[[!meta title="Call for Proposals"]]

**EmacsConf 2019 | November 2, 2019 | Virtual Conference**

The Call for Proposals for EmacsConf 2019 talks is now open, until
**August 31, 2019**.

We are back again this year, after a much too long hiatus, and we're
calling for your participation!  EmacsConf is the conference about the
joy of [Emacs](//www.gnu.org/software/emacs/), Emacs Lisp, and
memorizing key sequences.

This year, we are holding EmacsConf as a virtual (online) conference.
We haven't fully decided on the details and needed infrastructure yet,
but using as much [free
software](//www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) as possible, and
ideally _only_ free software, for this is a priority for us.  See the
end of this announcement if you would like to get involved and help us
with this!

We welcome speakers of **all backgrounds** and **all levels of
experience**, including newcomers submitting a proposal to give their
first talk!

### Important Dates

<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">CFP Opens</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">July 29, 2019</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">CFP Closes</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">August 31, 2019</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">Speaker Notifications</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">September 7, 2019</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">Schedule Published</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">October 1, 2019</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left">EmacsConf 2019!</td>
<td colspan="2" align="right">November 2, 2019</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

### Talk Formats

The following are the main formats for EmacsConf 2019 talks:

- **10 minutes** (Lightning talk): Quickly present a cool project,
  concept, or trick!
- **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.
- **45 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.

Other session formats such as tutorials and workshops could be
arranged as well.  If you are interested in these or other kinds of
sessions, let us know and we can try to arrange it!

Keynote speaker(s) for EmacsConf 2019 will be introduced in a future
announcement.

### Topic Ideas

Not sure what to give a 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
`irc.freenode.net` and say hi.  You can join the chat using [your
favourite IRC client](irc://irc.freenode.net:6667/emacsconf) or the
[freenode webchat](https://webchat.freenode.net/#emacsconf).

A great way to write a strong proposal is to start by exploring the
programs from previous years: [[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 `irc.freenode.net`.

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list
[emacsconf-discuss](//lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacsconf-discuss)
for discussion and announcements about the EmacsConf conference.

We look forward to your ideas and submissions!