For the first time, WordCamp Miami is posting an online update regarding our speaker submissions. To be clear at the present time NOT EVERYONE has been confirmed to be a speaker (or not a speaker) but we wanted to get some information out publicly for the sake of some transparency.  A link to this post will be sent to all those that applied to speak via our online form.

All-Time Record Of Submissions

We experienced close to 220 speaker submission this year, which is very close to last year’s record. That is an honor to have that number of submission for a WordCamp – and we are happy to have that kind of variety of people and topics. As you can imagine, with only about 60-70 slots available that means still only 1/4 of the submissions can be accepted.

Emails, Emails, Emails

It’s our policy to send an email out to EVERY person who submitted via our official online form. The acceptance emails are pretty much the same (outside of some minor details related to the talk). The emails stating we couldn’t accept the speaker are also short and sweet. We try to mention any particular reason why the sessions submitted weren’t accepted if we can, but many times it just boils down to a few innocent reasons (see below). Sending out these emails takes a lot of time and energy.

Reasons Why Applications Weren’t Accepted

A few people ask, so we figure we would share common reasons why applications are not accepted (outside, again, of the sheer fact that we don’t have slots for everyone). The vast majority (>95%) of ones that get a confirmation that they have been selected this time around fall into one of these three categories:

– Simply too many talks submitted with the same subject. This is the most common reason, and you can’t blame this really on anyone. But sadly with an event like ours if you are looking for (let’s say as a random example) an SEO talk… and there are 40 SEO talks submitted by qualified speakers… you can only realistically pick one.

– Some submitted talks interested us greatly, but simply wasn’t relatable to attendees of a WordCamp event. Random example (this was NOT submitted): how to build a toaster (if there’s a toaster conference though, we know who to recommend).

– Room reservations at the venue have made us have to consider some format changes and other planning difficulties that removed spots in our schedule that would have otherwise gone to other speakers.

It’s the nature of the beast that with large conferences the odds aren’t in your favor, sometimes if you submit multiple talks. Highly suggested reading: Speakers And Organizers: Dealing With Conference Rejections. If you are among  those not sadly not accepted this round, there are some good pointers there.

Other Recommended Places To Submit

If you are looking to give talks to other WordCamps in sunny Florida and Georgia (general Southeast), we would recommend checking out these:

WordCamp Atlanta –https://2019.atlanta.wordcamp.org/speaker-applications-are-now-being-accepted/ (speaker call submissions accepted until Feb 15)

WordCamp Orlando – https://2019.orlando.wordcamp.org/ (event in August, so watch for speaker calls on this).

Meetups

If you are local to the South Florida area, we highly encourage you to give those same submitted talks at your local WordPress meetups. Speaking at a local WordPress meetup is an excellent way to demonstrate that you are interested in supporting the local WordPress community, which is what WordCamps primarily focus on.

No matter where you are, find your local meetups and give your talks there. Some speakers come recommended to us just by the fact they gave a presentation at a local meetup that impressed enough people to made to our ears.

Speaker Announcements

Please help us spread the word about all the speaker announcements coming out. That not only shows support for the conference, but those speakers that got selected. There are going to be quite a number of speakers that are new to speaking at WordCamp Miami, or new to speaking at a WordCamp period.

More Information

We hope to share more information about our submissions – we will likely share some interesting stats Saturday (March 16th) during our opening remarks or during our closing remarks on Sunday March 17th.

Thank You

We sincerely want to thank EVERYONE who submitted a talk. If you were not accepted this year PLEASE SUBMIT AGAIN NEXT YEAR. WordCamp Miami is dedicated to locating new speakers locally and from around the world. Feel free to get in touch with us after April if you want to pick our brains on future submitted talks.

Are you a potentially new speaker to WordCamp Miami, WordCamps in general, or any conference? Then we would love for you to submit your applications to speak! But we realize sometimes that some level of fear, uncertainty, and/or shyness can prevent someone from trying. Sometimes it’s just a thought of not having enough time to even write a proposal.

Proposals don’t have to be extremely detailed and those submitting applications don’t need to be considered “experts” by some establishment, popular on social media, or have an established track record at conferences. Race, religious, and other aspects don’t factor into it either. Age doesn’t either – we’ve had speakers as young as 10 (and on the other end some with grey hair and a bit up in years!).

To help make sure we can reach as many people as possible – especially those new to the experience… we are having OPEN OFFICE HOURS for two time periods before speaker applications close. We have also provided a DEDICATED SLACK CHANNEL for anyone to ask questions to the community, a channel that’s monitored by WordCamp Miami volunteers and organizers.

Even if you don’t want to communicate questions via Slack, you still must join to send a direct message David Bisset (@David Bisset). Read this page to lear how you can join Slack. Open available times (15 min slots) are available:

Sunday Jan 6th – 5pm to 7pm EST.
Wednesday Jan 9th – 8am to 8:30am and 5pm to 8pm EST.

Again, to request a time please directly ping David Bisset on Slack.

The dedicated speaker submission Q&A channel is #speaker-submission-qa in Slack. Here’s a screenshot of the channel that was just created:

With our dates officially announced (March 15-17, 2019), we are opening up our call for speakers. All the information you need to know – including the link to submit a speaker proposal – is located on our submissions page.

But before you rush to submit, keep reading…

We are making some changes to some tracks and workshops, and introducing new formats for sessions. Please read the submissions page carefully. Also read this insight into what changes we are making in our session tracks this year. For our 10th anniversary we are making some schedule changes!

Returning Speakers? Great. New Speakers? Even better.

We welcome back anyone who has attended and spoken at WordCamp Miami in the past – repeat speakers welcome! On the other hand, we are looking especially for those who might not have spoken at WordCamp Miami before – or perhaps those wanting to make WordCamp Miami their first speaking conference!

Please Note The Shorter Window!

This year – for a few reasons we won’t go into at the moment – we have a shorter window to accepting speaker submissions. We realize that the holidays might also interfere with the submission process for some. We want to thank you in advance for your patience and hard work as we organizer another great event!

Submission deadline is Midnight EST on Thursday January 10th, 2019 Sunday January 13th.