Call for Speakers
DevFest Harare 2026
24 Oct 2026
Harare, Zimbabwe
Build, Secure, Scale: Developers and Builders in the Agentic Era
GDG Harare DevFest brings together developers, technology enthusiasts, innovators, students, founders, designers, and builders to explore the technologies shaping the future of software and digital innovation.
This year, we are exploring a major shift in how technology is built.
Artificial intelligence is changing the role of the developer. We are moving beyond simply writing code towards reviewing, orchestrating, and working alongside increasingly capable AI models and autonomous agents. At the same time, these technologies are making it easier for more people to become builders — turning ideas into applications, automating workflows, solving business problems, and creating solutions across industries.
Our theme, “Build, Secure, Scale: Developers and Builders in the Agentic Era", explores what it means to build responsibly and effectively in this rapidly changing landscape.
We are looking for speakers who can share practical knowledge, real-world experiences, lessons learned, innovative ideas, and technical insights around topics such as:
AI & Agentic Development — AI-assisted development, autonomous agents, AI coding tools, LLMs, and emerging developer workflows.
Building — Software development, product development, design, automation, startups, and using technology to solve real-world problems.
Security— Secure-by-default development, application security, AI security, privacy, responsible AI, and data protection.
Scaling — Cloud, infrastructure, system architecture, performance, DevOps, and scaling products and teams.
Developer Experience — Modern development tools, platforms, frameworks, productivity, and the evolving role of software developers.
Emerging Technologies — New technologies and approaches that are shaping the future of software and digital products.
Real-World Innovation— Case studies and projects demonstrating how technology and AI are being applied to solve problems across Africa and beyond.
You do not need to be a senior engineer or industry veteran to speak at DevFest. We welcome developers, students, researchers, designers, product people, founders, and builders with valuable experiences and perspectives to share.
Whether you have built something interesting, solved a difficult problem, learned a valuable lesson, or have a perspective on where technology is heading, we want to hear from you.
Submit your session proposal and join us at DevFest Harare.
Build boldly. Secure responsibly. Scale intelligently.
Call for Speakers
20 Aug 2026
20 Sep 2026
What We Expect From Our Speakers
At DevFest, we want sessions that are practical, engaging, relevant, and valuable to the developer and builder community.
We expect speakers to:
Share practical knowledge — Give attendees ideas, techniques, tools, or approaches they can apply beyond the event.
Bring real experience — Share projects, lessons learned, challenges, successes, failures, or real-world use cases where possible.
Stay relevant to the theme — Connect your session to Build, Secure, Scale: Developers and Builders in the Agentic Era or demonstrate how your topic contributes to the evolving technology landscape.
Teach, not just promote — Sessions should provide genuine educational value. Product or company promotion should not be the primary focus.
Make complex topics accessible — Explain concepts clearly and consider attendees with different levels of experience.
Encourage responsible innovation — Where relevant, address security, privacy, ethics, reliability, and responsible use of emerging technologies.
Engage the audience— We encourage demonstrations, practical examples, live coding, case studies, discussions, and interactive elements where appropriate.
Be prepared and professional — Speakers should meet agreed deadlines, communicate with the organising team, and provide presentation materials when requested.
Respect our community— DevFest is an inclusive community event. We expect speakers to create a welcoming environment and treat attendees and fellow speakers with respect.
Most importantly, bring something worth sharing. You do not have to know everything. We are interested in the experiences, ideas, and lessons that can help another builder move forward.
If you haven't logged in before, you'll be able to register.
Using social networks to login is faster and simpler, but if you prefer username/password account - use Classic Login.