We are pleased to announce the Call for Proposals for LambdaConf 2018.
LambdaConf is the largest interdisciplinary functional programming conference in the Mountain West, and one of the largest and most well-known functional programming conferences in the world.
The conference takes place June 3rd - 5th, in Boulder, Colorado, at the University of Colorado Boulder, and is preceded by commercial training opportunities and followed by a day of third-party mini-conferences on selected topics.
If you are an educator, a researcher, a speaker, a speaker coach, or someone aspiring to one of the preceding, then we warmly welcome you to submit a proposal for LambdaConf 2018. No prior experience is necessary for most proposals, and we welcome beginner-level content.
The Call for Proposals closes at the beginning of February 2018. We recommend submitting as early as you can to ensure sufficient time for editing.
LambdaConf attracts everyone from the FP-curious to researchers advancing state-of-the-art; hobbyists, professionals, academics and students. Material at all levels, including beginner content and very advanced content, will find an audience at LambdaConf.
Historically, LambdaConf has enjoyed a large selection of sessions on statically-typed functional programming, and a smaller selection of sessions on dynamically-typed functional programming. Some sessions are not tied to specific programming languages, but rather cover topics in abstract algebra, category theory, type theory, programming language theory, functional architecture, and so on, either generally or in a way that applies across many programming languages.
LambdaConf looks for sessions in the following areas:
Languages. Proposals that overview or dive into specific features of functional, math, or logic programming languages (both new and existing), with the goal of exposing developers to new ideas or helping them master features of languages they already know.
Libraries. Proposals that discuss libraries that leverage functional or logic programming to help programmers solve real-world problems.
Concepts. Proposals that discuss functional programming idioms, patterns, or abstractions; or concepts from mathematics, logic, and computer science, all directed at helping developers write software that's easier to test, easier to reason about, and easier to change safely.
Applications. Proposals that discuss how functional programming can help with specific aspects of modern software development, including scalability, distributed systems, concurrency, data processing, security, performance, correctness, user-interfaces, machine learning, and big data.
Use Cases. Proposals that discuss how functional programming enabled a project or team to thrive, or deliver more business value than possible with other approaches.
Cherry Picking. Proposals that show how techniques and approaches from functional programming can be adapted and incorporated into mainstream development languages and practices, to the benefit of developers using them.
Cautionary Tales. Proposals that call attention to difficulties of functional programming (both as a cautionary tale but also to raise awareness), especially such proposals that suggest alternatives or a path forward.
Efficacy. Proposals that present data, measurements, or analysis that suggests different techniques, paradigms, languages, libraries, concepts, or approaches have different efficacies for given specified metrics, which provide actionable takeaways to practicing functional and logic programmers.
Off-Topic. Proposals that have appeal to a mainstream developer audience (the number of off-topic proposals we accept is small, but we do accept some, especially for keynotes).
LambdaConf accepts proposals for the following types of sessions:
Leap Workshops (6h). Leap Workshops are approximately 6 hours in length. They are in-depth, hands-on workshops designed to teach mainstream functional programming topics in enough detail, attendees can immediately apply what they learn in their jobs. We require that speakers follow our recommended format for Leap Workshops, although we allow exceptions for experienced teachers.
Hop Workshops (2h). Hop Workshops are 2 hours in length. Like Leap Workshops, these workshops are in-depth and hands-on, but they cover reduced content and may be specialized to topics that may not have mainstream appeal. We require that speakers follow our recommended format for Hop Workshops, although we allow exceptions for experienced teachers.
De Novo Sessions (50m). De Novo Sessions are 50 minutes in length. These sessions are designed to present original work from industry and academia. While the requirements for proposals are more rigorous, there is less competition for De Novo slots.
Educational Sessions (50m). Educational Sessions are 50 minutes in length. These sessions are designed to clearly and concisely teach one useful concept, skill, aspect, library, or language to attendees.
Inspire Talks (5m). Inspire talks are 5 minutes in length and focus on clear communication of a single takeaway. These sessions are intended to inspire attendees to learn more about particular subjects or to try new approaches, and must follow Ignite-style, which consists of 20 slides, each auto-advancing after 15 seconds.
Keynotes (40m). Keynotes are 40 minutes in length, and are presented before all attendees (there are no other sessions concurrent with keynotes). Keynotes are designed to offer thought-provoking, opinionated, and insightful commentary on topics of interest to the community.
Level of reimbursement varies based on the type of proposal you are selected for:
Leap Workshops (6 hours). Speakers for Leap Workshops receive a free ticket, a speaker gift, a speaker dinner, up to 4 days accommodations, full travel reimbursement, and a small honorarium.
Hop Workshops (2 hours) / Educational (50m) / De Novo (50m) / Keynote (50m). Speakers for Hop Workshops, Educational, De Novo, and Keynote receive a free ticket, a speaker gift, a speaker dinner, and up to 4 days accommodations. Speakers may also request travel assistance, which is dealt out based on availability and need, and which may cover up to $250 for domestic travel, and $500 for international travel.
Inspire (5m). As Inspire talks are only 5 minutes in length, Inspire speakers receive a speaker gift and a speaker dinner, but must purchase a ticket and pay for travel and accommodations on their own.
If you are accepted for a specific type of proposal (e.g. Educational), we cannot guarantee that you will get a slot of this type. Based on scheduling requirements, feedback from the committee, or feedback from your speaker coach, we may require you to change the format of your session.
You may submit as many proposals as you like, though we recommend spending more time refining fewer proposals, since the quality of your proposals has a significant effect on their chances of acceptance by the blind committee. If you wish to maximize your chances of having a proposal accepted, we also recommend spreading 2-3 proposals across multiple categories, because some categories are fiercely competitive, while others are less competitive.
For more information, please see the Call for Proposals website.
Regards,