I was expecting the noob to be rejected for not knowing how to spell the word 'amateur' correctly.
Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
61–70 of 125 posts
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#62There's a possible ugly 5th heartbreaker: "we love your topic and experience but you look too old and unhip for our hip frontend conference". I've been rejected for conferences where every speaker that was accepted looked well under 30. At the least, no one had grey hair. It's frustrating to me because the very same conferences are highly vocal about seeking diversity, and do usually end up with some gender diversity…
Reminds me of this heartbreaking Bloomberg Businessweek piece: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-08/silicon-va...
> One 60-year-old software engineer, fired in January after seven years at a chipmaker in San Jose, now wears casual button-downs, khakis, and sneakers to interviews, studies embedded systems (cell phones, video game consoles) at a local extension school, and has started working out and dyeing his gray hair a dark auburn. He also had blepharoplasty, plastic surgery to remove bags and dark circles under his eyes. “It’s smart to stay current and look as young as possible if you want to keep working in an industry where so many people are in their 20s,” he says. “I still want to work in tech, because I love solving problems. And I don’t yet have enough saved for retirement.”
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's more "a paid / sponsored conference isn't the best place to get presentation experience". Especially when you have a plethora of experienced presenters to choose from.
The experienced presenters tend to talk about the same things, over and over, at conference after conference. Selecting for "noobs" injects diversity into what is otherwise a well-worn conference circuit by many of the non-noobs.
On the other side of the coin, people tend to ask about the same things, over and over again -- so a professional presenter will hit more of the points that people are interested in.
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#64So, in order to be a presenter, I must have already been a presenter?
For a big conference, one that attendees spend lots and lots of money to travel to and attend, the pressure on the organizers is to make sure that all the presentations (and presenters) are at some baseline level of quality so that attendees will go away happy. They are much less concerned with providing opportunities and teaching moments to aspiring conference speakers, which hopefully everyone agrees is the right set of priorities for an organizer for that type of conference.
There are all sorts of ways an aspiring presenter can get experience or demonstrate ability that don't involve catching a break from a sympathetic organizer whose job is looking out for the attendees that spent thousands of dollars to be there.
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#65A lot of the comments here are complaining about the last point in the article (the n00b), asking how on earth you get started if you have to have presented before in order to present. The article is telling you exactly how to do that: - Speak at local user group meetings. Most of my local meet ups are constantly calling for speakers, and it's an excellent way to get practice at presenting in a lower stress environme…
> Submit to smaller, more focused or more local conferences. You can't expect to be accepted at huge popular conferences speaking in front of hundreds of people on your first try. Submitting to more focused conferences gives you a better chance of being accepted. And also it lets you make a fool of yourself with a smaller audience. Very few people are good at something the first time they try it. Why do you imagine y…
If you are interested in public speaking, but don't have too much practice in speaking, I highly recommend checking out a local open mic and trying out some stand up.
Easier to look a fool telling jokes than look a fool making a valid point.
edit: or Toastmasters
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#66Heartbreaker #6 - The Your Company Did Not Sponsor This Conference Topic Heartbreaker #7 - The You Don't Have Any Personal Contacts on The Conference Circuit And Aren't Particularly Attractive Or Personable Topic Heartbreaker #8 – The intercooler.js You Are All Doing It Wrong And You Should Feel Bad Topic
DevOpsdays actually have very well written article about how sponsorship works in their context.
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#67There's a possible ugly 5th heartbreaker: "we love your topic and experience but you look too old and unhip for our hip frontend conference". I've been rejected for conferences where every speaker that was accepted looked well under 30. At the least, no one had grey hair. It's frustrating to me because the very same conferences are highly vocal about seeking diversity, and do usually end up with some gender diversity…
Reminds me of this heartbreaking Bloomberg Businessweek piece: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-08/silicon-va... > One 60-year-old software engineer, fired in January after seven years at a chipmaker in San Jose, now wears casual button-downs, khakis, and sneakers to interviews, studies embedded systems (cell phones, video game consoles) at a local extension school, and has started working out and dyein…
Well at least it got him to start working out.
/rimshot
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#68There is a big elephant in the room here: Most conferences have been converted to strictly money-making entities. Here is how it works: - a RFP is published - you submit - you get a response: "Unfortunately, your proposal did not get accepted, however, we have a limited number of time slots for sponsors. If you become a silver sponsor..." In other words, you can submit any crap, as long as you provide "sponsorship".…
I've never seen that. Has anyone else? I've had talks rejected from places even where we were sponsoring.
I have seen talks rejected from places where we were silver sponsor. But that being said, most conferences I go to the platinum/gold sponsors are all over the tracks. Even if they don't know a lick about the topics.
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#69Like many here, I totally and vehemently disagree with the fourth reason for rejection (the "n00b"): if someone has a proposal that is worthy of presentation, they should be given the opportunity to present -- regardless of their age or experience. There are many reasons for this, including the most obvious one that if every conference insists on experience, no one will be able to get that experience. But the reasons…
"if someone has a proposal that is worthy of presentation, they should be given the opportunity to present -- regardless of their age or experience" At the same time, it sounds like they had many, many submissions that were worthy of presentation, and this was a bigger conference. There are smaller conferences which are not as inundated with presentations to which newer speakers can apply, and from there apply to the…
Sorry if my wording was confusing: I mean that they should pick the most qualified based on the proposal -- not that they should expand the scope of the conference to accommodate every plausible submission.
As an aside, I do not understand why my comment is being voted down; is a double blind review process that controversial?!
Re: Why Your Excellent Conference Talk Was Rejected
#70There's a possible ugly 5th heartbreaker: "we love your topic and experience but you look too old and unhip for our hip frontend conference". I've been rejected for conferences where every speaker that was accepted looked well under 30. At the least, no one had grey hair. It's frustrating to me because the very same conferences are highly vocal about seeking diversity, and do usually end up with some gender diversity…
Marketing is key, in any industry. People are run by emotion, including social cues, much more than they'd like to admit. People want to feel like the thing they are discussing is relevant to themselves, so they prefer insular groups that confirm their fantasy. A greying middle-aged guy in a suit doesn't stroke the ego of the exuberant youth.
At the end of the day, people want a movie that reaffirms their personal views more than they want a quality constructed film. They want music that triggers their own pet emotions, not a technically clever composition. And they want a friend, not a coworker.