Engineering & MLOps
• Data Product Management
• Data Team Leadership
• Data Visualisation
• Deep Learning
• Domain-specific applications of AI
• Explainability
• Forecasting
• Generative AI
• Information Retrieval
• NLP
• Recommendation and Personalization
• Responsible AI

We encourage applications both from companies and academia (including already published papers), as long it can bring something new to the data practitioners.

What kind of talks exist at Data Makers Fest?

• Technical: Covers an aspect from which participants can learn. E.g., How to do Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback with PyTorch
• Complementary Skills: Covers an aspect that participants need for their careers or that can be used within the work of data science teams. E.g., Agile principles for data teams
• Application: Covers how you solved a business case with different tools, giving enough technical details. E.g., How to do risk management with advanced AI tools
• Overview: A basic introduction to advanced topics E.g., Introduction to Causal Machine Learning
• Best Practices: Practical tips and tricks E.g., Do’s and don’ts in the data pipeline
• Opinion: Opinion on the future of data science and AI E.g., How should data collection look like in the future

Why apply to Data Makers Fest?

• Possibility to network and share ideas with the international data community
• Possibility of having a speaker coaching session
• A professionally recorded talk might be shared publicly under Creative Common for non-commercial use *
• Talk feedback from the organizers after the talk
• A free ticket to Data Makers Fest with lunch included
• Access to an exclusive speaker networking dinner
• Additional ticket if you want to bring anyone and even further discounts on more tickets
• Free accommodation for two nights if you come from outside of the Porto Metropolitan area
• Recognition for the great job you have been doing

During the event, we will record your talk to be shared afterward with participants and possibly under Creative Commons to the public.

We also offer limited travel support, so we can help you with up to 50€ if you are coming from Portugal and 300 euros if you are coming from other countries. As support is limited, please consider having the travel expenses covered by your employer.

How long are the talks?

A talk can be regular (20 minutes) or in-depth (40 min). You can apply for any, but mostly technical and overview topics will be considered for the in-depth format. Furthermore, only a few slots are available for in-depth talks, which will also be highly competitive.

What is the acceptance rate?

Last year, we accepted ~30% of the talks submitted.

Eligibility Criteria

No sales or recruitment pitches are allowed. If you’re interested in promoting your product or service during the event, please e-mail sponsors@datamakersfest.com.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria will be kept in mind when selecting the talks:

• Practical application
• Novelty of the talk
• Impact on the data scientists working in the industry
• Variety of topics
• Possibility to publicly publish the talks

Are there any rules for what a talk should not have?

1. No shameless promo: How many boring slides did you have to sit through that talk about the accomplishments of a company? That's not what people came to see.

2. No sales: Please contact us if you want to sponsor the event and promote your product.

3. No recruitment messages: Everyone is hiring. Make your talk interesting, which makes people think, "Dang! I want to work with this person and tackle that problem". 

Application & Evaluation Process - Very important

We will use a panel of advisors to help us score your submission. To be completely fair and unbiased, the evaluation will be done anonymously. Therefore, any reference to your name, company, or anything else that can identify you within the talk description is forbidden.

Please limit the title of your talk to 65 characters.

Deadlines

Deadline 1 - 8th of March: All speakers applying by the 8th of March will be evaluated in March and either accepted, rejected, or added to the waiting list. We suggest you apply by the first deadline if you want feedback on your submission.

Final Deadline - 30th of April: The last possible day to apply is April 30th. 

Changes: You can make small changes to your talk up to May 31st; afterward, you are expected not to change the title or description of the talk.

You are also expected to participate in a briefing for the speakers and submit your presentation two weeks before the event.

Note: Talks with co-speakers are only allowed for in-depth talks. For normal talks, exceptions can be made in very exceptional cases. It is also not possible to support the second speaker's costs in that case.

If you are interested in applying but are concerned about any of the conditions, please write to us at speakers@datamakersfest.com.

* The talk might be released 2-6 months after the event under the Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives 4.0 license.

See call.