Tech Intersections 2019

Call for Speakers

The Call for Speakers has closed.

Proposers were notified by November 1 and must confirm acceptance by November 15.

The original text remains below for reference.

Do you have something to share with other womxn like yourself?

Tech Intersections is an affordable conference for the womxn of color most underrepresented in tech to come together and learn from each other’s successes, challenges, and experiences. More than 200 people attended last year’s inaugural conference.

Talks will take place in Mills College’s Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business, which is wheelchair accessible and has gender-neutral bathrooms. We are committed to meeting the needs of speakers with disabilities, including providing ASL interpreters. Free childcare is available to all attendees. We are unable to pay speakers or cover their travel expenses, but speakers may attend for free.

Eligibility

Whether you’re an experienced speaker or just finding your voice, we want you, if you:

  • Identify as a woman/womxn of color, and
  • Work (or aspire to work) in tech, especially as an engineer, entrepreneur, activist, teacher, designer, or other leader, and
  • Belong to an ethnic group underrepresented in tech, including, but not limited to:
    • African-American/Black
    • American Indian/Native American
    • Latinx
    • Middle Eastern
    • Pacific Islander
    • Southeast Asian (not counting China, India, and Japan)

While we value our allies and recognize that all womxn in tech and men of color face discrimination, Tech Intersections is a unique space for womxn of color from underrepresented ethnicities. We invite people of any race and gender to join us at the concurrent allies workshop.

If you have any questions about eligibility, email info@2019.ellens18.sg-host.com.

Session Formats

We welcome the following types of submissions:

  • Short talks (10 minutes)
  • Talk (25 minutes)
  • Long talks (55 minutes)
  • Panels (55 minutes)
  • Workshops (55 or 110 minutes)

Panels should include a moderator and up to 3 panelists. You may specify more than one format on a single submission.

You are encouraged to view last year’s program.

Tracks

The tracks are:

  • Career skills, including education, getting an education, finding a job, negotiating, and succeeding in the workplace
  • Self-care, including preventing and recovering from burnout and healing from past trauma
  • Social impact, including ensuring that technology meets the needs of our communities and does not perpetuate bias
  • Tech ecosystem building, including making change from within organizations, creating networks, and expanding the pipeline
  • Tech entrepreneurship and VC, building companies and non-profits, including finding (or awarding) funding
  • Technical skills, including new programming platforms, data analysis, and novel technologies
  • Other, for relevant material that does not fall in the above categories

Proposal Requirements

You are encouraged to begin working on the proposal form as soon as possible. Proposals may be revised until the October 1 deadline.

There should be a single proposal for panels and workshops with multiple speakers. Proposals have the following parts:

  • Title
  • Session format(s)
  • Track
  • Target audience
  • Session goals
  • Description (40-200 words)
  • Information about each speaker
    • Contact information
    • Optional title and affiliation
    • Optional links to social media sites (LinkedIn, Twitter)
    • Biography
    • Photograph (for inclusion in program if accepted)
    • Demographic information

Examples of target audiences and session goals can be found in the proposal form.

Important Dates

  • September 1: proposal form is made available
  • October 1: submissions deadline
  • November 1: notification
  • November 15: speakers must confirm acceptance
  • January 11: slides uploaded (may be updated later)
  • January 26: conference

Help for Speakers

Here are examples from last year of each type of session we had last year:

You can see bios by clicking on speaker names for the above sessions.

You can request help with your proposal, seek other participants to assemble a panel, or ask for feedback on a draft proposal from the community on our Slack server. To join, send a request to slack@2019.ellens18.sg-host.com. Questions may be sent to info@2019.ellens18.sg-host.com