You still have time to submit your Call for Papers for our 8-9 May CTO Craft Con 2024. The submission deadline is 26 January 2024, so don’t miss this opportunity to engage with a large group of diverse tech leaders and present a topic that’s important to you. Plus, following the popularity of the sessions at the first CTO Craft Cons, we have increased the number of spaces available.
Read on to find out why you should get cracking and submit your Call for Papers.
What is a ‘Call for Papers’?
You simply need to select the topic you want to speak about at the May 2024 CTO Conference and submit a brief summary of your talk, ensuring that you highlight the key points and takeaways for the audience. Choose a subject that you’re really interested in or know about that the Community will find relevant and relatable.
These 15-minute presentation sessions allow members of our Community to showcase their work and ideas in front of a larger audience.
At our November 2023 London conference, seven tech leaders presented their discussions to our audience, and here, two of them discuss what it was like, why they did it and some of the key advice they believe you need if you decide to go for it!
Submit your Call for Papers here.
Jen Beattie, Head of Engineering, GivePanel
“It’s definitely a great platform to get to get your voice heard. It’s also opened opportunities to present at other conferences and events.”
Jen is passionate about helping women in tech and submitted her Call for Papers for the November 2023 conference as she saw it as a great opportunity to help raise more awareness and give people some actionable points so others can help support women in tech.
She said, “Despite having never been up on a stage by myself before I felt it was worth getting out of my comfort zone for! Presenting my talk really helped with networking – especially with those interested in the topic and also those who wanted to know more.”
If you’re procrastinating about whether to submit your paper by 26 January 2024 for the May CTO Craft Conference, Jen believes you should do it. “Even if you’re a bit unsure about your talk – there is plenty of help in the CTO Craft Community. It’s always worth asking the team what sort of topics they are looking for and whether your ideas would fit – or if you have an idea but aren’t sure whether to go with it or not.”
And what is the actual presentation like? We asked Jen for advice on how to approach the audience on the day, and she said, “Although getting up on stage is a very daunting thing – it’s definitely well worth it! It was an amazing feeling afterwards, and everyone at CTO Craft is very supportive – they all knew it was my first time presenting and they did everything they could to help alleviate my nerves!”
Charlie Markham, CTO Lantern
“Take your time, enjoy the event and share something meaningful.”
Charlie put himself forward to present his Call for Papers in November because he’d been on a journey with his team in his role at Metapraxis and wanted to share some of the insights. He said, “My VpoE and I had been on a journey of using high-EQ leadership and got really good results. It’s always helpful to attempt to crystallise ideas, and this was a good opportunity to try and put together 2-3 years’ worth of lessons learned into a 15-minute presentation!”
When it comes to learning from the experience, Charlie offers the following tips to those of you who might be considering the fifteen-minute presentation or have already submitted your Call for Papers.
He said, “I probably tried to say too much. It was great that lots of people were taking photos of my slides, and there were some really interesting follow-up questions and conversations. If I were to do it again, I would probably have presented half as much content and given more examples as I went.”
And this gem of advice from Charlie is brilliant to remember if you’re having any doubts, ”You’re amongst friends who are interested in what you have to say. Take your time, enjoy the event and share something meaningful.”
Benefits of speaking at the CTO Craft Conference
- Raise your profile: Presenting can increase your visibility and establish you as an expert in your field.
- Networking opportunities: Speaking can provide a unique opportunity to meet and network with like-minded individuals.
- Showcase your work: The Community Showcase is a great way to share your research, ideas, and projects with a wider audience and get peer feedback.
What do you get if you are successful?
- Speaker pass for the event (already paid for a pass? No worries – this will be refunded if you are successful).
- 15-minute speaking slot on the main stage at CTO Craft Con: London.
- £200 speaker fee.
- Dedicated support from our team at all stages.
What do we need from you?
- A bit about yourself, such as personal details.
- Provide a one-sentence bio that summarises your professional background or expertise.
- Include links to any previous talks you have given.
- Create a title for your talk that accurately reflects the content and message you want to convey.
- Write a brief synopsis or summary of your talk, highlighting key points and takeaways for the audience.
- Categorise your talk based on the theme or topic that it covers (more on that below).
- Provide basic approvals to record your talk, such as granting permission for it to be shared online or archived for future reference.
We intend to make this a big part of future conferences, regional talks and our online events, so if you aren’t successful this time, this isn’t your only chance, this is also an opportunity to get in contact early on and practise the process.
So, if you’re still on the fence and need a little final persuasion about why you should submit your paper now, here’s some final words of wisdom from Jen Beattie, “If this is your first time presenting – go and try out being on stage during one of the breaks, it makes it much less daunting getting up there for real. Also just take it steady – it’s very easy to rush through your content but remember to breathe and make each point count!”
If you have any questions, please contact rachel@ctocraft.com, or you can find more information on our conference website.
We’re proud to announce the launch of CTO Craft Con: London 2024 at the prestigious QEII venue, driven by the ever-increasing demand and growing number of attendees. You can sign up here to be the first in the know when Super Early Bird tickets go on sale.
If you’re not a member of the free CTO Craft Community, what are you waiting for? With over 10,000 global technology leader members, you’ll get exclusive access to Slack channels, conference insights and updates and other valuable content. Subscribe to Tech Manager Weekly for a free weekly dose of tech culture, hiring, development, process and more.