conference presentation proposal

How to Write a Winning Conference Proposal (+Examples)

Discover the art of writing irresistible conference proposals with our guide. Get practical tips and inspiring examples usable as templates to succeed.

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Short answer

What is a conference proposal?

A conference proposal is a detailed pitch for a presentation, workshop, or panel at a conference. It outlines your topic, approach, and how it benefits attendees, aiming to convince organizers of your session's value and relevance to their audience.

Even the best ideas can get rejected without a solid proposal

You've got an idea. Not just any idea, but one that sparks interest, drives innovation, and perfectly aligns with your chosen conference's theme. You're ready to share it with the world, confident it will make an impact.

But, in a sea of professionals, all armed with compelling insights, the harsh reality is that not every great idea can make it onto the stage.

Why? Because when slots are limited and competition is fierce, it's not just about what you say; it's about how you say it.

Don’t worry, though - I’ve got you covered. With a blend of expert insights, straightforward tips, and relatable examples instantly usable as templates, I’m here to guide you through creating a proposal that shines brighter than the rest.

Let’s get started!

What are the main types of conference proposals?

Understanding the different types of conference proposals is crucial for tailoring your submission to fit the unique format and audience engagement you're aiming for.

Whether you're a seasoned academic or a professional stepping into the conference scene, knowing these distinctions can significantly enhance your chances of acceptance.

4 main types of conference proposals:

CONFERENCE PAPER PROPOSALS

CONFERENCE POSTER PROPOSALS

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS

PANEL/SESSION PROPOSALS

Conference paper proposals

Scholarly paper: This type involves a deep dive into theoretical or conceptual analysis. You're expected to present an idea, backed by thorough research and a review of existing literature, arguing for a new perspective or approach.

Empirical paper: Focused on research findings, empirical papers require you to present preliminary results and analyses. These are grounded in your methodology, whether qualitative, quantitative, or a mix, offering concrete insights into your study.

Conference poster proposals

Ideal for early-stage research or when seeking more interactive feedback, poster proposals allow you to visually present your work. Attendees can engage directly with you, offering a more personalized discussion about your research findings and methodology.

Round table discussions

These are perfect for fostering in-depth conversations on a specific topic. By sitting at a round table, participants are there specifically to engage with your work, providing a unique opportunity for detailed feedback and networking.

Panel/Session proposals

When you're looking to create a broader dialogue around a cohesive theme, panel or session proposals are the way to go. These involve coordinating multiple speakers to present on related topics, enriching the conference program with diverse perspectives and expertise.

What is a typical conference proposal outline?

The right conference proposal outline is not just a list; it's a carefully crafted narrative that guides your readers through your thought process, convincing them of the value and relevance of your work.

Here's how to structure your proposal to make a lasting impression, ensuring every element works together to showcase your idea in the best light possible.

11 essential elements of a conference proposal:

Title: Your first opportunity to grab attention. Make it informative and compelling, reflecting the essence of your presentation.

Abstract: A concise summary that highlights your proposal's main idea, objectives, and significance, offering a snapshot of what to expect.

Introduction: Introduce your topic, its relevance, and its significance to the conference audience, setting the context for your proposal.

Objectives and goals: Clearly articulate what you aim to achieve, aligning your objectives with the overarching themes of the conference.

Theoretical framework: For scholarly proposals, outline the theories or concepts that underpin your argument or research, providing a solid foundation.

Methodology: Detail the methods used in your research, essential for empirical studies, including how data was collected and analyzed.

Preliminary findings or arguments: Present the core results of your research or the principal arguments of your analysis, offering insights into the value of your work.

Significance and contribution: Demonstrate how your proposal advances the field, fills a knowledge gap, or presents a new perspective.

Conclusion: Sum up the key points of your proposal, reinforcing its relevance and potential impact on the conference and its audience.

References: List key references to acknowledge prior work and contextualize your proposal within the broader discourse.

Biographical note: Provide a brief bio to highlight your expertise and qualifications, establishing your credibility on the topic.

What is the best conference proposal format?

In the past, conference proposals often looked a lot like academic papers: lots of text, packed into PDFs or Word documents. While this method was thorough, it sometimes made it tough for readers to quickly grasp the heart of your ideas. I

But here's the thing – the way we share and digest information has changed, and so have the expectations around conference proposals.

The truth is, walls of text don't engage us like they used to. In our fast-paced, digital world, engagement is key. People want to interact with the content they're consuming, not just passively read it.

So, how do you make your conference proposal stand out? By bringing it to life with interactivity.

Think about adding clickable links that dive deeper into your research, embedding short videos that summarize your findings, or including interactive charts that let readers explore your data firsthand.

These interactive elements can transform your proposal from a static document into an engaging journey, making your ideas shine brighter and encouraging a deeper exploration of your work.

Here’s an overview of the most popular formats:

Conference proposal examples that get you accepted

The best conference proposals out there, the ones that effortlessly make their way onto conference agendas, all share a few key traits.

First off, they lay out their ideas in a way that's easy to grasp, avoiding jargon and fluff. They're also incredibly engaging, drawing readers in with compelling narratives, interactive elements, or fascinating findings.

Plus, they demonstrate the significance of their work, showing how it pushes the envelope in their field.

The examples we’re about to explore have all mastered this art. I’m about to share what makes each of them particularly successful, so you can easily apply the same principles to your deck.

Conference workshop proposal

This conference workshop proposal has been designed to offer a comprehensive overview of an upcoming workshop aimed at enhancing data-driven decision-making skills.

It stands out for its strategic structure, engaging content, and interactive elements, making it a compelling read for organizers, potential participants, or sponsors.

What makes this conference proposal great:

Clear agenda slide: The proposal features a well-organized agenda slide that outlines the workshop's flow, including sessions on interactive design principles, tool proficiency, storytelling for impact, and ethics in data representation.

Clear outline of costs: The deck includes a detailed breakdown of the costs associated with different parts of the workshop, such as hands-on workshops, expert-led demonstrations, and panel discussions.

Option to embed external links or videos: The proposal leverages the capability to embed external links or videos, enriching the presentation with additional resources and multimedia content.

Conference pitch deck

This presentation is a great example of how to effectively communicate the essence and value of a conference.

By balancing text and visuals, providing options for customization, and clearly outlining budgetary considerations, it stands out as a compelling tool for engaging potential sponsors and attendees.

What makes this deck stand out:

Use of grayed-out content: The deck employs grayed-out content strategically, focusing the reader's attention on key points and making the presentation easier to follow.

Option to edit details post-send: Offering the flexibility to edit details after sending the deck ensures that the information remains up-to-date and can be tailored to the recipient's interests or feedback, enhancing the personalization of the pitch.

Clear budget outline: A transparent and detailed budget outline is provided, giving potential sponsors and partners a clear understanding of the financial aspects of the conference.

Conference presentation design proposal

This proposal is a prime example of how to effectively pitch a conference presentation design service. It's tailored for companies looking to enhance their conference presentations with dynamic and engaging design solutions.

The agency promises to tackle common challenges like design complexity, audience engagement, and message clarity, using innovative design strategies to propel clients' messages forward.

Interactive data visualization components: The proposal highlights the use of interactive data visualizations, ensuring that complex information is presented in an engaging and understandable way.

Expandable text sections: It incorporates expandable text sections, allowing readers to dive deeper into specific areas of interest without overwhelming them with information upfront.

Clear next steps outline: The proposal concludes with a well-defined outline of next steps, from consultation to implementation kickoff.

Conference funding proposal

This conference funding proposal is a masterclass in how to effectively seek sponsorship and support for a high-profile event.

It’s designed not just to inform but to engage potential sponsors, offering them a clear vision of the event's impact and the benefits of partnership.

Video on the cover slide: The inclusion of a video right on the cover slide immediately captures attention, providing a dynamic introduction to the proposal and setting the tone for what's to come.

Content segmented in tabs: The proposal smartly segments its sponsorship packages (Silver, Gold, Platinum) into tabs, making it easy for potential sponsors to navigate through options and find the one that best fits their budget and marketing goals.

Narrator slide: A dedicated slide narrates the success of past events. This builds credibility, but also lets readers explore the tangible benefits previous sponsors have enjoyed at their own pace.

Summit sponsorship proposal

This proposal stands out by effectively communicating the value proposition to potential sponsors, showcasing how their brand can benefit from being associated with the summit.

Testimonials slide: Including a slide dedicated to testimonials from previous sponsors or partners, complete with customizable logos, adds a layer of trust and credibility.

Option to embed external links: The ability to embed external links within the proposal offers sponsors direct access to more detailed information, such as past event highlights, detailed sponsorship package benefits, or even media coverage.

Multiple image and video placeholders: Incorporating various placeholders for images and enables the presentation of compelling content that can showcase past events, highlight attendee testimonials, or even offer a virtual tour of the venue.

Conference sponsorship proposal

This conference sponsorship proposal stands out for its strategic approach to presenting information, its innovative features designed to enhance sponsor engagement, and its visually appealing presentation.

It serves as an effective tool for securing sponsorships and reflects your company’s professionalism and commitment to creating mutually beneficial partnerships.

Option to extract branding from any website: This innovative feature allows you to easily integrate your branding into the event's promotional materials, ensuring a seamless and consistent brand presence throughout the conference.

Perfect balance of text and visuals: The proposal strikes an ideal balance between informative text and engaging visuals, making it easy for potential sponsors to quickly grasp the event's essence and the sponsorship opportunities available.

Clean layout: The clean and organized layout of the proposal ensures that information is presented clearly and concisely, making it easy for readers to navigate through the different sections and understand the key points.

Conference sponsorship deck

By combining scroll-based design, actionable features, and smart security measures, this conference sponsorship deck conveys the value of the event and facilitates a smooth transition from interest to action.

Scroll-based design: As viewers scroll through the deck, they're taken on a guided journey through the conference's highlights, sponsorship packages, and key benefits. This keeps potential sponsors engaged and interested in learning more.

Embedded calendar: Including a calendar as a call-to-action is a smart move. It enables potential sponsors to immediately book a meeting or express interest, reducing the friction in the follow-up process and increasing the chances of securing sponsorship.

Smart control measures: The ability to lock the deck with a password adds an extra layer of security and exclusivity. It ensures that only intended recipients can access the information, protecting sensitive details about the event and sponsorship opportunities.

Proposal for organizing a conference event

This proposal, while more aligned with event organization, showcases a dynamic and engaging approach to presenting a conference concept.

It's a vivid example of how modern proposals can captivate and communicate effectively, blending detailed planning with interactive elements to draw the reader in.

Average reading time on the cover: Immediately, readers know how much time they'll need to invest, setting expectations and respecting their time from the outset.

Dynamic variables for personalization: The use of placeholders like {{first_name}} suggests a tailored experience, making each reader feel directly addressed and valued.

Running numbers for key metrics: Presenting key metrics such as the number of events organized and happy customers offers concrete evidence of success, building trust and credibility.

Conference event proposal

This proposal is an example of how to effectively communicate the essence, value, and logistical details of a significant corporate event.

By incorporating a clear event program timeline, showcasing their portfolio, and enabling social media engagement, it effectively positions the summit as a must-attend event for industry leaders looking to drive business success through innovation and collaboration.

Timeline slide: The proposal includes a timeline slide that provides an overview of the event's program. It outlines the sequence of sessions and workshops, ensuring attendees understand the flow of the event and the value it offers.

Option to add a portfolio: This option lets you showcase previous successful events and build trust with potential attendees and sponsors by providing tangible evidence of your expertise.

Social media icons: The proposal cleverly integrates social media icons with external links, enabling readers to easily connect with you on various platforms.

How do you write a conference proposal?

Writing a conference proposal is more than just pitching an idea; it's about crafting a message that resonates with both the organizers and the attendees.

It requires you to distill complex concepts into a compelling narrative, focusing on maximizing impact and alignment with conference goals.

Here's how to write your conference proposal to capture attention and secure your spot on the stage.

1) Understand the selection criteria

Start by getting familiar with the conference's goals and themes. Tailoring your proposal to reflect these specifics shows that you've done your homework and are committed to contributing value.

Whether it's highlighting how your topic supports the conference's overarching theme or addressing a gap in the current discourse, alignment with the conference's goals is crucial.

2) Identify current trends or unique angles

Understanding what's currently trending in your field can significantly enhance the relevance of your proposal. Dive into recent journals, conference programs, and discussions with peers to grasp the hot topics.

However, the key is not just to follow the trends but to offer a fresh perspective or a unique angle on a well-trodden subject.

This approach ensures your proposal adds new value to the ongoing conversation, making it more appealing to conference organizers.

3) Craft a compelling abstract

Your abstract is the essence of your presentation, distilled into a few powerful sentences. It should clearly articulate the problem you're addressing, your unique approach or solution, and the impact or takeaway for the audience.

A well-crafted abstract makes your proposal stand out by providing a clear and engaging summary of what attendees can expect.

4) Clearly define your intended audience

Identifying your target audience within the proposal shows that you've considered who will find your session most valuable.

Detailing this helps organizers see how your presentation fits into the broader conference agenda and appeals to attendees.

5) Choose the best format for your message

Conferences offer various formats for presentations, from workshops and poster sessions to panels and individual talks. Selecting the right format for your content can enhance its impact.

Consider your strengths and the nature of your message when choosing how to present it. Interactive workshops are great for practical takeaways, while panel discussions can offer diverse perspectives on a complex issue.

6) Use data to support your proposal

Where applicable, include data or research findings that support the need for your session or its relevance.

This could be survey results indicating interest in your topic, statistics highlighting a problem your session addresses, or data from your own research.

Including evidence makes your proposal more persuasive and underscores the value of your contribution.

7) Define clear outcomes

Be explicit about what you want your audience to learn or achieve by attending your session. Whether it's new knowledge, skills, or perspectives, your proposal should outline the specific outcomes you aim for.

Design your presentation to deliver these outcomes, ensuring your audience leaves with valuable insights they can apply in their own contexts.

8) Incorporate active learning opportunities

Modern audiences expect more than just to listen; they want to participate. Design your session to include opportunities for active learning, such as discussions, hands-on activities, or interactive Q&A segments.

Highlighting these elements in your proposal can make your session more attractive to both organizers and attendees.

9) Submit multiple proposals

If the conference allows, submitting more than one proposal can significantly increase your chances of being selected. Each proposal is a unique opportunity to showcase a different aspect of your expertise or interest.

However, ensure each idea is well-thought-out and relevant to the conference themes. This strategy not only shows your enthusiasm but also your versatility as a speaker.

10) Incorporate evidence of past success

Your proposal should clearly communicate why you are the right person to present on the topic. Include brief mentions of your education, experience, or unique insights that qualify you as an expert.

If you've spoken at other conferences or have relevant accomplishments, briefly mention these in your proposal.

If you're early in your career, consider co-presenting with a more experienced colleague to combine fresh perspectives with proven expertise.

11) End with a smart call to action

Incorporating a smart call to action, such as an embedded calendar link for a meeting or a QR code for additional resources, can set your proposal apart.

It shows you're proactive and ready to engage further, making it easier for the committee to envision working with you.

Example of an effective call to action:

Interactive conference proposal templates

Starting from scratch on a conference proposal can be quite challenging. You need to strike the perfect balance between being informative and engaging, without overwhelming your audience with too much text.

Interactive conference proposal templates serve as a structured guide, helping you navigate through the essential components of your proposal.

They ensure that you cover all the necessary points in a concise manner, making the writing process smoother and more efficient.

Just grab one.

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Top 10 Conference Proposal Templates With Samples and Examples [Free PDF Attached]

Mohammed Sameer

Thousands of technology-related events are held daily, from casual get-togethers to multi-day conferences with large budgets. Many of them zero in on their speakers through the often-anonymous Call for Proposals process.

Many well-established platforms are available that make it easier to browse potential speaking opportunities, but materials advising on writing conference proposals or preparing an excellent presentation depicting your expertise remain scarce.

This blog will take you through the Top 10 Conference Proposal Templates to address this major pain point that is a burden on your mind. These templates are built after hours of hard work and have a fair amount of creative thought as input. One look and you will be convinced of their use for your conference proposals. 

Top 10 Conference Proposal Templates We Bet On

To make the process of writing an inclusive conference proposal simple and easy, here are steps that you must follow (with templates):

Always Follow Outlined Call for Speakers Rule

It may appear obvious, but you'd be surprised to learn that at least 30% of the conference proposals violate predefined rules for talk abstracts and submissions. We believe some more experienced speakers ignore the guidelines and copy-paste proposals. Still, the only result is that the proposal ends up in the "rejected" pile.

There are strict requirements and more lenient guidelines, but no matter how skilled you are in public speaking, read the instructions carefully before submitting and ensure the proposal adheres to these.

Your hand-picked Conference Proposal Template:

Download this template

Steer Clear of Sloppy Formatting

We check for spelling and grammar errors when writing copy, especially when launching product campaigns or applying for jobs. Conferences are no exception. Typos, errors, and general laziness are easily detected and reflect poorly on submissions.

Take the time to proofread the abstracts.

Here’s a Conference Proposal Template with pristine formatting:

Ask Friends to Proofread

Whether you're confident in the quality of the talk abstract or not, it's often beneficial to ask a few colleagues to proofread not only for errors but also for confusing or vague statements (your spellcheck won't catch that one, my friend). Nothing beats a fresh pair of eyes, especially after butchering a proposal all night (we've all been there).

Here’s your editable template:

Many language exams have minimum and maximum writing section limits. Imagine going through hundreds of pages, if every participant decides to ignore the word limit. Skill and knowledge do not necessitate lengthy text.

Most JSConfs receive 500 proposals on average; assuming a strict 1-minute reading time per submission, that's still an entire workday of reading. Each potential candidate deserves a thorough read and understanding of their pitch before rating, which is difficult given the volume and length of applications.

A good rule of thumb is two to three paragraphs that express your idea clearly.

Get this template

Use Inclusive Language and Avoid Shaming

While it is entirely up to the curators, we firmly believe that inclusion and how we choose to express ourselves in both written and spoken language are essential factors to consider. Unfortunately, ableism and shaming are relatively common in talk submissions. To clarify, we'd like to quote Andy Hollandbeck's post "Disabling Ableist Language:"

Any word or phrase that devalues people with physical or mental disabilities is considered ableist language. Its appearance is frequently the result of our innate sense of what it means to be normal rather than any intentional desire to offend.

We silently imply — and readers infer — that mental and physical disorders are avoidable personal failings rather than medical conditions beyond a person's control when we use words like crazy, lame, insane, schizo, dumb, psycho, and spazzed, without thinking.

"How to Stay Sane as a Developer," "crazy hack," and "a dumb framework" are just a few examples. As organizers, we always want to provide everyone with a safe, welcoming environment. Even as these mistakes are often made unconsciously, educating yourself and avoiding exclusionary, hurtful phrases is simple. Shaming competitors, tools, or individuals will also get you nowhere.

Grab this template

Stay Away From Product Pitches

Most events expressly state that product pitches and other forms of upselling are strictly prohibited. However, it's important to distinguish between a pure marketing talk (essentially trying to sell your company to the attendees) and an interesting case study that includes the product you helped build.

The latter involves lessons learned that can be universally applied to solving problems the audience encounters daily. A product pitch does not provide solutions, but rather highlights the advertised product. Consider it a 30 to 60-minute advertisement. Don't try to sell anything (at least directly).

Show, Don’t Tell

"Show, don't tell" is a well-known writing technique that can be used in fiction and nonfiction. Why is this important, you may wonder? A few successful proposals flawlessly implement it.

Tell a story instead of simply stating opinions or facts (e.g., "React is the most popular JavaScript library") or revealing all of your cards at once. Create a visual scene, especially from the perspective of an attendee. Is there a common thread? What will I discover? Focus on the main points and leave out some details that the organizers want to know.

Use Your Creativity; Be Original

Presentations about frameworks or libraries are common at technology conferences. With a few exceptions, while some curators see this as a benefit, we find it almost detrimental. It won't offer much value to the attendees unless you've created the library you're talking about and can offer first-hand insights that aren't available across any online documentation and blog posts.

Submit More than One Proposal

Never bet the farm on a single idea, no matter how confident you are—brainstorm and prepare several talks. No proposal is too experimental or too advanced to be considered. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that your chances improve as the number of proposals submitted increases.

However, be wary of remixing the same topic; each one should have unique talking points, angles, or possible learnings for the audience to consider as a possible winner.

Don’t Sell Snow to Eskimos

Before we conclude, we'd like to point out a widespread mistake we see in conference proposals and presentations: A speaker selling something the audience already likes.

For example, you would not go to the JVM Language Summit and give a presentation about how great the JVM is and how everyone should use it. Instead, you'd go to the JVM language summit and demonstrate to the audience how great the JVM is by telling them about your project , which was only possible because you chose to base it on the JVM.

Final Thought

Reviewers want to put on the best conference possible. They want to see your presentation on stage, but you must provide the evidence they require to feel confident in recommending you. Show the reviewers that you considered the audience, and you'll make their decision much easier.

FAQs on Conference Proposal Templates

What makes a good conference proposal.

A successful conference proposal, like an abstract, will clearly and succinctly introduce, summarise, and draw conclusions about your topic and findings. Though each conference is unique, all conference proposals include objectives and conclusions. Make sure to follow the submission guidelines for the conference, which will be listed on the conference website. A committee at each conference evaluates the relevance and merit of each proposal. Here are some essential factors to consider when creating your own:

What is the proposal format?

Format to a proposal is what music is to ears. A well-constructed proposal format includes the purpose, goals, specific objective, method, and anticipated project impact. Goals must be stated in measurable terms, specific, and consistent with the statement of need and the proposed project's purpose.

What are the five things every proposal must include?

Although you can be flexible with what you want to include in your proposal. The key is to be precise and impactful. 

Here are five things that every successful proposal always has:

•   Abstract/Summary. The proposal's most crucial component is the abstract.
•   Statement of Need. What is the problem you're addressing, and why is it important?
•   Project Activity, Methodology, and Results
•   Evaluation
•   Dissemination
•   Budget and Survival Funding

How to present a proposal?

Business proposal presentations culminate in a lengthy sales process between you and your clients. You risk losing the client's buy-in, if you don't structure it in the correct manner or take the time to craft one with care. As a result, getting it right is critical. Here’s how you can present a proposal in an effective way:

• Make the most of your meeting time from the start.
• Prepare a detailed agenda.
• Discuss the customer's problems and challenges.
• Interrupt and ask questions.
• Lead with stories, not numbers.
• You should not read from your PowerPoint slides.
• Present your solution while also selling them on your vision.
• At the end of the meeting, establish a clear follow-up timeline.

Download the free Conference Proposal Templates PDF .

Related posts:

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• How to Write a Compelling Business Loan Proposal: A Step-by-Step Guide [Templates Included]
• How to Design the Perfect Service Launch Presentation [Custom Launch Deck Included]
• Quarterly Business Review Presentation: All the Essential Slides You Need in Your Deck

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Dave Cheney

The acme of foolishness, how to write a successful conference proposal, why public speaking is good for your career, presentations and proposals are different things.

Your talk and the proposal to give that talk are different because they target different audiences. The former is what you are going to present on stage, the latter is a pitch to the reviewers to let you give that presentation.

Writing a good conference proposal is a different skill than writing the presentation itself . This article is aimed at writing a good proposal with a focus on the reviewer of your proposal as the audience.

Focus on the audience

Speaking of audiences, good public speakers start planning a presentation by identifying the audience they want to address. Presenting at a conference is like teaching a class, you have to present the material at the level of the people in the room.

It’s not just a question of beginner, advanced, or expert, you also have to consider the kinds of people at the conference. If it’s a vendor conference, there are probably going to be lots of managers, (pre) sales people, and business decision makers in the audience. While they might also be competent engineers, they’re at that conference wearing their business leader hat. They want to hear a different story; reliability, ease of maintenance, or evidence of widespread adoption, than an audience of software engineers who are more likely interested in things such as performance, orthogonality, and extensiblity.

Who are the reviewers?

Who are the reviewers and what do they want.

For smaller conferences it’ll be the organiser, or organisers, of the conference you’re applying too. For larger conferences it will likely be a group of reviewers who the organisers have invited to review proposals, this is the model that GopherCon follows. For really large conferences, such as OSCON, they will have a group of reviewers per track who funnel their recommendations up to a programme chair or set of program coordinators.

Regardless of their size, conference reviewers are charged with recommending to the organisers a set of talks they think are interesting and appropriate for the audience of the conference.

Most review panels are confidential, so you shouldn’t know anything about the individual reviewers, although you can probably guess that they will be experienced in the subject of your conference.

Most proposal are reviewed anonymously, at least in the initial rounds. This means the reviewers must judge your proposal, and your ability to present it, using only the fields provided on the submission form.

it’s important to remember that at least in part, all conferences are commercial enterprises. Venue owners have bills to pay just like the rest of us, and at a minimum speakers need to be compensated for their travel and lodging, otherwise the programme will be filled with people who are paid by their employer to speak.

To put it bluntly, reviewers are looking for talks that people will pay to see. This might sound capitalistic, but it turns out that this is what the audience want as well. At GopherCon we cover the travel and accommodation expenses of all our speakers. We think this is important because we want to hear what the speaker thinks, not their marketing department.

All of these are factors that reviewers will be considering when reading your proposal.

What to put in a proposal

Almost every conference call for proposals will ask for the following; title, abstract, and description. They may ask for other things like a biography, questions about AV requirements for your talk, and so on, but with respect to successful acceptance, these three items are key.

A title is mandatory on almost every talk submission system I’ve seen. It’s your one line elevator pitch to entice the audience to come to your talk.

Keeping the title a little vague, or quixotic is popular, but I tend to stay away from 11 things that will make your proposal sound like a buzzfeed article. I’m not saying never do that, but if you do, you’d better pack a heck of a proposal behind your braggadocios

Conference organisers usually ask you to provide a talk abstract as they often don’t feel it is appropriate to summarise your proposal for you. This abstract will be printed in the program or placed on the website so potential visitors to the event know what they’ll be seeing.

There are usually restrictions on the size of the abstract. One sentence that describes the topic that you’ll be talking about, and one sentence that describes what the audience will take away from listening to your talk or participating in your workshop, is all you need.

Together with the title, these are the two pieces of information the eventual conference audience will use to decide if they want to come to your session or not.

Talk description

This is where you sell your talk idea, and the place, as a reviewer, I have seen so many good proposals with interesting ideas fail to make the cut because they simply didn’t include enough detail .

This is where my advice differs from other’s you’ll read on the web. Many pieces of advice encourage you to write less in your description, sometimes out of recognition that the organisers are busy and you don’t wish to burden them. I wanted to take some time to explain why I push every speaker to write more detail.

You are looking to do three things when writing a description of your talk:

• Make it clear to the reviewers that you know what you are talking about.
• That you have a plan to communicate what you know to the audience and you’ve thought about how to do this within the time limit of the speaking slot.
• Answer all the selection criteria for the conference.

The first point is self explanatory, but you still need to make sure that you communicate this clearly to your reviewers. For example, if you’re talking about how to manage a large open source project, then make sure you mention that in the proposal, “as the maintainer of a large open source project”. If you plan to talk about a subject in the third person, then you should cite your sources, “for my PhD thesis I studied the day to day interactions of the top 10 projects on GitHub”. You don’t have to be an expert, but if your goal is to communicate something new to the audience, you should demonstrate that you know more about the topic than they do.

The second point relates to how likely you are to effectively communicate your ideas. The reviewers want to feel comfortable that you have a plan. It is all too common to see a proposal for an hour long session with only a sentence or two for the description. The less you write in a conference proposal, the more the reviewers are left to take it on faith that you’ll do a good job.

The opposite is also true. Occasionally I see a proposal for a talk that includes every possible aspect of a subject. Reviewers are generally wary that the speaker cannot cover all their material in the time available–few conferences can afford C++Con’s multi-part multi-hour format. A presenter that doesn’t manage their time, rambles without conclusion, or covers a lot of material in common knowledge is going to waste the audience’s time. That’s not just unfair to the audience, but unfair on the speakers that follow who must deal with a disgruntled audience.

One thing that I recommend to anyone considering submitting a proposal is to include an outline of your talk in the proposal. This can be literally the headings of your slides, or your ideas in bullet points. As a reviewer this makes it crystal clear that you’ve not only thought about your idea, but how to present it.

The last point, address all the selection criteria, I cannot emphasise enough. Review committees strive to be fair and often rate all proposal by a common standard. It crucial to address the selection criteria clearly as these are the ground rules by which every proposal are judged.

This point is probably the trickiest as not all conferences publish their selection criteria. Sometimes conferences ask for talks along a particular theme and these can be substituted for criteria in a pinch. If there are no criteria available–don’t guess, ask the organisers. If they don’t have any to share, which can happen with smaller conferences, then think about the audience and the wider ecosystem of the conference’s focus and ask yourself “if I were thinking about coming to this conference, what would I like to hear about?”

If you take away one thing from this section it is this– proposals with less detail loose out to proposals that provide more –as they do not provide the reviewer with sufficient evidence to be confident in their recommendations.

Don’t sell snow to Eskimos

Before closing I want to highlight a very common mistake I see in both conference proposals, and conference presentations, which is a speaker selling their audience on a thing the audience already likes.

To give an example, you wouldn’t go to the JVM Language Summit and give a presentation about how great the JVM is and they should use it. Instead, you’d go to the JVM language summit and show  the audience the JVM is great by telling them about your project which was only possible because you chose to base it on the JVM.

Don’t take my word for it

Finally, if you’ve read this far, I encourage you to read what others have written on the topic, especially where their advice differs.

Karolina Szczur recently wrote a great article on writing conference proposals and includes many references to similar articles for further reading.

Reviewers are looking to put together the best conference they can. They want to see your talk on stage, but you have to give them the evidence they need to feel confident in recommending you. Show the reviewers you’ve thought about the audience, and you’ll make their decision a lot simpler.

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Writing for Publication: Conference Proposals & Presentations

Presenting at conferences is an efficient and exciting forum in which you can share your research and findings.  However, presenting your work to others at a conference requires determining what type of presentation would best suit your material as well as choosing an appropriate conference. Once you have made those decisions, you will be ready to write your conference proposal.

Types of Presentations

The types of professional conferences vary, from large international gatherings to small, regional meetings. The content can also be very research driven or be focused more specifically on the needs of practitioners. Hence, different conferences tend to have different formats, but the following are some of the most common:

Poster sessions are most frequently found in the sciences, but they are often offered as an option at conferences in other disciplines as well. A poster session is a visual representation of your work. In this format, you can highlight areas of your research and display them both textually and visually. At most conferences, poster sessions take place in a large room. Typically, researchers stand next to their display and answer informal questions about their research. See the American Public Health Association's Poster Session Guidelines for an example of the requirements for posters, keeping in mind that each professional organization and conference will have its own guidelines.

Panel discussions or presentations are formal conversations organized around a specific subject. At most conferences, several speakers take turns speaking for a predetermined amount of time about their research and findings on a given subject. Panel discussions are almost always followed by a question and answer session from the audience. At most conferences, choosing to present at a panel discussion is often more competitive than being selected for a poster session.

A paper with respondent session involves a presenter orally sharing his or her data and conclusions for an allotted period of time. Following that presentation, another researcher, often one with differing views on the same subject, gives a brief response to the paper. The initial presenter then responds to the respondent's response.

In a conference presentation, sometimes presenters just give a report of their research, especially if it has some implications to practice.

Writing the Proposal

Like an abstract, a successful conference proposal will clearly and succinctly introduce, summarize, and make conclusions about your topic and findings. Though every conference is, of course, different, objectives and conclusions are found in all conference proposals. However, be sure to follow a conference's submission guidelines, which will be listed on the conference website. Every conference has a committee that evaluates the relevance and merit of each proposal. The following are some important factors to take into consideration when crafting yours:

Length: Many conference proposals are no more than 400 words. Thus, brevity and clarity are extremely important.

Relevance: Choosing an appropriate conference is the first step toward acceptance of your work. The conference committee will want to know how your work relates to the topic of the conference and to your field as a whole. Be sure that your proposal discusses the uniqueness of your findings, along with their significance. Do not just summarize your research, but rather, place your research in a larger context. What are the implications of your findings? How might another researcher use your data?

Quotations : Avoid including in too many quotations in your conference proposal. If you do choose to include quotations, it is generally recommended that you state the author's name, though you do not need to include a full citation (Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2012).

Focus: Most experts recommend that a conference proposal have a thesis statement early on in the proposal. Do not keep the reader guessing about your conclusions. Rather, begin with your concise and arguable thesis and then discuss your main points. Remember, there is no need to prove your thesis in this shortened format, only to articulate your thesis and the central arguments you will use to back up your claims should you be invited to present your work.

Tone: Make sure to keep your audience in mind and to structure your proposal accordingly. Avoid overly specialized jargon that would only be familiar to participants in a subfield. Make sure your prose is clear, logical, and straightforward. Though your proposal should maintain an academic tone, your enthusiasm for your project should shine through, though not at the cost of formality.

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How to Write a Winning, 3-Part Conference Proposal

Most conferences receive more proposals than they can include, so how can you ensure that your’s ends up in the program ? In general reviewers are looking for papers that integrate well with the conference theme and offer a focused and original response towards current (relevant, important) issues. Your abstract is key here. It is must be clear, concise and persuasive. It helps if you think of it as a three-part document with an introduction, argument and conclusion:

Introduction

• Choose a descriptive title that indicates your specific question, rather than a general topic. Ensure that readers can understand what your talk is about at a glance.
• Fit your proposal to the conference theme (and comply with submission requirements!). Try to include buzzwords from the Call For Papers and list of suggested topics.
• Introduce your topic by linking it to current debates. Outline and problematize those ideas, identifying any gaps, or unresolved issues within the literature. You don’t necessarily have to cite specific authors (or include footnotes) although it often helps if you do identify at least one, or two relevant theorists within the text.

This is where you need to promote your own thesis.

• First, explain how your paper addresses the issues that you have just identified.
• Explain why your question is significant, why your research is original and your observations important.
• In a twenty-minute presentation it is likely that you will only have time to make 3 – 4 solid points leading towards a conclusion and discussion. It helps if you can outline what those points are and how you arrive at your conclusion.
• Detail your thesis and methodology. For example you might argue that ‘by considering this specific material in this particular way I show these three things”. Ensure that your reasons for making these links are clear, so that readers are persuaded that your overall approach is persuasive, or at least of interest.
• Concisely summarize the evidence you have gathered and what conclusions can be drawn from it.
• End by emphasizing the important contribution, or impact of this research.

Finally, before you submit proofread your work. Use simple language and avoid jargon. Ensure that cited author names are spelt correctly and the year of publication is accurate. Check whether your audience is specialist, or interdisciplinary. If generalist, provide definitions and background details as required. Ask colleagues, or people outside of your field to read it. If they can’t understand your abstract then rewrite it.

If you are still rejected you can always email the selection committee and ask if they can give you any feedback to help your proposal for future submissions.

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How to Write a Conference Paper or Poster Proposal

Learning objectives.

Upon completion of this comprehensive and engaging course, you will be able to:

• Explain the 9 key steps in the conference presentation process
• Describe 3 methods of identifying a topic for your conference presentation
• Identify and select between leading conferences in your field
• Decide whether to submit a proposal for a paper presentation or a poster presentation
• Discuss best practices in selecting the title for your conference presentation
• Write a successful conference presentation proposal for an empirical research study
• Write a successful conference presentation proposal for a commentary on a debate or controversy
• Write a successful conference presentation proposal on the application of a technique, method, or instrument
• List 10 “buzzwords” that increase the odds of your conference presentation proposal being accepted
• Avoid the 5 most common mistakes made when writing conference presentation proposals
• Identify the 6 core components of an effective conference presenter biography
• Describe the conference presentation proposal peer-review process and its main outcomes
• List 12 best practices for preparing to give your accepted conference presentation

Jay Phoenix Singh, PhD, PhD is a Fulbright Scholar and the internationally award-winning Executive Director of Publication Academy. Author of over 85 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters (average 400+ citations/year since 2010) as well as 4 books (published by Routledge, Wiley, Sage, and Oxford University Press), he completed his graduate doctoral studies in psychiatry at the University of Oxford and clinical psychology at Universität Konstanz. He was named the youngest tenured Full Professor in Norway in 2014 before accepting faculty appointments at the University of Cambridge as well as the University of Pennsylvania. Since this time, he has become the only psychology professor to have lectured for all eight Ivy League universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn) as well as both Oxford and Cambridge. Dr. Singh has provided keynote speeches at leading academic conferences on six continents, and his work has been featured in leading newspapers such as The Washington Post and magazines such as People . He has been the recipient of awards from organizations including the American Psychological Association, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Society for Research in Child Development, the Society for Research in Adolescence, the American Board of Forensic Psychology, the American Psychology-Law Society, and the European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry.

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From Submission to Applause: Conference Proposals That Get Accepted

Elizabeth Wilcox, Sr. Consultant for Advising and Abigail Garcia, Associate Director, Academics, Pre-College Trio Programs

Great (and successful) conference proposals take both time and effort. The following seven step process is designed to help you knock it out of the park on a first try. Conferences are learning platforms as well as opportunities for collaboration and networking. You are likely to learn as much as you teach if you approach the proposal process with thought and care.

Step 1: What’s trending?

Conferences are wonderful places to access new ideas, scholarship, and research. As you begin to think about presenting at a conference, start by getting a sense of what’s trending regionally and nationally. You can do this by picking up a journal or other professional publication, looking at a recent conference program, or talking with others who have published or presented recently. While you want to contribute to what’s trending you also want to offer a fresh perspective and insights. Try to add to, not simply duplicate what has been presented in the past. Some topics are very well worn (advisor burnout, for example). Be sure you are picking a “fresh” but relevant topic and are adding something special and unique to the conversation. This will help your proposal stand out. What are others finding interesting, useful and currently relevant? What ideas, research or major thinkers do you see as being particularly important to advising or student affairs currently?

Step 2: Previous Presentations?

It can be very helpful to view previous conference proposals, abstracts, learning activities and visual presentations. Start by simply attending a regional conference and closely observe how good presentations are constructed (paying special attention to what feels especially interesting and creative). If you are brave enough, ask others if they would be willing to share their proposals with you.

Step 3: Conference Theme – Related Topics?

Conferences are often organized by theme. Keep your eye on recent conference themes regionally and nationally. This will help you begin to attach your work to the national “big picture”.

Step 4: Subject Matter Expertise?

We all have special knowledge, abilities and talents as well as unique professional skills. Where do you have subject matter expertise (through education or experience)? If you are a young professional, could you co-present with someone more advanced than you? Part of the excitement of a conference is the ability to connect with others who have similar interests and expertise in a related area. You might start by aligning your subject matter expertise with established interest groups. Your proposal readers (and your audience) will want to know how you are uniquely qualified to speak on the subject you are discussing. Use the proposal process to help define your special perspectives and insights.

Step 5: Best Format?

Most conferences offer a wide variety of presentation formats. Pre-conference workshops (longer sessions designed around problem-based and interactive learning that result in actionable takeaways), poster sessions (opportunities for brief conversation based discussion of projects and programs (with visual aids) that can be introduced quickly and informally), individual sessions (usually about an hour in length with a single or team of presenters - though more than three presenters gets tricky), and group, panel or roundtable discussions (these are facilitated discussions around core ideas, not necessarily formal "presentations"). If you have never presented before, consider joining forces with someone who has, or start with a poster session to get your feet wet. If you are a great facilitator but not a confident presenter, consider putting a panel discussion together. Each of these formats are wonderful opportunities to learn and connect with others and each is more or less demanding depending on your experience and comfort level.

Step 6: Outcomes?

One of the most critical components of putting your proposal together is determining what you want your audience to gain from your presentation (in terms of what they will “do”, “know” or “value”). Be as specific as you can about what you want your presentation to “produce” and how you will go about making this happen (review our learning-centered competencies statement to connect these outcomes with advising core competencies). Conference participants want knowledge and skills they can take back to their home campuses and apply immediately. Again, be specific about what you want participants to gain and design your learning activities to produce these results. Teaching a new method? Give your participants a chance to practice it during the session itself. Talking about a new program you developed? Be sure to identify the components of the program that can be transferred to other institutions.

Step 7: Proposal Outline?

Now that you have a good sense of what’s trending, have aligned your interests with a conference theme and interest groups, and determined where you have valuable subject matter expertise - you will be ready to select a topic and develop a proposal outline. Your session format and desired outcomes will help you begin to organize your thoughts and design your session.

Hint: You should be thinking year-round about what’s trending, how it impacts your work, and how you might add to related research, scholarship and practice. Also, note proposal submission opening and closing dates on your calendar for future conferences as far into the future as possible. Give yourself adequate time to develop a proposal so that you are not rushed at the last minute.

Proposal Development: Essential Components

The Title – Accurately descriptive, an invitation to participate.

Great conference presentations often have great titles. Your session title is your way of making an immediate connection with conference participants. You want your title to accurately describe your session and capture the attention of the reader – it should excite your reader and make them want to attend your session.

Here are a few examples of great titles:

All I Really Need to Know About Advising Theory I Learned from Star Wars (Ryan Scheckel, Texas Tech University)

Pants on Fire: How to Advise Students Who Lie to Themselves and Others (Katie McFadden, Brandis University)

50 Shades of Grey: Ethics in Advising (Corrie Fox and Karen Case, Indiana University, Purdue Unviersity)

The Proposal Abstract (130 words) – Will appear in the conference program

The abstract is a short description of your workshop content and format. It will appear in the conference program and will help draw participants to your session. It should accurately and succinctly describe your session. If you are not sure how to begin,

(1)    start with a problem statement,

(2)    if applicable, mention and incorporate foundational literature and research that addresses the problem,

(3)    identify learning activities and manner of audience involvement (i.e., reflective questions, demonstration, open-discussion, case study, role-play, etc.),

(4)    describe the relevant competencies or skills that will be developed, and

(5)    conclude with how the session content is transferrable (to other institutions or advising settings).

The Proposal (longer) – Reviewed by the selection committee but not publicly available.

The proposal is a longer description of your session and is used by the selection committee (but will not be available to session participants). It should include,

(1)    detailed references to source material (including foundational research and scholarship). It should define terms and describe the relevance to applicable student populations.

(2)    It should provide an overview of content (including relevance and contribution to the field),

(3)    describe your session structure, format and learning activities

(4)    as well as your detailed desired learning outcomes (tying these to activities).

Hint: Audiences like good content and opportunities for “active learning”. Be sure you incorporate opportunities for participant reflection, interaction, and discussion. Want to learn more? Check out this wonderful book on experiential workshop design…. Workshops: Designing and Facilitating Experiential Learning

Selection Criteria

In general, clarity, relevance, timeliness, creativity and the applicability of material to a wide variety of advising settings is needed to make a successful proposal. It is also increasingly important that your material is research and evidence based . Proposals based on successful cross unit collaboration (academic advising + career center + pre-health advising) or cross institution collaboration (UC, CSU and CC efforts) are also very strong. Test check your proposal to make sure it addresses all of these points.

Acceptance or Rejection?

If your proposal is not accepted - try, try again. Many of us (including both authors of this article) have had proposals rejected. See (at the sidebar) additional resources that might help you develop a stronger proposal. Please spend some with the "Improve This Proposal" handout. Following a rewrite, this proposal was accepted on a second try.

Avoiding Plagiarism – Note relevant citation format – APA, MLA... and use the following website for guidance on properly citing references Purdue Online Writing Lab  (When you present your slides and handouts must also be properly cited).

Keep in mind that your successful conference proposal and the presentation that results are also opportunities for eventual publication. You will not only be advancing your career through this endeavor you may also be contributing to important scholarship and research.

Recommended citation for this article

Wilcox, E., & Garcia, A. (2017, March 16).  From Submission to Applause: Conference Proposals That Get Accepted. Advising Matters, University of California, Berkeley retrieved from advisingmatters.berkeley.edu

Seven Steps to Identifying a Conference Proposal Topic

A Successful Conference Abstract Dissected

Improve this proposal, professional development planning.

Conference Proposal Templates

Convey your concepts with flair using our conference proposal templates. Make every pitch a presentation to remember!

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Conference Presentations

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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This resource provides a detailed overview of the common types of conference papers and sessions graduate students can expect, followed by pointers on presenting conference papers for an audience. 

Types of conference papers and sessions

Panel presentations are the most common form of presentation you will encounter in your graduate career. You will be one of three to four participants in a panel or session (the terminology varies depending on the organizers) and be given fifteen to twenty minutes to present your paper. This is often followed by a ten-minute question-and-answer session either immediately after your presentation or after all of the speakers are finished. It is up to the panel organizer to decide upon this framework. In the course of the question-and-answer session, you may also address and query the other panelists if you have questions yourself. Note that you can often propose a conference presentation by yourself and be sorted onto a panel by conference organizers, or you can propose a panel with a group of colleagues. Self-proposed panels typically have more closely related topics than conference-organized panels.

Roundtables feature an average of five to six speakers, each of whom gets the floor for approximately five to ten minutes to speak on their respective topics and/or subtopics. At times, papers from the speakers might be circulated in advance among the roundtable members or even prospective attendees.

Workshops feature one or a few organizers, who usually give a brief presentation but spend the majority of the time for the session facilitating an activity that attendees will do. Some common topics for these sessions typically include learning a technology or generating some content, such as teaching materials.

Lightning talks (or Ignite talks, or Pecha Kucha talks) are very short presentations where presenters' slide decks automatically advance after a few seconds; most individual talks are no longer than 5 minutes, and a lightning talk session typically invites 10 or more presenters to participate over the course of an hour or two rather than limiting the presenters like a panel presentation. A lightning talk session will sometimes be held as a sort of competition where attendees can vote for the best talk. 

SIGs (Special Interest Groups) are groups of scholars focused on a particular smaller topic within the purview of the larger conference. The structure of these sessions varies by conference and even by group, but in general they tend to be structured either more like a panel presentation, with presenters and leaders, or more like a roundtable, with several speakers and a particular meeting agenda. These styles resemble, respectively, a miniconference focusing on a particular topic and a committee meeting. 

Papers with respondents are structured around a speaker who gives an approximately thirty-minute paper and a respondent who contributes their own thoughts, objections, and further questions in the following fifteen minutes. Finally, the speaker gets that same amount of time to formulate their reply to the respondent.

Poster presentations ask participants to visually display their ideas on a research poster, which is typically displayed with other research posters in a specific area at a conference. The poster needs to be understandable on its own (without the author) as viewers sometimes look through the posters outside the bounds of the poster session, which is a scheduled period of time where poster authors stand with their posters and engage viewers in conversation about the work. Research posters have long tended to follow common templates for design, but in recent years some scholars have begun challenging these templates for improved usability (for example, the Better Poster campaign as described here  or the APA template based on the original, here.

You can read more about research posters on our resource here .

Presenting the conference paper

Aim to take less time than you are given! If your presentation slot is 15 minutes, aim for 13 or 14 when you practice. A little leeway and a slightly shorter presentation is a courtesy to your audience and to your fellow presenters, and will not at all imply that you are unprepared or unprofessional — in fact, being able to keep well within your allotted time is the mark of a good presenter.

Make sure you speak slowly and clearly, using accessibility aids if available such as a microphone or closed captioning on a slide deck. Many presenters have begun bringing accessibility copies of their talks, which are printed transcripts of the talk using a larger font for audience members who need them. It is also becoming increasingly common for presenters at conferences to share their slides and copies of their talk via a shortened link or QR code found on the bottom of the slides so that audiences may access them later or even while they are in your session.

The conventions for presentation differ based on field. Some fields tend toward reading papers aloud with very little audiovisual accompaniment; others use slide decks; others speak extemporaneously. You can find out more about typical practices in your field by attending conferences yourself and by asking mentors. Generally, you will be able to improve the accessibility of your presentation if you have a visual accompaniment and prepared remarks.

Even in fields where presenters tend to read papers verbatim, it is rarely a good idea to bring a paper from a class or another research paper you have written without editing it for an oral presentation. Seminar papers tend to be too long to read in 15 minutes, and often lead to graduate students surpassing their time limits. Moreover, research papers are meant to be read — they lack the kinds of repetition and simple sentence structure that are more beneficial to listeners. Finally, conference presentations do not serve the same purposes as most class papers — typically in a class, you're expected to show that you have understood the material, but at a conference, listeners are more interested in hearing what contributions you have that might help them in their own research. It's typical to move the bulk of your literature review to an appendix or another document so that you can discuss other scholarship in the area if it comes up in the Q&A, but during your presentation you're left free to focus on your own methods and findings. (Many presenters will even say: "I'm skipping a lot of [X material] for the sake of time, but I'm happy to discuss it later with anyone who's interested.")

Since you will present your paper orally, you may repeat important points and say more about the structure of the essay than a written submission to a journal (or a paper for your undergraduate or graduate courses) would require. This often means signposting orally when you are moving to a new section of the paper or when you are shifting to a new idea. The thesis of your paper should come early in your presentation to give listeners a clear understanding of what is to follow. At this point, you may also overview or forecast your paper and tell listeners how you will move from one argument to the next. It is generally advised to quickly summarize your important points in a bulleted list at the end of your presentation to remind everyone of the two or three most essential arguments or findings.

If you use a slide presentation, you may want to follow the guidelines presented in the OWL resource, Designing an Effective PowerPoint Presentation .

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#129: How to Write a Conference Proposal

by Bethanie Hansen | Sep 28, 2022 | Career , Higher Education , Leadership , Podcast , Professional Development

This content first appeared at APUEdge.com.

Podcast with Dr. Bethanie L. Hansen ,  Associate Dean (Interim),  School  o f Arts, Humanities and Education 

Part of learning and stretching is sharing your knowledge with others. In this episode, APU’s Dr. Bethanie Hansen discusses the benefits of presenting at a professional conference. Learn tips on selecting an engaging topic, writing a conference proposal as well as what mistakes to avoid.

Listen to the Episode:

Subscribe to  Online Teaching Lounge Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |  Google Podcasts  |  Stitcher  |  Pandora

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Bethanie Hansen: This podcast is for educators, academics and parents, who know that online teaching can be challenging, but it can also be rewarding, engaging, and fun! Welcome to the Online Teaching Lounge . I’m your host, Dr. Bethanie Hansen. And I’ll be your guide for online teaching tips, topics and strategies. Walk with me into the Online Teaching Lounge.

Welcome to the Online Teaching Lounge today, I’m Bethanie Hansen. And I want to talk with you about how to write a conference proposal. As an online educator, you may be thinking, you need some professional development, and it’s a great idea to go to a conference. There are so many kinds of conferences you could attend . If there’s one locally in your area, it’s especially good to set aside the time and go attend that conference: Low cost, local area, fast access.

But something across the country or across the state, that’s a different story altogether. Now we’re talking about spending money to attend that conference. And it’s a lot easier to justify spending that money if you’re also going to be presenting at that conference. Or, if your institution is considering sponsoring you, chances are the only way they’re going to do that is if you are presenting at the conference. So how do you write a conference proposal?

Well, before we talk about that, I just want to dive into how we can tap into your genius about what you might present at a conference. First, I’ll tell you a little story about myself.

I used to go to professional development conferences as a band director in California. I would go to the State Music Educator National Conference conventions that were for the state of California. These would rotate between Sacramento and San Diego or Los Angeles, every other year. As I went to these, and I noticed others presenting on topics of interest to me, one day, I realized I had that same knowledge. A woman stood up there and shared some exercises that she used with her band and she taught us all how to use them and talked around them.

And I thought to myself, I could be the person presenting this workshop, I know that same stuff. And suddenly it dawned on me, not everybody knows what I know. And, just like me, not everybody knows what you know , either. And so, in my next step, I wrote up a proposal about what was most important to me as a band director. And, as a band director, and still, as an educator today, the very most important thing to me was recruiting and retention.

Recruiting is a whole process of giving awareness to other people, helping them to notice you notice your band program and get interested in joining it in the future. And then there’s those actions about having them join your band this year . And, all of the steps that have to do with that like getting a band instrument, convincing your parents that you should be in the band, figuring out how you’re going to get started. And all of those things that are part of joining the band, the very first year you’re thinking about it.

There’s also the recruiting at different ages. So, if your school district’s band program starts in sixth grade, maybe in seventh grade, someone has moved in from somewhere else, and they didn’t have that chance, and they still want to join band. So, there’s several different processes to recruiting. There’s even high-school level recruiting, where you might be recruiting people to twirl a flag in your marching band, or play cymbals in your percussion section, or even be a beginner on a band instrument. So, there’s a lot of levels to this and I had experience and passion for all of that.

So, I wrote that proposal. And I drafted it up for that State California conference.

And the other half is retention. Once you recruit kids into your program, or students into any class, you have to help them want to stay there. There’s this whole idea that band directors used to have all over the place where they just assumed kids would stay because band is worth doing all by itself, right? Well, that’s not the case. In fact, when kids join your band, you have to work just as hard to keep them there, as you do to get them there in the first place.

There is so much that competes for your students’ time when you’re a band director. You have to really work with them on balancing all those activities they might be in, what if they’re in sports and band at the same time or different clubs, like debate or going on field trips for academic decathlon? There’s just so much. So that topic of recruiting and retention, it’s kind of two different things that goes nicely together. And that’s what I decided I wanted to present on at a conference. So, I wrote up my proposal and I submitted it. And it was accepted. And it was my very first time presenting at a professional conference.

So, I prepared, I made my PowerPoint slides, created a packet of handouts. And I went to this conference. And this session was in a huge theater. And it was full, totally full of about 200 people. I was amazed at how many people came to that conference session that I presented. I ran out of handouts, I had to give them email copies later. But it was a huge success for me, the very first time out.

Other conferences I have presented at have had varying degrees of interest and attention. I have sometimes presented a session to five people, sometimes 35. So, even when you’re accepted to present at a conference, you can never really know exactly what you’re going to get in terms of who shows up, and what you need to deliver it with success. But what you can assume is that someone will want to hear it, even if it’s just one or two people. So, writing that proposal, I suggest thinking about number one, what you know about.

Determine Your Area of Interest to Present On

What is your area of expertise in your academic discipline? What subject matter do you really want to share something about? It could be a teaching strategy, or like my example of recruiting for band directors, it could be a problem-solving strategy. It could be some kind of community-building, like how you could use labs in your virtual science class. It could be some kind of a networking idea, how you’re going to collaborate with other teachers. And maybe you’re going to present a model of how to do that. There are so many ideas of things you are good at, that you could potentially share at a conference.

If you’re not really sure what would be appropriate for a conference, I suggest looking up the website for a conference you might consider attending and looking at last year’s topics. Many of the websites out there for conferences have a list of the topics and the titles of the presentations for the last several years. These can give you a good idea of what might be interesting to conference attendees, or what might suit the audience, generally.

One example for the online teaching space is the Online Learning Consortium . They have two conferences a year one is in the spring, and it’s called OLC Innovate . And when is in the fall, it’s called OLC Accelerate. And as of right now, at the time of this recording, they have a virtual and a live option. So, even if you could not travel to attend that conference, you could still present, even if it’s virtually.

Tips to Writing a Successful Proposal

So, as you think about the topic, there are some tips to help you get this written well and have a greater chance that your proposal will be accepted. The first one is of course to have a suitable topic, the best way to have a suitable topic for a conference, once you’ve decided on your area of interest, whether it’s a subject matter or a strategy, the best way is to think about the tracks and the topics that conference is requesting.

In the case of the OLC Accelerate conference, there are certain tracks and they are all aimed at different audiences. I’ll just give you an example of what these tracks might be, so you have an idea of the type of variety that conferences can have.

The track descriptions for OCLC Accelerate are:

• access, equity, and open education
• blended learning strategy and practice
• engaged in effective teaching and learning
• instructional design
• leadership and institutional strategy
• research, evaluation and learning analytics
• student support and success
• technology and future trends

And often there will be some big ideas that have lots of sessions connected to them. And if you can propose something to a less-popular area, where what I mean to say is where there are likely to be fewer proposals, but there is still interest in the audience that even increases your chances of getting accepted more.

So, one example would be that a lot of people at that particular conference, propose things in the category of engaged and effective teaching and learning. After all, most things we’re going to think about in online education are about the teaching and learning, right? Now, if you have something specific about the way you set up the classroom, or a method of the instructional design itself, it makes a lot more sense to tailor it to that instructional design topic, where there are fewer proposals. So, yours will be stand out and it gives you a greater likelihood of being accepted.

Now, in terms of your audience, you want to think about the types of audiences that typically attend those conferences. So, in this situation, where I mentioned one in particular, which is OLC Accelerate, the audiences range from K-12, educators, higher ed educators, to the tech people who designed the classroom itself, you might have instructional designers, tech support, all kinds of people who are really good at focusing on the way the classroom is set up.

There’s a whole audience that is interested in alternative or accessibility strategies. So, if you have a really good handle on universal design for learning, or accommodation strategies for diverse learners, then you could tailor your proposal to that angle. If you are in leadership, or you think your idea is great for an institutional-level strategy, or the leadership team over an organization, then you might tailor your presentation to that. And, if you really want to stretch, you could have a topic that you tailor one way for the leadership group, and a totally different way for the instructional design group and that would give you two different proposals.

Determine the Type of Presentation to Create

Now, as you’re fleshing out your topic, you also want to think about what kind of presentation it’s going to be. And those kinds of presentations vary, there are the virtual poster sessions where you create some slides, they play automatically, and a person watches it like a mini-web presentation. There’s also the education session, which is like your typical lecture style presentation. There are short workshops that are hands on where you expect people to bring a device and play along with you. There are gamified sessions. And there are larger workshops, which would be 90 minutes to 2 hours in length. So, if your topic takes more than just that 45-minute window, maybe it has a Part A and Part B or something that builds on that initial stuff, then you’re going to propose it as a larger workshop.

Proposal Writing Tips

As you write up your proposal, some interesting things that stand out are to have a creative title that conveys exactly what it’s about; to have an abstract that tells participants what they would walk away with if they attended this session. And then in the deeper part of your proposal, where you really flesh out what it’s about, what you will do, and how you will engage the audience that comes to be part of this presentation, two helpful tips seem to work all the time.

One is to use references. Support your approach with some scholarly research and some sources that do support your idea. This adds credibility to what you’re submitting.

And second, detail exactly what participants will leave with at the end of the session. Is it an idea? Is it curiosity? Is it a handout? Is it a template? Whatever it is, your participants will be able to leave with, make it very clear, explain it. And, if appropriate during the proposal process, even include a copy.

Most proposals are intended to be entirely anonymous, and you would need to leave your name off of them. You should not mention your school or your institution. And you want to look over these to make sure they are grammatically correct and well written. I know that seems to go without saying, but I’ve been a reviewer for conference proposals myself for many years now. And, every once in a while, I’ll see one where the person just forgot to use spellcheck and forgot to use the right punctuation, like maybe they dictated it and didn’t check it afterwards. So, be sure to check those things because at the very least, you want it to look and sound professional when you submit it.

And then submit it before the deadline, turn everything in that you need to do and then you wait and you’ll hear back at whatever time they tell you you’ll hear back. I always put that date on my calendar so I can check and find out whether something has been accepted. And the more you practice it this, the more likely you are to get presentations accepted to present at conferences.

Then your next steps would be to plan the presentation around your audience so they definitely get out of it what do you say they’re going to get out of it. One of the biggest mistakes is to prepare a proposal, get accepted, show up, and then present on something different than what you said you were going to present. I’ve sat through presentations like that myself, and perhaps you have also, where we’re sitting there thinking we’re going to learn something, and we never get that out of that session. And it seems to be a huge disappointment. Like, why did we sit through that if we were not going to get what we came for? So, addressing the topics that you say you’re going to address is a really important part of this when you come full circle and actually give the presentation.

The bottom line of all of this is that you have a lot of expertise, you know a lot, and you have areas that you can share with other people who are just learning. It’s time to get up and present those things and share them with your professional community. I want to encourage you to do that. And if you’re listening to this around the time of the recording where this podcast is produced, there are proposals right now being accepted for the OLC Innovate conference coming up in the Spring of 2023 . And I would encourage you to submit a proposal to that, and stretch, figure out what you can share with the online community.

And if you’re listening to this later, after the initial publication, you can just check the OLC’s website to see when the next conference is coming and when the next set of proposals will be accepted. I want to encourage you to grow and stretch and share because that’s what helps us to stay motivated and keep learning ourselves. I wish you all the best in writing up your proposal and submitting it this coming month or even this coming week.

This is Dr. Bethanie Hansen, your host for the Online Teaching Lounge podcast. To share comments and requests for future episodes, please visit bethaniehansen.com/request . Best wishes this coming week in your online teaching journey.

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Conference Proposal

We all want to turn our big idea into a proposal example and submit it to a conference, right? It is the first step in making your idea to happen in reality. But, it is not that easy and simple. Especially when you are required to write a conference proposal for your idea.

Conference Proposal Example

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Conference Proposal Template

Writing a conference proposal is like writing a research proposal it’s very daunting but you will find it very important and essential when you are eager enough to make your idea to happen. Luckily, this article provides you guidelines, steps, and tips for writing a conference proposal to get you started.

Request for Proposal for Professional Conference

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Conference Paper

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Sample Academic Proposal

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Conference Sponsorship Proposal Format

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Conference Attendance Sample

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How to Write a More Effective Conference Proposal

Writing a conference proposal or even a request for proposal is not an easy task, especially when you are new to it. You may describe writing a proposal to be daunting and overwheliming. That’s actually true, however, there are steps in writing a more effective conference proposal so that you would crash out that unwanted feeling.

• Review your proposal and check for errors and typos.
• Write less jargon, those terminologies that only you can understand.
• Master the details and give the audience a good feel when you talk.
• Deliver yourself clearly.
• Lastly, submit your proposal ahead of time.

But if you don’t really feel to write this proposal, we got free proposals here available for download.

How to Write a Proposal for a Conference Presentation

For writing a proposal for a conference presentation, here is what you can do:

• Just like a project proposal , start from the introduction, followed by the main body, and then the conclusion.
• Get the attention of the audience with a compelling intro or from a question, quotation, or anecdote
• Tell the audience what your presentation is all about. The main discussion and the main ideas and points to cover.
• Arrange the topics in chronological order.
• Use transition statement.
• Support your main ideas.
• Summarize all your presentation.
• Finish it with a strong ending and don’t introduce new ideas.

Format for International Conference

Quality Education Conference

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Format for Leadership

Guidelines for Writing a Conference Proposal

No matter what proposal it is, it really needs guidelines and tips so that you can write a more effective proposal.

• The very first thing you need to do is to explain why your proposal is important . This is to know what could be and how would it contribute the organization or institution.
• Have a clear point and articulate it precisely . The smart goal of your proposal is to be understood by the reader.
• Proofread your proposal . This is to prevent from typos, grammatical errors, and unnecessary jargon.
• Get opinions from editors and/or critics . You need a second opinion from them to improve the idea of your proposal and the clarity of expression.
• Never cite information in your proposal from unreliable sources. So you would not talk about wrong information.
• Lastly, take these guidelines very seriously . It may not be similar to a business proposal , it should still look professional

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5 Tips to Help You Prepare for an Education Conference Presentation

As you gather your ideas, adhering to a focused approach will help you give an engaging talk to your professional peers.

When I have the time and resources, conferences are some of my favorite professional opportunities that I attend—and also ones where I present! The process of creating a conference proposal takes time and sometimes a lot of thought to ensure that your presentation will land with your audience. However, when you’re accepted to present at a conference, how do you prepare for the presentation itself? This is a question that I get asked a lot, and although preparation may vary from person to person, it’s always a good idea to have some guidelines to ensure that your presentation goes well.

Regardless of whether it’s a small or larger conference, preparing your presentation requires planning and organization to deliver a successful and engaging session. I personally like to start planning out my conference presentations about two months in advance of when I’m going to present. This gives me enough time to research, plan, and prepare what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it. However, some people might plan six or more months in advance, and others prepare the night before. In any case, here are five effective tips to help you.

1. Tailor Your Presentation to Your Audience

This is a crucial step that all presenters should take. Speaking to educators is different from speaking to school leadership, and speaking to school leadership is different from speaking to a group of students. Regardless of whom you are speaking to, understanding the audience attending the conference and designing your presentation to their interests and needs can help you get your message across. Consider the level of knowledge they might have on the topic that you’ll be presenting, and adjust your content and language accordingly. 

More advanced-level sessions can most likely skip some of the entry-level vocabulary and concepts and get straight into more complex topics (for example, a session I give called “Digital Storytelling in the STEM Classroom” is geared toward STEM educators who already utilize books and media in their classrooms but want to learn more about how to integrate technology into that). Also, if you can, address specific concerns and challenges in the field that you are presenting on—it will make your presentation more relevant and impactful.

2. Define Your Key Message

Your key message is the main theme of your presentation, something you’d like for your audience to get out of attending your session. Having a key message is important because it anchors the audience to the core of what you want to say and also ties in your presentation, resources, and potential Q&A to this message. A key message provides the focus of your content and enables your audience to remember the purpose of the presentation.

This can be a theme, a quote, or anything in between. As a suggestion, your key message should be evident in your presentation title and/or abstract. As you build your presentation, keep the key message as a focus of your presentation so that your points come across with clarity.

3. Create a Well-Structured Presentation

Even if you have amazing content that you’d like to share, if your presentation isn’t well-structured, your message could be lost. Organize your content to create a smooth flow of information. A typical structure includes an introduction, an outline of your main points, supporting evidence/action, and a conclusion. Here are some additional considerations:

Keep the text on your presentations large, but not too large. My general rule is that I don’t use anything smaller than 16-point type whenever I’m presenting—anything smaller than that could be too small for viewers to see.

Be mindful of color contrasts. Things like having yellow text on a bright pink or bright blue background can be too confusing for your audience to see, and too much color on a screen is distracting and can make it hard for your audience to follow along with your presentation. It’s best to stick with simple, yet eye-catching, templates that emphasize your key points and message.

Use visuals to enhance understanding and keep the audience interested. Slides, graphs, and videos go a long way to create an engaging presentation. Additionally, avoid too much information or large amounts of text on the slides—it can be overwhelming to the audience and distract from your presenting skills.

If the platform you’re presenting on has accessibility features (such as live captions), use them. People appreciate the ability to have multiple ways to engage in a presentation. There are also some platforms (like Microsoft PowerPoint Live) that allow your attendees to follow along at their own pace and even translate your presentation into different languages as you’re speaking.

4. Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practice absolutely makes perfect when it comes to conference presentations and public speaking. Practice your presentation several times before the conference to become comfortable with your material and delivery. If you’ve got a trusted person to practice in front of, do that—I usually practice in front of my wife and a small group of friends. 

Rehearse and time yourself; pay attention to your pacing and ensure that you stay within the allocated time frame. Rehearsing also helps you identify areas that need improvement, such as clarifying explanations, eliminating filler words, or omitting unnecessary details. 

Additionally, there are new technology tools that can help you practice your presentation if you’re practicing by yourself or if you’d like to get feedback from people that you are presenting to. Two of my favorites are Speaker Coach (in PowerPoint) and DirectPoll .

5. Think About Ways to Make the Presentation Interactive

An interactive presentation is more likely to leave a lasting impact on your audience, so whenever possible, create opportunities for your audience to engage and participate. 

Consider incorporating techniques like asking open-ended questions, conducting polls, or facilitating discussions and breakout groups. In my sessions, I utilize the answer functions in Mentimeter to create word clouds in the beginning and end of my sessions, as well as the polling features in that platform. Activities encourage engaged participation and help maintain the audience’s attention.

Most of all, once it’s time to present, have fun! Presenting in front of audiences is no easy feat, and it is absolutely something to be proud of. Conferences aren’t just all about the preparation and the practice—they’re also about creating engaging presentations and having fun with your audience and peers. Be sure to make time to connect with your audience before or after your presentation and answer any questions they may have.

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How to ... write a conference proposal.

• take the time time to actually read the proposal criteria. This might sound obvious but it can be easy to miss important details in the excitement of crafting a proposal. Make sure the topic/approach you want to use is suitable for the conference in order to save yourself a lot of wasted work. Each conference has slightly different criteria so pay attention to these
• show enthusiasm for your topic in your proposal. If you sound bored then those reading it will think this will come across in your presentation. Zzzzzz...
• link your proposal to the themes of the conference. Look for keywords in the call for papers and use them
• consider your audience when writing your proposal. If they're experts in the subject then assume that they know what you're talking about and don't outline the basics as this will give you less space to pitch your actual idea. Provide a brief introduction to your topic but don't talk down to people
• don't waffle. The person/panel reviewing your proposal are likely to have many to get through so make sure they don't get bored of yours. Hiding behind big words can send up a red flag with reviewers. Focus and be concise
• don't be too ambitious with what you want to include. All presentations have a running time which will be clearly stated in the call for papers. Chances are you could talk about your research or project for hours but you may only have time to focus on one aspect. Pick the one that most closely reflects the theme of the conference. The good news is that this can result in multiple chances to present based on one project!
• come up with an attention grabbing title but don't forget to include a subtitle that tells people what the presentation is about. Many attendees only skim titles so make sure that they know what they're likely to attend
• get someone to give you a second opinion, or even a third or fourth. You may understand what you mean but you also need to know that it is clear to those reading your work. You will have spent time crafting your proposal and it would be a shame to let jargon and mistakes let you down. Proofread!
• get your proposal in on time. Much like job interviews sending a proposal in late indicates that you might not be the best person for the job
• prepare for rejection. Chances are that this will happen more often than acceptance and you need to be realistic. If it's appropriate then ask for feedback about the decision as this can help you prepare in the future
• keep a record of your proposals, especially the ones that don't make the cut. You will have put a lot of work in to them and you may be able to use them (with some tweaking!) in the future. As with job applications remember to tailor your proposal to the conference rather than just recycling it. People will notice and it won't reflect well on you

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50+ SAMPLE Conference Presentation Proposal in PDF | MS Word

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1. art education association conference presentation proposal, 2. visual arts and design conference presentation proposal, 3. digital video conference presentation proposal, 4. international creative writing conference presentation proposal, 1. testing out theories , 2. gain encouragement, motivation and valuable feedback, 3. refresh your creative mind, step 1: set goals, and objectives, step 2: write a concise summary of the conference presentation, step 3: present clear outcomes , step 6: review and prepare the final draft, share this post on your network, file formats, word templates, google docs templates, excel templates, powerpoint templates, google sheets templates, google slides templates, pdf templates, publisher templates, psd templates, indesign templates, illustrator templates, pages templates, keynote templates, numbers templates, outlook templates, you may also like these articles, 25+ sample construction company proposal in ms word.

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FREE 10+ Conference Presentation Proposal Samples in MS Word | Google Docs | PDF

A conference is a convening of people who share a particular interest or background for the intention of reaching one another and learning about and discussing issues, ideas, and projects that are relevant to them. In particular, an academic conference is a meeting of scientists or academics who present research findings or hold a workshop. Meanwhile, a people who work in the same company or industry attend a business conference. Conferences provide you the chance to talk one-on-one with these folks about what they are working on and they may even give you advise on how to improve your own work. Merely just reading journal articles have no way of asking presenters questions about their work or the reasoning behind it.

Conference Presentation Proposal

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If you’re planning on setting a conference, regardless of what it is, you need a robust proposal to be approved. Look no further! In this article, we provide with free and ready-to-use sample of Conference Presentation Proposals in MS Word, PDF, and Google Doc formats that you could use for your convenience. Keep on reading to find out more!

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The conference proposal is a document that suggests your presentation for a conference and stands alone from your written paper or presentation. The proposal’s goal is to give you a place to do research while also appealing to your core viewers . There is more to a proposal than just a description of your conference’s topic. Speaking at conferences is a great way to share your research and discoveries with a large audience. Presentations at conferences, however, include deciding on the sort of presentation that is best suited to your subject and selecting the right conference. Similarly to an abstract, a well-written conference proposal will briefly introduce, summarize, and draw conclusions about your subject and findings. Despite the fact that every conference is unique, there are common objectives and outcomes among all conference proposals.

If you want to ensure that you have a well-structured and convincing proposal, choose one of our great templates above so that you don’t have to go through the hassle of drafting one from scratch. Aside from that, follow these steps below to guide you in making a conference proposal of your own:

When reviewing your proposal, conference reviewers utilize a set of criteria. In a call for proposals, you’ll often find these evaluation criteria outlining what elements of your proposal are being considered. Depending on the conference, the criteria may give preference to sessions that incorporate reflection and review on the work of the presenter, contribute to scholarly research or contain discussion on specific subjects, such as diversity. A fantastic technique to make sure your proposal matches what reviewers are looking for is to make sure it coincides with the conference criteria.

Make sure your proposal doesn’t veer off in too many places as you try to cover the selection criteria and conference subjects. Reviewers may become perplexed and conclude that your presentation is poorly thought out as a result of this. The selection criteria should be met, however your proposal should be focused on your subject and comprehensible. You can accomplish this by creating a number of interconnected and well-connected important points regarding the proposed session that pertain to your overall presentation subject. Make certain that the ideas are presented in a logical order.

Use key terms to connect to the conference theme in your presentation wherever you can. Think of adjectives like “creative,” “inventive,” and “learning environment” while putting together a conference proposal on innovative ways to teach toddlers. To get a sense of the types of presentations delivered at previous conferences, look through the information from those events. Follow the submission guidelines for the proposal carefully. Ensure that your presentation will not exceed the time provided.

Be explicit about the methods and resources you’ll use to encourage audience engagement and keep them engrossed throughout the event. Reviewers are looking for events that provoke thinking, encourage participant reflection on a topic, and keep participants engaged all the way through. A clear plan is especially crucial for longer events, such a panel, presentation, or discussion, because some session styles do not allow for live involvement.

Clear and professional writing is a crucial component in the selection of proposals and also shows evaluators that you are a serious speaker. Ensure that your work is clear and error-free by checking for and correcting grammar and spelling mistakes. Use of jargon may confuse reviewers, leading them to believe that your topic is too specialized to be of use to the majority of conference participants. You may also want to have someone else proofread your proposal so they can point out logical and organizational flaws as well as linguistic errors you may have missed.

A conference paper is frequently both a written document and an oral presentation in one package. Before you present at the conference, you may be asked to send a copy of your paper to a commentator. As a result, your paper should adhere to academic paper and oral presentation traditions.

A track record of conference presentations will demonstrate to potential employers that you consistently share your research findings with colleagues and stay current on the field’s cutting-edge research. Furthermore, many conferences provide travel awards, which can be added to your list of honors and awards if you win them.

A conference presentation is an excellent opportunity to share your research with colleagues and peers. A research presentation gives you the opportunity to describe your study to your audience so that they have a better understanding of what you are working on.

In conclusion, the review team that would approve your conference event needs to know that your conference would have the best selection of presentations. A conference proposal can help them informed what your event would be all about. To help you get started, download our easily customizable and persuasive samples of Conference Presentation Proposal today!

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NASP: The National Association of School Psychologists

NASP 2025 Call For Presentation Proposals Call For Presentation Proposals

In this section.

• You Should Present at the NASP Convention
• Submitting a Successful Proposal

The Space Request system is now open:

Event Space Requests

Space requests will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis, so please be sure to submit your request online as early as possible. Download the instructions (PDF) for complete details.

There's still time!

All submissions were due by Wednesday, June 12, 2019 11:59pm EST, however, we are extending the deadline until Monday, June 17, 2019 12:00pm EST .

The NASP 2025 Annual Convention will take place February 18-21, 2025 in Seattle, WA.  The NASP convention offers an excellent opportunity for applicable NASP affiliates to host certain activities in conjunction with the convention. Toward the end, the convention committee is offering the opportunity to reserve time and space on the convention schedule.

The convention is an outstanding venue in which to showcase your research and practice. We are especially seeking presentations that will appeal to seasoned practitioners and assist them in delivering the highest quality, evidence-based practices in schools.

Session Formats

Presentations should be in one of the following formats:

• 1 hour, 50 minute presentations
• Maximum of four total contributors and four total presenters
• 50 minute presentations
• 90 minute presentations
• Maximum of two total presenters and two total contributors
• 80 minute presentations
• Maximum of ten total contributors and ten total presenters
• half-day (3 contact hours)

Submissions

Submissions include a summary ( maximum of 800 words ) identifying the purpose, content, and expected outcomes for participants; and description ( maximum of 30 words ) stating the objectives of the presentation to be published in the convention program upon acceptance. See the online instructions for important information on these two proposal elements.

Proposals with summaries or abstracts exceeding the word limit will be disqualified.  Be sure not to include any identifying information about authors in your summary (i.e. title page, name in running head, track changes on, or author in file name. Proposals that identify the author(s) will be disqualified.

The Paul H. Henkin Memorial Scholarship Award Recognizing Excellence in Applied Research or Program Design

The Paul H. Henkin Memorial Scholarship Award recognizes excellence in applied research or program design by a school psychologist who has recently entered the field. Individuals eligible for consideration are PRIMARY presenters whose proposals are accepted for presentation, who are NASP members, and who have been newly credentialed within the last three years , prior to the proposal submission deadline ( Wednesday, June 12, 2024 ).

Credentials may include Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) or credentialing by a state agency as a school psychologist. The recipient of the Paul H. Henkin Memorial Scholarship Award will receive reimbursement for convention registration fees, lodging as needed to fulfill the obligations of the award (presentation and awards ceremony), and transportation to the NASP convention for which her/his proposal has been accepted. Reimbursement cannot exceed $2,000.

Individuals interested in being considered for the Paul H. Henkin Memorial Scholarship Award should complete the information pertaining to the scholarship on the online cover sheet and submit their proposal electronically. Upon notification of acceptance, individuals then submit (via e-mail) 1 copy of documentation to verify credentialing .

Important Dates

Presentation proposal submission system opens.

Submission System Opens

Presentation Proposal Submission System Closes

Submission System Closes

Space Request System Opens

Space Request System Closes

Notification of Proposals Acceptances

Notification sent to Presenters

Presentation Cancellation

All Presenters must register or cancel their presentation by this date

Presentation Proposals System Opens

Presentation proposal system closes, space request submission system opens, space request submission system closes, presentation cancellation deadline, important information.

Proposal Submission Instructions

Workshop Submission Instructions

Space Request Instructions

General Proposal Questions NASP Meetings & Conventions  phone: 301-347-1667  toll free: 866-331-NASP (6277)  [email protected] Questions about Workshop Proposals ? Please direct inquiries to Renée Tobin at [email protected].

Sponsorship Information Find sponsorship opportunities at the NASP 2019 Annual Convention .

Exhibitors Get more information about being an exhibitor at the NASP 2019 Annual Convention .

Convention Advertising Convention Advertising Rates 2018–2019 .

General Proposal Questions NASP Meetings & Conventions  phone: 301-347-1667  toll free: 866-331-NASP (6277)  [email protected]

Convention Workshop Proposals Contact   Mark Swerdlik

Technical Difficulties? [email protected]

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Outreach Activities

NSF Grants Conference

• NSF Electronic Research Administration Forum
• Presentations from Recent Events

The next NSF Grants Conference will be held virtually. To receive information about this conference, please visit the conference website and select "Get Notified."

Key representatives from the National Science Foundation as well as your colleagues - faculty, researchers and grant administrators - representing colleges and universities from around the US will participate.

This two-day conference is a must, especially for new faculty, researchers and administrators who want to gain key insight into a wide range of current issues at NSF including the state of current funding; new and current policies and procedures; and pertinent administrative issues. NSF program officers representing each NSF directorate will be on hand to provide up-to-date information about specific funding opportunities and answer your questions.

Highlights include:

• New programs and initiatives;
• Future directions and strategies for national science policy;
• Proposal preparation;
• NSF's merit review process;
• Conflict of interest policies; and
• Breakout sessions by discipline.

For additional information regarding program content, contact the Policy Office at [email protected] .

• Training for the External Community on the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG)(NSF 20-1) - February 6, 2020
• NSF Grants Conference - Presentations from the most recent NSF Grants Conference are available on the conference website .

UP Arts and Culture Alliance seeks presentation proposals for annual conference

M ARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - The Upper Peninsula Arts and Culture Alliance is hosting its annual conference in Marquette this September.

Organizers are currently seeking proposals for presentations and breakout sessions at the conference. The conference will be centered around the theme of Advocacy, so sessions could focus on things like working with city master plans or fundraising for artists.

The Marquette Arts and Culture Center said presenting at the conference could give other artists the ideas they need to be successful.

“We have a lot of rural communities in the U.P. and that means that we’re working in silos often,” said Amelia Pruiett, Marquette Arts and Culture communications coordinator. “So, this is a chance to share success stories for what has worked for you or your organization and be able to connect with other success stories throughout the entire U.P.”

The deadline to submit your presentation proposal is May 15. You can submit your proposal here .

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Awards + Events

2025 efa conference + expo opens call for presentations.

Environments for Aging magazine is now accepting proposals for educational sessions and presentations for the 2025 Environments for Aging Conference + Expo.

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, June 19.

Proposals will go through a vigorous review process to set the program for the annual conference, which is focused exclusively on the design of senior living environments.

The educational program is driven by industry experts who share case studies, research, best practices, and new approaches throughout the three-day event.

Topics can include, but are not limited to, affordability, new housing models, dining and social spaces, intergenerational communities, sustainability and resiliency, remodels and renovations, adaptive reuse, flexibility and community-based aging in place, and health and wellness.

For more information or to submit a proposal, go here .

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