For Speakers

SQA Days / 39 · for speakers

Everything speakers need to know before the conference

Key deadlines, preparing your submission, working with curators, the final presentation and participation terms — all on one page, so nothing gets lost on the way to the programme.

Preparation stages

Speaker calendar

The main milestones in preparing for SQA Days: from submitting your proposal to the publication of the final schedule.

20 July 2026

Submission deadline

Your talk proposal must be submitted no later than this date. After you submit your proposal, you will be assigned one or more curators who will help you refine the talk and materials. If you do not yet have a specific topic for your talk, please make sure to indicate this in the proposal title and prepare several options before the call with your curator. Proposals without a specific topic must be submitted no later than 1 July 2026.

23 July 2026

Draft presentation

The draft does not need to be final in terms of design, but it must be complete in terms of content: this will allow the curator to give useful recommendations on the structure and slides. If your submission does not include a draft presentation, your talk may be rejected before a curator is assigned due to insufficient information.

28 July 2026

Curators assigned

By this date, curators will have been assigned to all talks. Before a curator is assigned, you can ask organisational questions in the Telegram chat @sqa_questions.

31 August 2026

Finalisation of accepted talks

The selection of talks for the main programme is completed. By this point, the speaker profile, talk title and abstract must be agreed. Workshop facilitators must also provide a list of required handout materials and their layouts, room requirements, such as seating arrangements, and requirements for participants.

07 September 2026

Talks accepted to the reserve list

The selection of talks for the reserve list is completed. By this point, the speaker profile, talk title and abstract must be agreed.

05 October 2026

Final schedule published

The final conference programme schedule is published on the website.

16 October 2026

Final presentation

The final version of the presentation must be uploaded to the dedicated cloud folder.

30–31 October 2026

Speaking at SQA Days #39

You give your talk, answer participants’ questions and collect audience choice awards.

Important: Failure by speakers to follow the rules and key dates may result in the talk being removed from the conference, regardless of the current review status of the submission.

How preparation works

From idea to stage

Preparation is iterative: the list of accepted talks is updated monthly, and the curator helps develop the material into a strong presentation.

Submit your proposal

Describe the topic, format and value of your talk for the conference audience.

Work with your curator

Discuss the structure, wording, emphasis and expected outcome for the audience.

Agree the materials

Prepare a draft presentation and refine it based on the recommendations.

Speak at the conference

Keep an eye on the schedule and be ready for changes, especially if your talk is on the reserve list.

What to prepare

Required materials

Speaker profile

Your name, photo, company, country and city must be finalised by 31 August 2026.

Aa

Title and abstract

Once the materials have been sent to the designers, these details will go into the printed materials and cannot be changed.

Schedule constraints

Please let us know about tickets, work-related restrictions, participation in other events and personal preferences regarding the timing of your talk.

Draft presentation

By 23 July 2026, you must provide your curator with a content-complete draft, even if the design and illustrations are not yet final.

Final presentation

By 16 October 2026, upload the final file to the cloud folder and take the design recommendations into account.

Workshop materials

By 31 August 2026, workshop organisers must provide a list of required handout materials, handout layouts, room arrangement requirements and requirements for participants.

Participation terms

  • A talk in the main programme or on the reserve list gives one speaker free offline attendance for both days.
  • Speakers pay for their own travel and accommodation.
  • If a talk has several co-authors, only one speaker is exempt from the participation fee.
  • Two colleagues from the support group are eligible for a 15% discount for this or our other 2026 events. Please send the list of participants to org@it-conf.com so that we can register the discount.

Reserve list, rejection and withdrawal

01Reserve list

Speakers on the reserve list must be at the conference on both days — from opening to closing — and be ready to speak at any time.

02Rejection

If a talk is rejected, participation is possible at the price that was valid on the date the proposal was submitted.

03Withdrawal

If a speaker withdraws their talk themselves, the current participation price applies.

Useful links

Speaker resources

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