Key info

• Swift Connection will be held in Paris on September 23-24, 2024
• All content will be in English

Format types

Swift Connection will feature talks having the following formats:

• Short: 10 minutes (excl. Q&A)
• Regular: 25 minutes (excl. Q&A)

All talks will be recorded and published to YouTube and our async Platform. Feel free to let us know if you don't want your talk to be recorded.

All talks are followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. Questions will come from the MC, who will select the most relevant questions from the audience. Please note that this is done via an online application as we won't pass a microphone around the audience.

Selection Criteria

Our selection criteria are structured around three primary pillars:

1. Intermediate to Advanced Technical Topics: We focus on deep diving on established technologies OR introductions to cutting edge frameworks and APIs
2. Practical and Pragmatic Content: Our emphasis is on hands-on coding and technical practices that encourage active engagement and learning.
3. Actionable Takeaways: We prioritize content that offers practical tools and strategies that can be applied effectively in daily activities.

We also take some soft skills in consideration:

• Ability to make a clear synthesis of a topic,
• Ability to speak in English in front of an audience (to native French speakers: Tech Connection has some experience with French speakers not really comfortable with English, we can help on this).

Although not required, feel free to share your X/Twitter account, GitHub profile or past conferences videos!

I consider myself a representative of diversity or underrepresented communities

You’re more than welcome on stage! In fact, we strongly encourage you to apply to this CfP. According to our Code of Conduct Tech Connection does not make any discrimination based on the people. We select solely based on the relevance of topics, the quality of talk proposals, and the skills mentioned previously.

NEW! Speaker Inclusion Programme

The Swift Connection Speaker Inclusion Programme is a complimentary initiative designed to encourage individuals from diverse and minority backgrounds to present at Swift Connection 2024.

We understand that presenting to a large audience can be daunting, particularly for speakers who are members of minority groups or come from diverse backgrounds.

To support these speakers, we are launching the Swift Connection Speaker Inclusion Programme. This initiative offers a personal toolkit and tuition aimed at enhancing your experience and confidence as a speaker.

Speaker Inclusion Programme has a separate CfP, available here.

Process

The whole process - from the CfP to presenting at the Conference - is composed of 5 steps.

1. CfP Opens

From May 20 to June 16, 2024, 23:59 (Paris time) this page will be open to submissions.

2. Talk Selection

As soon as the CfP closes, the Content Team will start the selection process, step by step:

1. The content team removes all the clearly off-topic proposals (e.g. a Marketing Automation talk).
2. Each member reviews every proposal and assigns it a score.
3. After all proposals have been evaluated, the committee selects the highest-scoring ones for further consideration. At this stage, our goal is to construct a coherent lineup, avoiding repetition of the same topic within the conference. Consequently, each proposal will receive one of three decisions: Accepted, Declined, or Request for Modification.
4. In case of a Request for Modification, we may ask you to alter the format of your talk or to emphasize certain aspects over others. Naturally, you are welcome to either accept or decline these suggestions.

The duration of the review process primarily depends on the volume of the proposals we receive. Given that this can be time-consuming, we prefer not to commit to specific dates. However, all the content team and the Tech Connection team have been speakers in the past and understand the stress of waiting for feedback on a Call for Papers. Rest assured, we aim to minimize this waiting period as much as possible.

3. Talk Preparation

Before starting the preparation phase, please anticipate as much as possible to make sure you have everything to be able to travel to France (valid passport and visa according to where you're travelling from). If you have any trouble getting a visa or else, please let us know as soon as possible.

If you’re at this step: congratulations you’re now a confirmed speaker. We’ll quickly get back to you to manage all the logistics, travels and accommodation.

Meanwhile, feel free to reach us for any question you may have or for help prepare your talk.

About one month before the conference, we’ll make a talk review call. This 45-ish-minute call will cover:

• Last logistics details
• A review of your talk, with focus on coherence with other talks (e.g.: “this speaker explains X in a talk before, could you consider it as an intro to your subject" or “this speaker and you have opposite/similar views of this topic, can we setup a common Q&A?”); allowing the MCs to prepare your Q&A, making sure we are aware all the technical details about your talk (to be sure that everything will be ready for you on D-Day.); early feedback on the format of your slides (cf “Your Slides” below); and replying any questions you might have.

If you need additional help or feedback: don’t hesitate to ask for an early talk review call. It will help you to receive early feedback and gives us time to iterate with you on multiple calls.

4. The day before the conference

The day before the conference brings two major moments in your experience as a speaker:

1. We need to have a finalized version of your slides and/or contents (including fonts, images, videos, etc). Even if your talk is presented from your own computer, we’ll need to have a backup version (cf “Your Slides” below). It saved us a lot of stress in the past.
2. You’re invited to the Speaker’s Dinner! That’s the best moment to meet other speakers and all the team. All details will be sent before the conference. The dinner will take place at 7 PM, at a location not far from the venue.

5. Conference day

We ask you to be in the venue at least 1h30 before your talk (for first speakers in the morning: 45 minutes is enough). However, we strongly encourage you to attend and enjoy the whole conference. As a speaker, you’re our guest.

All the last-minute details about conference day will be given at the speaker's dinner!

Your Slides

Unless specified otherwise, our projector supports an aspect ratio of 16:9, with a 1080p resolution. The venue room will be dark during the presentation, so adjust your colors accordingly (for example: avoid a full white slide after 5 minutes of dark content). 

Please favor large font sizes for an adapted visibility and don’t forget considering high contrast between your background and your foreground colors in order to provide an accessible experience to the entirety of the audience. When audience reads your slide, they don’t usually listen to you. Help them by making slides as readable as possible. 

Also, we recommend avoiding including too much code in the same slide to avoid people trying to understand your code while you are speaking. Please note that font sizes, basic accessibility rules and text density will be reviewed during our review 

Code of Conduct

Swift Connection is dedicated to providing a fun harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion.

You can find our Code of Conduct here.

Team

Swift Connection is brought to you by La Tech Connection. Our editorial committee is composed by:

• Audrey Sobgou Zebaze
  
• Denis Poifol
  

Additional Questions

If you have any question about the conference, feel free to drop us a mail at editorial@swiftconnection.io or take a look at our FAQ.

We look forward to your submissions!

Travel: We will cover round-trip travel expenses for one person from your city of origin to Paris, at an economy rate, up to €1500. Accommodation: We will book a hotel room close to the venue for you from September 22 to September 25.