This repository attempts to maintain comprehensive, high-quality data about tech conferences, focusing on their policies regarding the engagement of speakers, and in particular, whether or not organizers have indicated a willingness to stand up for the rights of speakers by signing the official Speaker Engagement Agreement. More background on this initiative is contained in the blog post, The Dark Side of Speaking at Tech Conferences.
All information in this repository is provided on a best-effort basis. If an organizer of any tech conference identifies inaccuracies in the data provided, then we encourage them to submit a pull request to the repository.
Note on Disputes: In the event of disputes between an organizer's stated policies and speakers' experience, we will note both the organizer's stated policies, as well as the experience of speakers.
The conference dataset hosted in this repository tracks the following information:
- Conference. The conference column lists the name of some tech conference, and links to the event's primary home page. If the event does not have a primary home page, because the website is seasonal, then the event name may link to the organizer of the conference.
- Organizer. The organizer column lists the organizer of the tech conference. In most cases, this is an organization. In some cases, it may be an individual. In cases where it is a partnership of individuals, the name will either link to one individual (a public primary organizer), or none at all (in the event there is no public primary organizer).
- SEA. SEA stands for Speaker Engagement Agreement, and refers to the Speaker Engagement Agreement, a legally binding contract between speaker and organizer that sets out the terms and conditions of a speaking engagement. The SEA has strong provisions to protect the rights of speakers, ensuring they are not mistreated or abused. If an organizer is known to be willing to sign the SEA upon request, then you will find a
Yesin this column. Otherwise, you will find aNo. - Free Ticket. This column tracks whether a tech conference provides speakers with a free ticket. The vast majority of tech conferences provide speakers with a free ticket, but some require speakers pay for tickets as well as attendees.
- Reimburse Expenses. This column tracks whether a tech conference is known to reimburse speakers for their travel expenses involved in speaking at a conference. The possible values are
Full,Partial, andNo. Note that hotel accommodations are considered a form of partial reimbursement. Full reimbursement would include travel to and from the event, as well as hotel accommodations, and a per diem for food and beverages. - Compensate Speakers. This column tracks whether a tech conference is known to pay speakers for their engagements. The possible values are
Sometimes,Always, andNever. Most tech conferences do not compensate speakers, although a few provide compensation for keynotes or workshops or other sessions of extended duration.
| Conference | Organizer | Sign SEA? | Free Ticket? | Reimburse Expenses? | Compensate Speakers? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Functional Scala | Ziverge | Yes | Yes | Partial | Never |
| LambdaConf | Ziverge | Yes | Yes | Partial | Never |
| ZIO World | Ziverge | Yes | Yes | No | Never |
We welcome new data into this open-source dataset! Please reach out to the organizers of tech conferences inside your own community or domain, and ask them the following questions:
- What is the conference, and the primary link to the conference?
- Who organizes the conference, and what is the primary link to the organizer?
- Is the organizer willing to sign the Speaker Engagement Agreement for each speaker who so requests?
- Does the organizer provide a free ticket to speakers of the event?
- To what extent will the organizer reimburse a speaker for expenses incurred in traveling to and delivering a talk?
- In what circumstances would the organizer compensate speaker for their talk?
If you want to amend or add information to the table, please follow these steps:
- Fork the
speakers-in-tech/conference-datarepository on Github.com. - Make changes to the
README.mdfile using Markdown syntax. - Ensure that the changes are consistent with the existing format of the table, and that you insert data for new conferences alphabetically by conference name.
- Save your changes and submit a pull request with a brief explanation of the changes you made.
- If you are not the organizer, please explain how you acquired the information you are adding to the table.
- Once your pull request is reviewed and merged, the changes will be updated to the main branch of the repository.