Speak

Find out more about joining the annual line up of world-class speakers at SQLBits.
Thank you for expressing interest in SQLBits 2024. We’re excited to be your co-pilots on this journey. Much like aviation, precision is key. Our guidance is crafted to help you navigate smoothly. Should you encounter turbulence or have any queries, reach out to us at content@sqlbits.com.
Pre-flight Briefing
Before considering submitting a flight plan, benefit from the wisdom of this great piece from Benni De Jagere. Additionally, Rob Sewell offers insights on the data from last year’s selections in this blog.
  • Connect with our Code of Conduct here.
  • Agreement with official Terms and Conditions here.
  • Please read the Speaker Terms and Conditions here.

Flight Tower (Submission) Guidance

To ensure a smooth take off, please thoroughly follow the guidelines below. Make sure you select the appropriate option between Training Days and General Sessions below.

Flight Plan

  • 25th September – Commencement of Call for Papers.
  • 1st November – Call for Papers concludes.
  • 1st – 14th November – SQLBits Committee selects Training Days.
  • 14th November – Notification for Training Day speakers.
  • 21st November – Content teams finalize General Session selections.
  • 21st November – Notification for General Session speakers.
  • 28th November – Deadline for Speaker confirmation.
  • TBC – Agenda release.
  • 1st February – Agenda locked down and passed to Air Traffic Control.

Training Day Sessions

This year, we invite you to captain training sessions in the following categories:
TBC
Anticipate an 8-hour flight duration, but with cabin service breaks, ensure 6 to 6.5 hours of active training time. Departure: 09:00 GMT. Arrival: 17:00 GMT.

Landing Fees (Speaker Compensation)

For navigating these skies, the SQLBits Lounge offers:
  • A lodging stipend covering two nights at select partner hotels (with optional upgrades).
  • A monetary incentive based on passenger (attendee) count – pending committee decision.
  • Full access to the SQLBits experience.
  • A guaranteed slot for a general session (subject to content quality checks).

General Sessions

We require sessions of 20 and 50 minutes. These are direct flights without breaks.
General Sessions will be categorized and selected based on themes. A team, headed by a Content Owner, will oversee this process. While the call for papers is open, Content Owners will review submissions and may provide feedback to the contributors. After the submission period ends, the selection team will evaluate each session anonymously, not knowing the identity of the speaker.
Using these evaluations, Content Owners will curate sessions according to themes. Finally, a committee will review and validate the selected sessions. For theme clarity, refer below or email content@sqlbits.com.
It is important to place your session in the correct theme, please read the theme descriptions and if you have any doubts or questions, please reach out to content@sqlbits.com.

Short Haul Pilot Rewards (General Session Speaker Benefits)

  • One-night accommodation stipend at select partner hotels (upgrades optional).
  • Full access to the SQLBits experience.

Content Themes

Please find below the content themes for 2024.

Operations

Whilst this can include the Ingestion, transformation and processing within a large-scale data mesh architecture, it can also include the administration, installation and management aspects of an on-premises estate or Azure SQL Server Virtual Machine (Mastering Data Engineering) and Performance Tuning.

Analytics

This theme will cover topics about extracting insights, enriching datasets, and leveraging advanced analytics to add unparalleled value to your business using Machine Learning and AI as well as Real Time Analytics with IoT devices. (Unleashing the Power of Data)

Strategy

This theme will cover topics about safeguarding data including security, data classification, information protection and governance both in the cloud and traditional estates ensuring compliance and mitigating risks.

Delivery

This will cover the prompt, efficient and effective delivery of data to the end user or application. This area will include Power Bi, visualisation and modelling

Non-Technical

This is the theme for professional and career development, leadership skills, DEI, communication skills and working with people

Learning Journeys

For SQLBits in 2024, we are planning a number of Learning Journeys to enable attendees to be able to follow a set path of content. You can think of a learning journey as a collection of sessions curated to address a particular learning need, or set of skills.

More information on these will be available shortly.

Our Commitments

Please read on for a list of everything that we commit to do for you as speakers.

Accessibility

The call for speakers form has a section where you can list any requirements that you may need a conference to enable for you to be able to present (such as a wheelchair ramp or a stool as an example) and we will do everything we can to accommodate. Please feel free to contact us at speakers@sqlbits.com for any questions about this.

Inclusivity

SQLBits is committed to providing an inclusive, welcoming and harassment free environment for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

New Speakers

At SQLBits we seek to provide fresh content at the very highest standard for our delegates. We expect all our speakers to have some experience, we don’t feel SQLBits is the right place for someone to make their first solo presentation at a large event with the exception of lightning talks where we welcome and encourage first-time speakers.

If you are looking to get into speaking, we’d love to support you via our Connect activity. Visit the page here to find out more.

Speakers New to SQLBits

We aim to provide as much support as is possible for all speakers and for speakers new to SQLBits a little more as Ben explains here.

Speaker Commitments

We will need the slide deck and other content to be sent to us at speakers@sqlbits.com no later than 7 days before the conference start.

Our commitment to you is to provide hotel accommodation prior to any day you are speaking, in exchange you agree to be present and confirm your arrival with the Speaker Liaison team at the Information Desk on each morning you are speaking, and at least 1hour before your session (or the opening of the venue if later).

To ensure the best experience for speakers and ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible, we expect all selected speakers to attend virtual on-boarding session prior to the event. We will arrange these over multiple days and times so there will be one that suits you. Attendance at this is mandatory. If you are uncomfortable with this please let us know in order that we can look to accommodate your needs.

The call for speakers form will ask that you acknowledge reading the Code of Conduct and if you have previously violated a Code of Conduct at another event. A violation of a Code of Conduct will lead to the deactivation of your speaker submission or should this happen after session selection is announced, in the withdrawal of your session from our event.

You will confirm that you want to present the selected session within 14 days of SQLBits advising you that you have had a session selected to be part of the conference schedule.

Failure to meet any of the commitments may result in your session being cancelled and speaker benefits being removed.

Session Delivery

We are planning on running a hybrid event where speakers can present either remotely or in-person, equally we hope to have delegates attending in-person and virtually. Whilst we really hope that people will attend in-person we fully appreciate that this may not be possible for everyone. As part of the session submission process, we ask you to let us know whether you are planning to present in-person or virtually. If, for some reason, we have to swap to run as a fully virtual event, or you are no longer able to travel we very much hope you will still present your session, if selected, virtually.

If you opt to present virtually, or you need to present virtually due to a change in circumstance whilst we hope you will present your session live we will need a recording in advance. In addition, if we have to make the call to go completely virtual then we will make that decision no later than 4 weeks in advance and will ask you to provide a recording of your session. In these uncertain times we feel this is the best compromise.

We can set up a Teams meeting with you and record the session for you if you would prefer to deliver it to an audience rather than talking to yourself. We don’t need these recordings to be edited to perfection, we’d prefer them to be as if you were presenting live, “warts and all” as it were.

Pre-requisites for Training Days

Full-day training session submissions require the following additional information

  • Prerequisite knowledge for attendees
  • Agenda for the day
  • Format of the day (hands on course, workshop)
  • 90 second video to promote your session.

Ready to submit?

Call for Papers opens on the 25th September. We will post links to Sessionize to submit at that time.