About The Summit Submission Selection Process

On average, we at the OpenStack Foundation receive more than 1,000+ speaking submissions for each Summit and are only able to select 25-35% of those submissions, depending on the event. For Tokyo there were 1,500 submissions and only approximately 250 available session slots in the Main Conference. 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 applications." 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.

Once the call for speakers has concluded (deadline July 15, 2015), 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 early September 2015. If you are selected as a speaker (or alternate speaker), you will receive a free code to register for the Tokyo 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 Tokyo Summit was July 15, but 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 foundaiton summit team directly [email protected].

See the current list of track chairs for the Tokyo Summit here: https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/Tokyo_Summit_Track_Chairs