Are you ready to speak at the largest WordPress event in Europe?

It’s that time of the year again, where we are excited to open the Call for Speakers. We trust that we will, like in previous years, receive many interesting and deeply valuable talk applications for WordCamp Europe 2018. We have to admit it’s our favorite task to read all of your applications and select those who will be speaking at the biggest WordPress event in Europe.

What topic should you apply with?

We accept ALL topics related to WordPress and beyond, and encourage them. The charm of WCEU is that we welcome a diverse lineup of talented speakers to provide value to our broad audience.

One of our focuses for next year is to lineup more technical talks. We have heard your wish loud and clear in our community survey with the largest number of survey takers being developers. We’re hoping to receive a wide variety of development-focused talks. If you are a developer, or have a technical talk that you would like to share at WCEU, please apply, because it’s you our audience is looking for.

Besides development, we are of course looking for diverse topics and inspirational stories. If you’re not sure what to talk about and need some ideas, here are topics most asked about in our survey:

• Advanced development
• Design
• SEO
• Business

We have gathered an extensive list of ideas and topics our audience might be interested in on our application site for your inspiration. If you have a topic you’re passionate about or are an expert in something we haven’t mentioned, don’t hesitate to apply! We are accepting talks from all areas of expertise and are also hoping to attract relevant experts from outside the WordPress world.

How long should your presentation be?

We are planning the following session formats:

• Long talks – 40 minutes in total, breaking down to around 30 mins for talk & 10 mins for questions.
• Lightning talks – 10 minutes each, grouped with related topics.

Like in Paris, we are planning to have two tracks. Each slot on the schedule will be an hour long. Content will take up 40 minutes of each hour, which gives attendees 20 minutes after each session to switch between tracks, grab a cup of coffee, and chat with other attendees.

In addition we will also be looking for people to host community workshops in Belgrade next year. We will open a separate call for workshop applications next week with specific requirements around that, so stay tuned.

Do I have to be an experienced speaker to apply?

WordCamp Europe in 2017 was the largest WordPress related conference in the world and WCEU 2018 should follow the same path, so it is recommended that you have some speaking experience. Speaking in front of a large audience can be overwhelming even for more experienced speakers, which is why we want to lend a helping hand. This year, the Content team will be sharing resources and tips on how to put together a successful presentation as well as how to be more comfortable on stage.

When reviewing speaker applications, we will take your previous speaking experience into account. If you have a few WordCamps lined up to add to your speaking experience before WordCamp Europe, but after you send in your application, make sure you tell us that too.

If you haven’t already, there is still time to speak at your local WordCamp or meetup to gain more practise. Here is a list of all upcoming WordCamps.

What is our application deadline and process?

The Call for Speakers will be open until January 15th, so please make sure that you send in your application in time.

Here is what our application and selection process looks like:

• Call for speakers is open now
• Call for workshop applications will open November 22nd
• Call for speakers and workshops closes January 15th
• We’ll be selecting speakers and workshops until late February
• Selected speakers will be informed starting March 1st
• Speaker announcements will start mid to late March

Are you ready to speak at WordCamp Europe?

People come to learn from speakers and to get inspired. We love that we have been able to bring experts and motivational people to our stage year after year, and we encourage you to share your amazing talk ideas for WCEU 2018 with us.

Are you ready to speak on the biggest WordPress stage in Europe?

Apply now

Good luck!