Call for Speakers

📣 Now closed, speakers will be announced soon. 📣

We are inviting the extended Clojure/Script community to submit talks for the inaugural edition of Heart of Clojure.

January Call Opened
March 10th3rd Call Closes
March 24th17th Speaker Notifications
August 2nd Heart of Clojure

Please read on for more details on the talks we're looking for, the selection process, how we can help, speaker perks and more.

Submit a Talk Now

Extending Our Call for Speakers

After deliberating with the program committee we have decided to extend the CFP period by one week.

While we are blown away by the amount and quality of submissions so far, we feel we haven’t done enough yet to reach a diverse audience. We want to represent people with many different backgrounds, and present a program containing a plurality of topics.

We already made some efforts during the past CFP period to reach out to different communities, but there is still more we can do. In conversations we also noticed that we could have been more explicit in saying that not every submission has to be related to Clojure. There are many overarching themes relevant to every community and we want to learn from those outside our beloved Clojure bubble.

As a concrete step we have added an accessibility statement to our site, as we understand this is essential information for some to decide if they should submit. In the coming days we’ll be reaching out to more groups and individuals to encourage them to put in their proposal.

For people who have already submitted this means you will have to wait a little longer before you’ll have news. Please be patient with us. Everyone will get an update in the coming weeks.

Thanks to everyone who submitted already, seeing your excitement and ideas makes all the difference. ❤️

The Talks

Talks at Heart of Clojure will be 30 minutes including questions. Taking questions is optional and you, as a speaker, are free to take questions or use the entire 30 minutes on your talk.

As we expect attendees to come from all over Europe, all talks have to be primarily in English. You may however explain the etymology of non-English words.

What to talk about? We want Heart of Clojure to go beyond the scope of your usual programming language conference. While we are looking forward to many Clojure and ClojureScript related talks for all skill levels, we are excited about crafting a program that also touches on:

  • Creative Coding. Are you generating art with Clojure? Do you use parentheses instead of paint brushes or piano keys? We want to see it! (hear it? smell it?) Tell us about your tools and how you use them. Share your creative process and show us the result.
  • Social Impact. Software is eating the world. That's good news for job security, but it also means we have an ever-greater responsibility towards society. We are looking for talks that make people think about the impact their work can have and inspire them to wield their powers for good.
  • Technical. We are looking for people who can make hard topics accessible to a broad audience. Come share with us your Clojure experience and expertise, your success stories and failures. Did you solve a hard problem at scale? Are you developing novel solutions? Did you contribute to the ecosystem? Then come and share your work!

Great work in these areas happens in many communities, not just Clojure. We are open to submissions that have a lesser focus on the Clojure ecosystem.

Know of somebody who should be talking to the Clojure community? Please let us know or send them our way.

Let Us Help

Speaking at a conference can be intimidating. Finding the right topic or angle on a topic can be hard. There are dozens of reasons to talk yourself out of giving a talk at a conference. If you are uncertain about your submission or submitting at all we are here to help you.

  • Brainstorming. Do you want to give a talk but aren't quite sure what about yet? Let's have a chat and find some interesting topics based on your interests and background.
  • Mentoring. We can connect you with experienced speakers who can help you by providing feedback on drafts of your proposal and presentation.
  • Rehearsing. Rehearsal is at the core of every great talk. We can help you find a local audience to practice your talk on or an experienced speaker who will give you feedback on a remote presentation.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to contact@heartofclojure.eu . We'd love to hear from you.

Also check out this great guide on how to write great talk proposals, written by our friends of CSSConf EU, as well as this post brimming with good advice on how to get your talk accepted.

Thanks to our fantastic mentors:

The Selection Process

The talk selection process for Heart of Clojure is designed to eliminate effects of biases while still allowing for a well-balanced selection of talks.

Talks will be selected in a two-step process. Firstly all talks are rated in a blind review session and only then the Program Committee will have a chance to make adjustments.

Once a talk has been submitted there will be a backchannel with the organizers that you may use to clarify or update individual aspects of your talk if necessary.

The Perks

As a selected speaker you'll get:

  • Up to two free tickets to the conference. For you and your significant other if they would like to join. If you bought a ticket ahead of time you will receive a full refund.
  • Accomodation for the duration of the conference. Depending on sponsorships and budget this will be for either 2 or 3 nights. Your accommodation will be centrally located and within walking distance of the venue.
  • Travel to Leuven. We will try to cover as much of your travel costs as possible. The specific amount will be decided upon before speakers are notified so you'll have all the information you need before accepting to speak.

Please reach out to contact@heartofclojure.eu if you have any questions regarding the above.

Submit a Talk Now