Overview

Ruby Central invites you to submit a proposal to speak at RubyConf 2026!

The conference will take place from Tuesday, July 14th to Thursday, July 16th, 2026, in Las Vegas, NV.

As Ruby Central’s flagship and sole annual conference, RubyConf 2026 is being thoughtfully re-envisioned to reflect the full breadth of the Ruby ecosystem. This includes Ruby itself, Ruby on Rails, Ruby-adjacent technologies, and the people building with them, from new developers to longtime practitioners of the craft.

RubyConf 2026 is a space to reflect on where we have been, celebrate where we are now, and help shape what comes next for Ruby and the community supporting it.

Timeline

• CFP Open Submissions: February 10, 2026
• CFP Closing Submissions: March 15, 2026
• CFP Reviewal Period: March 16 - 23, 2026
• CFP results sent out March 30 - April 6th, 2026

All accepted Speakers must comply with our Conference Policies and Speaker Agreement. Please read our policies all the way through before submitting a proposal.

Theme

The themes for RubyConf 2026 are Living with the Robots, Beautiful Ruby, and Weird Ruby. We welcome submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following areas:

Living with the Robots

AI-assisted programming is here to stay. What now? In the face of disorientingly rapid technological and economic change, we need some bedrock principles that will always remain the same. What are they? And of course, in addition to principles we need concrete tactics. If you’re living at the bleeding edge of AI tools and techniques, we want to hear what you’re doing, in the form of specific details that we can put to use right away. How can AI help us be more productive, and specifically, how can it help us be more productive with Ruby?

Beautiful Ruby

The job of a programmer is to design, build and maintain software systems. How do we design our systems such that they don’t collapse under the weight of their own complexity? It never hurts to review some of the basic software engineering principles and practices, such as abstraction, modularity, cohesion, loose coupling, object-oriented programming, feedback loops and test-driven development. These are the skills that help us write code that’s not only nicer to look at but also more enjoyable to work with and less expensive to maintain. After all, qualities like beauty, elegance and practicality are what attracted many of us to the Ruby language in the first place.

Weird Ruby

A program that outputs itself. An unspeakably depraved metaprogramming crime. A spectacularly overengineered solution to a simple problem. Ruby running on a potato. The most dazzling terminal UI ever invented. Musical code. Digital art. Genetic algorithms. Neural networks. Virtual life in a virtual universe. Robots, live on stage. An unholy mixture of the most esoteric Ruby features no one has ever heard of. A program which absolutely should not exist, yet, defying all reason and good taste, does. We want you to take us into the strangest depths of your twisted mind, to rattle our brains and stir our hearts, to challenge our dearest beliefs, and leave us forever changed. And we want you to do it in Ruby.

We are accepting submissions for all levels of experience. Talks may align closely with one of these themes, combine multiple themes, or explore ideas beyond them, as long as they are grounded in Ruby and relevant to the community.

Submission Guidelines

Session Talk Format

Talks are up to 30 minutes, with the opportunity (but no obligation) for a few minutes of Q&A.

Workshop Format

Workshops are up to two hour time blocks on Wednesday only (July 15th, 2026). These are typically hands-on sessions where attendees bring their own apps to work on, or are walked through exercises on, their own laptops. Think more structured, focused, training on specific topics.

• Please submit your abstract by March 15, 2026.
• Include your full name, institutional affiliation (if applicable), and a brief bio (100 words max) with your submission.
• If you are submitting a workshop proposal, please write “WORKSHOP PROPOSAL” at the top of your proposal description.

If you are looking for some advice on how to write a proposal, here is a blog from previous speaker & CFP mentors and past year's program committee with their advice.

Review Process

Our Program Committee is made up of hardworking volunteers representing a variety of experience levels. Our first round of review is anonymous, meaning reviewers will not see your name or biographical information, only the title, description, notes, and track. Please keep any potentially identifying information out of these fields.

If your proposal(s) is not accepted, please don’t let that discourage you from submitting! We receive hundreds of submissions and there is only so much we can add into our schedule.

Selected papers will be informed by beginning of April.

Speaker Benefits

Each accepted speaker will receive:

• Gifted ticket to the full event
• Up to $500 in reimbursement for eligible travel expenses (subject to availability of funds)
• VIP speaker reception event

NOTE: If your session has more than one speaker, benefits may need to be split amongst the group.

You will also have the opportunity to be paired with a Speaker Coach to help you with talk prep. Mentors are granted upon request but highly recommended, especially for new speakers. During the conference, you will be paired with a Speaker Liaison to ensure that your needs are met.

Contact

For any questions or more information, please contact rubyconf@rubycentral.org or visit our website at rubyconf.org.

Thanks for submitting a proposal, and good luck!!

Fully gifted ticket to full event, Up to $500 in reimbursement for eligible travel expenses (subject to availability of funds)