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TL;DR — 45-minute sessions related to software development, presented in-person in Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday, October 15, 2026. A conference ticket is provided for all speakers, hotel for full-session speakers.

About Momentum

We are excited to welcome speakers to submit a talk for Momentum in Downtown Cincinnati on Thursday, October 15th, 2026! We are looking for talks that cover the full spectrum of developer interests and help developers solve common challenges they experience. We also love to hear about new, exciting, unique, and interesting topics from speakers that show a passion for the subject matter.

We believe diversity of speakers and topics makes our event better. We welcome speakers of all experience levels and backgrounds.

Submission guidelines

We are accepting two types of talk this year:

• 30 full sessions — 45 minutes in length, with 20-minute breaks between sessions.
• 5 lightning talks — 5–7 minute talks, presented as a block at the end of the day.

You can submit a lightning talk whether or not you're also submitting a full session.

• We want to be as excited about your idea as you are. Give us a clear picture of what you want to speak about and highlight the most important parts. What's the purpose of the talk? Is the beginning, middle, and ending clear? If you'd like to learn more about how to write a good abstract, we've got you covered in this blog post.
• Please select 1–3 tags that cover the topics for your talk. These help attendees decide which talks to attend during the event.
• Bonus points if you include "key takeaways for attendees," if they are not already in the talk description. For instance, this could be a series of practical steps to mastering a new skill or new insights/perspective to bring to a problem.
• Submitted talks can be edited up until the close of the CfS at 11:59pm on Monday, June 1st (ET).
• We are only accepting single-speaker submissions this year.

About lightning talks

Lightning talks will be presented at the end of the day in the main room to keep the energy going and wrap up the conference. We're looking for talks that:

• Can be delivered in 5–7 minutes (and no more!)
• Cover any topic — tech, adjacent to tech, or completely off the wall

A 5-minute talk can be deceptively hard, but leaves a lot of room for creativity and can be a great way to get started speaking. We're looking for speakers who are ready to bring it, whether it's something funny, moving, inspiring, or genuinely useful. A few memorable Lightning Talk topics for inspiration are:

• How a pinball machine works
• How improv improved my life
• Experience in High Power Amateur Rocketry
• Make your own Bacon
• Hooking up a Modem to my classic Nintendo

Want help with abstracts?

If you’re looking for guidance writing your abstract, we've created this handy blog post to help get you started: Writing a Winning Proposal in Four Easy Steps

You can also join our #call-for-speakers Discord channel to collaborate with other speakers and organizers to brainstorm and perfect your ideas. Join here: http://discord.momentumdevcon.com

Selection process

• Review begins after the Call for Speakers closes
• Anonymous first pass review by the Session Review Team
• Second pass review and final selection by Organizer team members
• All speakers will be notified by June 29th

Please review our code of conduct before submitting.

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Travel expenses are not covered. Accommodation is not covered for lighting talk speakers.

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Submit a session