The submissions are flying in to this year’s EuroSTAR Call for Speakers, and the committee is so excited to read everyone’s great ideas. If you’d like to share your story on the EuroSTAR stage, and you’re still working on your submission, we can help. We asked the 2023 committee if they had any tips on crafting a great conference proposal, and get your submission noticed. Of course, they had lots of great advice to offer.
Check out some top tips below from committee members Kristoffer Nordström, Rob Lambert, Elizabeth Zagrota, Maria Kedemo, and Fiona Charles. If you’re thinking about submitting to EuroSTAR – or any conference – these tips will help you make the most of your submission.
Kristoffer Nordström
EuroSTAR 2023 programme chair Kristoffer Nordström created this year’s conference theme, Software Development is a Social Activity, and you can read more about the theme and its topics on our Call for Speakers page. One of his top tips is: “Everyone has a story that they can tell. Write a submission based on what you’ve learnt and what you’ve experienced from it.”
Fiona Charles
“Remember that, besides being a source of information, your abstract is a sales tool. You’re selling your talk idea to the conference organizers. If it’s accepted, the conference will use your abstract to help sell the conference and then to attract an audience to your session.”
Maria Kedemo
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I always ask some of my peers if they have time to review my paper. I ask for feedback regarding clarity, and if they would attend based on the paper and language, since I am not a native English speaker. I always make sure at least one of my peers has a different perspective than I do.”
Rob Lambert
“Choose a core purpose of the talk, and try not to deviate too much from that. Good communication always has a solid purpose – if you deviate too far from this in the submission, and the talk, and it could get confusing. Read the guidelines for submitting carefully, then read them again, and use the guidelines to structure your submission Keep a copy of your submission safe.”
Elizabeth Zagroba
“Take a look at the whole submission form before you start writing. Knowing how many questions there are and what information goes where should help shape your final product. Reveal the heart of your message. The reviewers will understand what your whole presentation is about, and you’ll get the people interested in the right things in your room at the conference.”
Bonus tip! Read Rob Lambert’s Blazingly Simple Guide to Submitting to Conferences – in particular the section on making sense of a conference theme, generating topic ideas, and writing a good proposal.
Now you’re ready to submit an awesome proposal! If you’d like to speak on Europe’s largest testing stage, the EuroSTAR Call for Speakers closes 9th September.