This submission is for our in-person track at BSidesSF, March 21, 2026, in San Francisco.

This will be a single speaker track. Speakers have a choice of a 30 minute slot or a 45 minute slot.

For any CFP questions, email cfp@dianainitiative.org

Important Dates

• Nov 17th 2025: Call For Presentations Opens
  
• Dec 8th 2025: Call for Presentations Closes
• Dec. 17th 2025: Speaker Acceptance Notifications Sent
• Dec 23rd 2025: Selected speakers must confirm their participation

Submission Guidelines

• Submission Title
• Speaker Name(s) Hidden from reviewers
• Speaker Email (this is how we will contact you) Hidden from reviewers
• Speaker biography (150 words or less per speaker) Hidden from reviewers
• Abstract for your talk (200 words or less) Please refrain from including identifying information
• Detailed talk outline Please refrain from including identifying information

If the submission is missing any of the above items, it will not be accepted. The Diana Initiative reserves the right to throw out papers in which the author’s personal information is contained in the abstract or detailed outline.

Speaker Benefits

Speakers will receive both a BSidesSF speaker badge and t-shirt.

Review Process

Each submitted talk will be double-blind reviewed (the reviewers do not see the author names and the authors do not see their reviewer names) by a committee of dedicated reviewers.

A final group of core conference staff will make a final judgment on each talk based on the comments provided by the double-blind review panel. Reviewers score talks based on a number of criteria included, but not limited to:

• Detail of submission
• Novelty of the talk
• Whether the talk has been given previously
• Whether the talk has been recorded previously

Thank you,

CFP Staff

Example Submission

Please check here for an example submission of an accepted talk submitted in a previous year.

Resources for Writing CFPs and Giving Presentations

Collection of CFP Tips rounded up and shared by CircuitSwan.

Conference Submissions for the Faint of Heart, from Amelie Koran and Nicole Schwartz

This Blog post by Kat Sweet on the building blocks of an InfoSec conference CFP.

The CFPs 101 Panel from BSidesLV 2016

The DEFCON Speaker’s Corner post by Nikita titled How do I Make my CFP Stand Out?

This Blog post by Cheryl Biswas about giving a talk in Infosec

Presentation Tips for Technical Talks, from Tanya Janca (@shehackspurple).

Lunch will be provided during the event.