CFP GUIDE

Who We’re Looking For:

Builders who have shipped real projects and can share their practical journey with our community.

Session Types:

• Technical deep dives / Interactive Demos (45 minutes): Demonstrate your project through live interactions where participants can experiment and engage
• Panel/Lightning Talks/Fireside Chat: Share your building journey, challenges faced, solutions crafted, and lessons learnt
• Interactive Demos

Technical Focus:

• Google technologies (GCP, Firebase, Flutter, TensorFlow, Angular, Google AI/Vertex AI), AI/ML, Web Technologies, Mobile Development, and cloud
• Open source technologies, developer tools and ui/ux design.
• Cybersecurity, Product Management, Cloud & DevOps, Technical Writing, Data Engineering, Cybersecurity , Agentic Experience

What We Want:

1. Concrete examples, code snippets, and architecture decisions
2. Honest reflections on what worked and what didn’t
3. Actionable insights attendees can apply immediately
4. Real-world projects that inspire others to start building

Do's for Submissions:

• Craft engaging and informative proposals that align with our event's theme.
• Share practical insights, real-world use cases, and industry trends.
• Tailor your proposal to one of three levels: Introductory, Intermediate, or Expert.
• Respect the specified time duration: workshops (60 minutes),Tech Talks (30 minutes),Interactive Demos (45 minutes).
• Provide clear learning objectives and takeaways for attendees.
• Contribute to a diverse range of tech topics that captivate our audience.
• Embrace interactive elements that foster engagement and participation.

Don'ts for Submissions:

• Avoid promotional or sales-oriented content.
• Refrain from exceeding the time duration for each session format.
• Don't submit multiple proposals with the same topic and content.
• Avoid submitting content that may be inappropriate, offensive, or discriminatory.
• Don't duplicate content from previous DevFest Nairobi editions.

THE ANATOMY OF A GOOD SUBMISSION

These are the most relevant fields in the CFP form when performing an evaluation.

Title

Titles matter. Really. Make your title and abstract sizzle. Really sell the talk. Keeping that in mind, cool titles like “I am MOSS Tester! And You Can Too!” sound nifty, but they are often going to lose the selection committees and attendees. Sure, make your title catchy, but make sure it highlights what your session is about.

Description

1. Concise

The one to two paragraphs of your abstract is like the one spoon tasters get at a chili competition. This is hard to do. You need to work really hard on making those paragraphs highly impactful. Fall right back to your elementary school fundamentals: introduction, body, conclusion. Set a hook with a great opening: “Bugs. Crashes. Malfunctions. Complete meltdowns. We run into difficulties in our work each and every day.” Follow that on with the value propositions to attendees and examples of what’s covered. Finish up with a great closer that will make your attendees’ mouths water, figuratively, at least.

2. Complete

Let us know who your audience is. “If you are a ruby developer looking to up your game…”. The attendees often look for this when deciding if a talk applies to them.

Let attendees know what you’ll be talking about. “This highly interactive session will show you three specific tips: improve your estimation, use a daily standup to keep a close focus on your progress, and work in retrospectives.” This helps the selection committee understand if the content fits in, and it helps potential attendees see they should be skipping that bogus session on Drag and Drop Driven Development to attend your presentation.

Make it clear what your attendees will learn during your session. “You’ll leave this session with a handle on ways to smooth out your project’s environment” or “This session will show you a great system for boosting customer collaboration and increasing your code’s quality” are good examples.

Do not include proprietary or confidential information.

3. Coherent

We are always amazed at the handful of unreadable, muddled, flat-out awful submissions we get. Spend time to make sure your submission is clear. Don’t bother submitting if you won’t take this step. Tough love, but it’s true: incoherent submissions are nearly always immediately dropped from consideration.

4. Use the present tense in the abstract.

Bio

The speaker’s bio and session abstracts will be printed on dead trees, the website, and many mobile apps. Ensure that it is something you want the world to see.

Your speaker bio is every bit as important as your abstract, particularly if you’re not well-known by the content selection committee. While not required by the system, adding details such as your Twitter handle, blog link, and other social media links is always helpful.

Notes and Comments

Use the notes to the content team field to explain any relevant background you have or any other color commentary about it. Perhaps this session was featured elsewhere? Perhaps the content led to a Nobel prize. Tell us what we should know. This will only be used during selection, and not shared with attendees.

Show some prior feedback on the session. Have you given this talk before? If so, try and collect some feedback on the presentation. Twitters can give you some awesome blurbage you can reference in your abstracts, or notes to the selectors. “I think I’ve learned more about Fitnesse from Jim than anyone else. It was a great talk — standing room only.” – Michael Eaton. Items like that, particularly ones you can hit via live URLs, give you immense credibility.

When you add notes, please make sure to do so in a way that does not give away who you are directly. Use shortened links and remove any obvious personally identifiable information.

NOTE ON COVERAGE OF EXPENSES

• Full Conference Ticket:

All GDG Nairobi events are always free to attend to both our speakers and atendees. Every main session speaker (session owner) will receive a complimentary full conference ticket. Co-speaker(s) will also be eligible for free admission, provided they make a significant contribution to the presentation and had to spend significant time preparing their content.

• Accommodation and Travel:

We DO NOT offer travel or accomodation support. We can, however, help you with the VISA application letter and recommend places to stay and things to do when in Nairobi, Kenya. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us via the speaker support email for this.

CODE OF CONDUCT 📜

By submitting, you agree to The GDG Pwani's Code of Conduct.

Our Code of Conduct is the backbone of our community . It ensures everyone feels safe, respected, and valued. We expect all speakers to adhere to these principles.