About The Summit Submission and Selection Process

On average, we at the OpenStack Foundation receive more than 1500+ submissions for Main Conference. Of those, we are only able to select 25-35% for participation, depending on the event. To decide which talks are accepted, we rely on Track Chairs, as well as community input through an open voting process.

As Foundation Staff, our goal is to select Track Chairs who are subject matter experts who review submissions to their particular track, for example "storage" or "cloud app development." There are typically 3-4 chairs per track who review and collaboratively decide which presentations are accepted. The Foundation strives to recruit Track Chairs from a diverse set of companies, regions, roles in the community (i.e., contributing developers, users and business leaders) and areas of expertise. You can view a list of the Austin Summit Track Chairs here. 

New to the Summit Submission Process for 2016:

• Speakers are limited to a maximum of three submissions, including panel participation.
• The submission forms include additional questions about how the proposed session meets the objectives of the OpenStack community.
• Speaker biographies are mandatory and should include any relevant OpenStack experience.
• Speakers are asked to provide information about past Summit presentations or other speaking examples, with links to previous presentations if possible.
• Speakers will be able to tag their proposals with keywords to help with the sorting process and ensure sessions are included in the correct track.

Once the call for speakers has concluded (extended 11:59pm PST February 2, 2016), all submissions will be made available for community vote and input. After community voting wraps up, Track Chairs will receive a slate of presentations to review and they will determine the final schedule. Community votes are meant to help inform the decision, but are not the only guide. Track chairs are expected to exercise judgment in their area of expertise and help ensure diversity. Real-world user stories and in-the-trenches experiences are favored over sales pitches.

After track chairs make their decisions, speakers will be informed by the first week of March, 2016. If you are selected as a speaker (or alternate speaker), you will receive a free code to register for the Austin Summit, as well as a set of deadlines and deliverables leading up to the event.

The deadline to request to be a Track Chair for the Austin Summit was Monday, January 11, 2016. However, if you are interested in becoming a Track Chair for future OpenStack Summits, please contact [email protected] and share your area of expertise. Please provide a short summary of your relevant experience and any helpful links, such as blog posts, relevant/insightful mailing list emails, case studies, presentation videos, etc.

Please note that this process covers the speaking sessions during the Summit, NOT the design summit working sessions. You can more about that process on the OpenStack Wiki.

Want to provide feedback on this process? Join the discussion on the openstack-community mailing list, and/or contact the Foundation Summit Team directly [email protected].