Speaking at tech conferences can be a very fruitful professional experience. Placing yourself on stage is a fantastic way to share your ideas with the world, network with others, and build your reputation in tech. But the first hurdle is pitching a topic — selection committees look for very specific things when they review their call for paper (CFP) submissions.

As curators of the yearly Nordic APIs Platform Summit, our CFP review committee looks for thought leadership related to APIs, featuring fresh takes grounded in real stories told by an engaging speaker. We review many speaker submissions every year for our events — and some pitches stand out more than others.

We’re also often asked what prospective speakers should include in their conference speaker pitch. Our rolling call for speakers offers some guidance, but there are plenty of other call for paper tips to consider.

Below, we’ll cover some CFP submission tips that really make a conference pitch stand out. While we’ll focus on advice for submitting to tech conference CFPs, the tips below go beyond API or tech industry expectations and could be applied to any conference call for papers.

Don’t Be Afraid

Be confident and remember that there’s a first time for everything.

As Nike and Michael Scott famously said, “Just do it.” Crafting a public speaking proposal and actually hitting “submit” can be a daunting idea, especially if you’ve never done it and feel impostor syndrome.

But the good news is that many conferences are very welcoming and want underrepresented folks to apply. Plus, all great keynote speakers started somewhere. So, you never know until you try.

To help put you at ease, one idea is to run early ideas by the organizers and follow up on your submission. For instance, as part of Nordic APIs speaking opportunities, we are happy to review and provide feedback on speaking pitches early on or answer any questions that potential speakers might have. (You can contact us at info@nordicapis.com.)

Understand the Event Theme

Your pitch should be relevant to the event’s theme.

A talk submission that isn’t related to the conference theme is a surefire way to botch your pitch. So, it’s best to do some research and align your talk with the event’s overarching themes or particular topic tracks.

Topic relevance is a big reason papers aren’t accepted. For instance, a general leadership talk probably won’t be accepted at a tech conference focused on a particular language or framework.

For example, Nordic APIs events focus on API strategy, featuring insights on standards, access control, and designing API-first platforms. Lately, we’ve been exploring the intersection between APIs and agentic AI and are interested in talks that offer unique perspectives in that area.

Know the Audience

Understand who your talk is for and tailor your pitch to them.

It’s important to know what perspective, skill, and knowledge level to direct your pitch toward. You can usually get a sense of the event’s target audience by visiting their website, blog, or newsletter, or by reviewing past event schedules.

Some events even post information on their delegate profiles. But attending the event in person is the best way to get a feel for the event and its audience.

For example, at Nordic APIs, our topmost common audience member is a software architect. This kind of person cares deeply about technology but sees the bigger picture of how applications connect, are scaffolded, and are secured at scale. Other common roles at our events usually include developers, product owners and managers, IT directors, software engineers, consultants, and some sales and marketing folks working on API projects.

By intimately considering the conference attendee profile, you can tailor your pitch precisely to the audience the organizer is assembling, increasing your chances of selection.

Keep Insights Vendor-Neutral

Focus on thought leadership, not your company or its products, in your pitch.

Most community-oriented conferences do not allow product pitches on stage. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to mention your company’s product or services in your speaker pitch — these are often tagged and discarded as being “too salesy.”

For instance, although Nordic APIs invites sponsors to present their platforms at dedicated product demo sessions, we don’t allow product pitches within keynotes, mainstage talks, or breakout tracks.

Of course, some conferences are company events, where the topic is the product. But whenever there is an open call for speakers, it’s best to refrain from overt product pitches and to keep things on the thought leadership side of things.

Describing your company’s journey with a technology or approach, and your lessons learned, is totally fine — and often encouraged. It’s when it turns into a sales demo that people tend to stop paying attention.

Be Specific

Go beyond common knowledge to tackle a specific idea in your pitch.

Broad overviews can work well for keynotes, but most conference sessions are presented as shorter talks (15-30 minutes) in breakout tracks that drill down into a specific area. Therefore, when crafting a strong CFP for a medium to large tech event, the narrower the better.

For instance, a broad angle like “How to Protect Your Microservices” would be challenging to fully address in 20 minutes. Whereas “Using OPA to Enforce Internal Policies at Runtime: Lessons Learned” would likely be more digestible and provide actionable information for attendees in its allotted timeslot.

Not having the right scope is a common conference proposal mistake. So, distill your ideas into a specific area where you can really add value.

Have a Compelling Angle

Choose a fresh, engaging topic grounded in real-world storytelling.

A great developer conference pitch goes beyond common knowledge to offer a unique spin on an interesting topic. As such, your pitch should detail how your talk will present fresh perspectives and insights.

Consider how you can deliver original, compelling storytelling that captivates and can bring an “aha” moment. Grounding your statements in numbers, such as adoption rates or performance gains, helps too.

To help you find an interesting way to share your story, here are some common formats for strong tech talks:

• Our journey with a cutting-edge technology or approach
• Best practices for doing XYZ, backed up with proof
• New takes or use cases on old ideas or technologies
• Anti-patterns or lessons learned on the ground
• How we did XYZ, and what the outcomes were
• A walkthrough of a particular approach or framework
• Neutral comparisons of tools, architectures, or methodologies
• Architecture deep dives and design trade-offs
• Security threats, failures, and defenses
• Reviews of new standards and specifications
• Engineering culture, governance, and organizational transformation
• Predictions, trends, and industry-level analysis

Have a Well-Structured Abstract

Write a problem and solution statement with actionable takeaways.

Once you have the theme and angle in mind, next comes actually writing your conference talk submission. A well-structured conference abstract should set the context, outline the journey the talk will take, and explain what the viewers will take away from it.

For instance, at Nordic APIs, we think a strong conference talk submission should have a compelling, catchy title that distills the talk’s message. Then the abstract should include the following:

• Problem statement: What challenge will you address?
• Solution: What innovative solution will you offer?
• Audience takeaways: Why should they attend, and what will they learn?

A strong CFP should be written coherently and free of basic grammatical, spelling, or capitalization errors. This might indicate laziness and turn off the speaker pitch reviewers.

Don’t Generate Your Pitch With AI

AI-generated abstracts lack substance and will likely be disregarded.

While it may be easy to use an LLM to construct a pitch, be wary of doing this. AI-generated content has a tone that is easy to spot — it lacks substance and soul, and auto-generating an entire abstract from scratch is a sign of laziness.

Conference committees will likely drop your submission if it’s written entirely using AI. So, use your own words, and if you do use AI tools, stick to them purely for research or copyediting when preparing a pitch.

A Good Background Helps a Lot

Have a brief bio that shares relevant credentials.

A speaker’s credibility and background really matter a lot, just as much as the topic they pitch. If the conference pitch submission form offers a bio section, definitely reference your history with the topic and any past accomplishments. Creating a brief bio customized for the event theme and audience will help position you greatly.

If you have past videos to share that exhibit your speaking experience, definitely link to them. This is by far the easiest way for CFP review committees to gauge your skill as a public speaker. If you are totally green in the tech conference arena, consider recording something at home and posting it to YouTube or sharing internal demos or talks if possible. Something is better than nothing.

Don’t overstate the facts. But reference current and past employers, as well as relevant past titles, roles, or projects. The person you are extra-curricularly ranks high in conference talk selection criteria, too — if you’ve participated in community events, run hackathons, written on relevant topics, maintained open source projects, or other activities, that’s big.

The social network of the speaker in question and their willingness to help promote their session and the event can mean a lot, too. This is especially true for newer events or community events without a massive following. So, fill out all the information fields, like social media links, even if they aren’t required.

Make Sure You’re Actually Available

Read all the speaker guidelines and check all the boxes.

Reading all the tiny details can be a pain and somewhat time-consuming. But it’s really important to be on the same page before submitting your speaker proposal. Because many surrounding factors can affect your speaker submission approval and availability to speak:

• The dates: What are the conference dates, and are you actually available on these dates? Does your organization have any conflicting events?
• Visa restrictions: Are you able to travel to the location or country where the event will be held? For international travel, does the conference have a policy for issuing visas?
• Expenses: Does the conference aid with accommodations and or travel? If not, does your organization have the funding allotted for you?

You should have confident answers to all these questions before submitting your pitch. So, check the boxes — both on the speaker form itself and in your personal and business life before committing. If you have a conflict on one of the days, communicate this very early on.

For instance, Nordic APIs publishes guidelines on its CFP submissions, which provide answers to these questions. Setting expectations up front helps prospective speakers determine if the conference is a good fit for them or not, or even feasible with their schedule.

Some conferences provide a speaking fee, but in tech, event speaking is typically unpaid. So, it’s good to ask questions and avoid overcommitting yourself. Of course, employer travel approval delays can take time, and sudden natural disasters, global conflicts, or health issues are just totally unavoidable, which empathetic conference organizers (like us) will understand!

Submit Multiple Ideas

Submit 2–3 talk ideas to widen your breadth.

Rejection doesn’t equal a poor pitch — sometimes a talk is excellent, but it simply doesn’t fit the specific spot the organizers need to fill. So, a simple way around this is to submit a couple of talk ideas in different areas. Doing so improves scheduling flexibility on the organizer’s end.

Of course, only do this if the conference allows it. You don’t want to barrage them with an onslaught of pitches, as submitting more than 2–3 pitches could put off organizers.

Be Nice

Keep a professional vibe, from the pitch to the event floor.

Hopefully this doesn’t need to be said, but patience is a virtue — and one that conference committee reviewers really appreciate. CFP reviewers are working with event organizers who are trying to assemble a grand puzzle, and the pieces take time to find and put together. So, it’s a good idea to be patient and respectful across all communications.

Speaker committees aren’t looking for drama — they’re looking for someone who’s kind and easy to work with. Reading up on the event’s code of conduct is not a bad idea either. For instance, Nordic APIs’ Code of Conduct is in place to foster a safe community.

In addition to your behavior, most conferences now encourage accessibility and inclusive language, which can be used in crafting your pitch, too.

What Conference Committees Look For

Beyond the generic speaker proposal guidelines, keep in mind that each conference committee operates differently and is evaluating different areas. There are a lot of other factors at play that you might not be able to totally control, even with a great pitch and following the call for papers tips above.

For instance, speaker selection committees are often trying to fill very specific tracks or meet diversity goals. The reputation of the speaker, their past speaking experience, company affiliation, past association with the community, or simply their geographic proximity to the event can matter a lot, too.

But speaking broadly, these stand out as some top areas that matter:

• The talk is aligned with event themes
• Clear problem statement and audience fit
• Speaker credibility and relevant background

Of course, simply submitting to speak at a conference is only the start of the process — the next is drafting your slides, rehearsing, and showing up to deliver on the day of. But if you emphasize the above developer conference submission tips in your pitch, you should be off to a great start.

And it should be mentioned that although these tips resonate with what we look for at Nordic APIs, these aren’t just API developer conference best practices — many apply to other tech conference CFPs and public speaking opportunities at large.

So, good luck with your abstract writing and speaker submissions, and enjoy the stage!