Lightning Talks

Lightning talks are very short presentations, with a hard limit of 5 minutes. They may be on any topic of likely interest to the attendees (as judged by the organizer).

Lightning talks work best when focused on a single, relatively small topic. Slides are allowed but not required. They can be serious or comic, and could even consist of a short performance of some sort. If you have a rant you've been holding in, this may be a good chance to let it out.

This is a great opportunity for people who want to test the waters of public speaking at a conference.

Any conference attendee is welcome to submit a proposal, not just already-scheduled speakers! This is a great opportunity to get a little practice at public speaking. In fact, we will be giving slots to folks who aren't otherwise speaking before anyone else.

If you're interested in being a lightning talker, please email us a short proposal. The proposal should include a title and a 1-2 sentence abstract. Also please let us know if you want to use slides, and what software you want to use. We're planning to load all the slides onto one computer in advance in order to speed up the transition between speakers.

The deadline for lightning talk submissions is Monday, June 8.