---
# System prepended metadata

title: Lightning Talk CFP/Info

---

# Lightning Talk CFP / Speaker info

For the community, by the community.

## What it is

A short, focused *community-oriented* talk. The goal is to educate, inform, encourage, uplift and/or entertain fellow members of the community! A wide range of topics welcome, as long as its of interest to the Astro community.

While you may talk about your own work, these are not meant to be exclusively project marketing. Your talk should be **viewer-focused**, not speaker focused. What's in it for them? What are you sharing that **helps them**? Turn that demo from "what it does" into "how you can do..."!

## Technical Requirements

- 5 minute limit, prerecorded video (format: `.mp4`)
    - Tip: a free [Loom](https://loom.com) account allows you to record a 5 min video, including talking head on the screen!
- Submission:
    - Share a non-expiring link to your `.mp4` file from one of your storage services (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.)
- Deadline: Friday, July 12, 2024
    - (we will need enough time to watch them all!)
- Language/inclusivity:
    - All videos must adhere to the event Code of Conduct
        - Inclusive, non-discriminatory, safe-for-work language, images, examples, and topics.
    - Showcase the positive about your topic, not the negative of alternatives!
        - No framework wars! No badmouthing other tools and libraries! No personal attacks!
    
## Topics we're looking for:

- Astro experience reports!
    -  What is your Astro origin story?
    -  Did you migrate a project from another framework? What did you learn? Do you have tips/tricks/encouragement to share?
    -  What do you love about Astro the project and/or the community?
    -  What advice do you have for other community members building with or contributing to Astro?
    -  How did you benefit from your Astro project?
        -  Did your resume/portfolio land you a job?
        -  Did your community site help you organize and promote a local organization?
        -  Did your e-commerce site help you earn money?
        -  Did you meet awesome people and learn new things?
    -  Did you convince your employer to use Astro?
        -  How did it go?
        -  How would you help someone else trying to do the same thing?
- How Astro helps you keep the web... fast, weird, yours!
    - Show off your favourite features of Astro that helped you build something fun, useful, or creative! (Or, that someone else built if you love their work!)
    - Did you build something with Astro that's unusual, or that solves a personal problem?
- More general web-dev related talks of particular interest/relevance to Astro users/developers
    - participating in open-source, or maintaining an open-source project, including non-traditional / non-code contributions too!
    - working remotely, work/life balance, communication strategies
    - developer mental and physical health

## Acceptance Criteria

Any submission on an appropriate topic that fulfills the technical requirements can
be added to the lightning talk directory available to viewers after Astro Conf!

Depending on the number of submissions recieved, we may not be able to broadcast every submission as part of the live event.

To increase the chances of your lightning talk being selected for live broadcast: 

- Have a clear message/takeaway
    - Know what you want your audience to have learned, experienced, or be able to do after watching your talk.
    - Stick to that point and do it well.
    - Tip: 5 minutes is *not* a lot of time! Stick to one main point!
- Have a clear benefit to the viewer
    - Give a helpful message or teach the audience a useful skill.
    - Design your talk so that it uplifts and encourages, informs, and/or entertains.
- Respect the audience
    - Provide an accurate, clear, descriptive title so they know what to expect.
    - Make your talk about the viewer, not just all about you the speaker.
    - Avoid stereotypes and assumptions in your content, examples, and analogies. Everyone should feel included and respected during your talk, regardless of ability, age, gender, language, marital status, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
