[[!meta title="Call for Proposals"]]
[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2020 Amin Bandali"]]
**EmacsConf 2020 | November 28 and 29, 2020 | Online Conference**
The Call for Proposals for EmacsConf 2020 talks is now open, until
**September 30, 2020**.
After a successful [[EmacsConf 2019|2019]], we are back again this
year and are once again calling for your participation!
EmacsConf is the conference about the joy of [Emacs][emacs], Emacs
Lisp, and memorizing key sequences.
We are holding EmacsConf 2020 as a virtual (online) conference again
this year, especially now, given the current state of the world with
the ongoing global pandemic. We remain fully committed to freedom,
and we will continue using our infrastructure and streaming setup
consisting entirely of [free software][freesw], much like the last
EmacsConf.
We welcome speakers of **all backgrounds** and **all levels of
experience**, including newcomers submitting a proposal to give their
first talk!
### Important dates
Mark your calendars: EmacsConf 2020 will take place on November 28-29!
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">CFP opens</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">August 17, 2020</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">CFP closes</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">September 30, 2020</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">Speaker notifications</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">October 24, 2020</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">Schedule published</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">November 7, 2020</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">EmacsConf 2020!</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">November 28 and 29, 2020</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Please note that although we will try our best to stick to the above
dates in the coming months, given the current state of the world, we
may have to move things around a bit in case of unforeseen events.
Thank you for baring with us as we all navigate these trying times.
### Talk formats
The following are the main formats for EmacsConf 2020 talks:
- **10 minutes** (Lightning talk): Quickly present a cool project,
concept, or trick in 10 minutes or less!
- **20 minutes** (Standard talk): Introduce the audience to a new
Emacs mode, concept, or just talk about something not necessarily
shiny and new but that you find really neat nonetheless.
- **50 minutes** (Extended talk): Take your time going more in depth,
and/or do a demo! Extended talks are a great way of really
educating the audience about something you enjoy.
Q&A time is **included** in the Standard and Extended time slots;
please time your presentation accordingly. If you would like to take
questions live, we recommend aiming for a 15-minute presentation for
the Standard time slot, and for 40-45 minutes for the Extended time
slot. However, as the speaker, the exact allocation of your time is
up to you, so long as it does not exceed the allocated time slot.
Other session formats such as tutorials, workshops, and hangouts are
welcome as well, especially considering all that is going on around
the world, in case you would those other formats preferable to a
traditional talk format. If you are interested in these or other
session types, please get in touch with us publicly or privately; we
will be happy to work something out with you.
Keynote speaker(s) for EmacsConf 2020 will be introduced in a future
announcement.
### Topic ideas
Not sure what to talk about? You might find some neat ideas on the
[[ideas]] page (feel free to add yours there too)! If you're still
not sure, come by our IRC channel `#emacsconf` on `chat.freenode.net`
and say hi. You can join the chat using
[your favourite IRC client][freenode-emacsconf], or by pointing your
web browser to [chat.emacsconf.org][chat] which runs our self-hosted
instance of [The Lounge][thelounge] free software web IRC client.
A great way to get started with writing a proposal is to start by
exploring the programs from previous years: [[2019|2019/schedule]],
[[2015|2015/schedule]], [[2013|2013#program]].
### Submission
Once you're ready to submit your proposal, the [[submit]] page has the
instructions on how to submit your talk.
We are committed to increasing the participation of speakers belonging
to groups traditionally underrepresented at free software conferences,
including women and people of colour. If you're comfortable sharing
demographic information, please include them in your submission email,
but your proposal will not be judged negatively if you leave them out.
### Getting involved
If you would like to get involved with the various aspects of
organizing the conference like planning the sessions or help setting
up the infrastructure, see our [[planning]] page and come say hi to us
at `#emacsconf` on `chat.freenode.net`.
Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list,
[emacsconf-discuss][emacsconf-discuss], for discussion and
announcements about the EmacsConf conference.
We look forward to your ideas and submissions!
[emacs]: //www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html
[freesw]: //www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
[chat]: //chat.emacsconf.org
[thelounge]: //thelounge.chat
[freenode-emacsconf]: ircs://chat.freenode.net:6697/emacsconf
[emacsconf-discuss]: //lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacsconf-discuss
