Rejection

Raise your hand if you've ever had a conference proposal rejected.

If your hand is not in the air, you're in the minority.

When you want to speak at a conference, you submit a proposal detailing your idea. These proposals are collected during a Call for Papers (CFP) and then reviewed by the conference organizers. Depending on the event, there may be hundreds of submissions for only a handful of available slots in a two-day conference, so tough decisions have to be made.

When you get that email that says your proposal was rejected, though, it can feel personal. Don't let it get you down! Rejection happen to every conference speaker, no matter their experience, and many of the reasons for rejection have nothing to do with you. Here are some common reasons proposals get turned down:

• Your idea is a duplicate: Out of the hundreds of applications, it’s possible that someone else proposed the same topic, and their submission was slightly more polished or slightly more aligned with the conference’s vision compared to yours.

• Your idea doesn't fit with the conference flow: Organizers work hard to create a balanced schedule. They aim to include a mix of beginner and advanced topics, multiple technologies, hard and soft skills, and experienced and first-time speakers. If your idea doesn’t fit the puzzle, it might be passed over, even if your proposal is excellent.

• You're too expensive: If you're applying to international conferences, there's a travel budget to think about. Maybe you live too far away, and there's just no budget left.

• Your proposal quality was poor: There's no "right" way to write a proposal, but there are some things you can do wrong. Maybe your proposal was too long, or too vague, or didn't give the organizers a good picture of what you want to say on stage. Ask the organizers for feedback, and ask a peer to review your proposal before you send it to the next conference to improve your chances.

Whatever the reason, assume the best, see each rejection as a learning opportunity, keep refining your proposals, and keep on applying until someone says yes. You got this!

Learn More

For more tips and tricks about giving conference presentations, check out my latest book: Tech Talks: How to get started speaking at technical conferences which is available for purchase on Payhip: https://payhip.com/b/vxD0b