Thanks for considering to the LeadDev Call for Proposals.
Our open CFPs can be found below with more details of the process, the support we provide and what topics we look for.
Good morning New York!
We’re super excited to announce that LeadingEng is returning to New York on 21 March 2024 - and for the first time ever, we’re running a call for proposals!
About LeadingEng
LeadingEng is a one day event aimed specifically at the challenges that Heads, Directors, and VPs of engineers are facing. We understand the issues on your desk are different from more junior engineering leaders - which means that you need not only different content but also different ways to learn.
That’s why at LeadingEng events, we group you together with folks at similar organisations who are going through similar challenges so that you can build a peer network - because it can be lonely at the top and other engineering leaders are a valuable tool in your development. And on top of that, the day features four interactive sessions where you’ll be doing solo and group exercises that will help you practically engage with what you’ve just learnt.
What topics are we interested in?
Each LeadingEng event in 2024 will focus on four key themes: you, your team, your org, and your mission. We’ve detailed a bit about them below - but if you have an idea that doesn’t quite fit, let us know anyway! We may just find space for a special wildcard talks!
- You (Personal Development) - as you get more senior, there are fewer people both within and outside your org who have comparable positions - and you’re probably getting less feedback than you ever have before. So how do develop yourself effectively? Sample topics include: building a peer network from who you can learn; strategies for keeping technically current; how to keep learning and growing as a leader.
- Your teams (Organisational Leadership) - managing individual contributors is an entirely different tasks from managing managers - and managing teams means there’s also a tonne more work beneath you that you have to understand. So how can you effectively lead your teams? Sample topics include: how to effectively build relationships to folks below you; how to structure teams and conduct reorgs; building and maintaining culture.
- Your org (Business Efficiency) - as you grow into more senior roles, the practice of engineering stops becoming your primary focus. Decisions become about the business - and you need to engage with both commercial decisions and the other functions of the business that support them. So how do you become an effective business leader? Sample topics include: building commercial acumen; working cross functional with leaders in other functions; influencing non-technical leaders.
- Your mission (Delivering at Pace) - fundamentally the core of your job as a senior engineering leader is to ensure that your team can complete its work effectively. But that doesn’t only mean moving quick - but also moving in the right direction. So how do you get your teams to work on the most impactful work in an effective way? Sample topics include: setting priorities and roadmaps; delivering on and defining strategic goals; identifying and debugging delivery issues.
Themes for LeadingEng 2024
We are super interested in any idea that you have the falls into the above categories - but for LeadingEng New York 2024, we've also set four themes in which we're particularly interested. We've detailed them below, and you can read all about them at this link:
- Leading a company (and a workforce) that hasn’t experienced recession
- Measuring infrastructure and enablement investments
- Avoiding the priority zero trap
- Managing expectations around promotion and development
The speaker experience
Working with speakers is one of our favourite things about running LeadingEng. We love to giving you the opportunity to share your stories and knowledge with our audience - and we put a tonne of work in to help your content shine. Throughout the process, you’ll have the opportunity to work with our editor on your talk descriptions, our professional coach who’ll help you hone your presentation delivery, and our content team who’ll review your talk and help you sharpen it for our audience.
As a speaker for the event, we'd also offer you:
- A free ticket to the conference
- A complimentary ticket to a LeadDev conference in 2024
- 2 nights accommodation at the conference hotel
- Economy travel expenses
- Professional speaker coaching if requested
- Dedicated support from our team at all stages of your participation in the conference
Good luck
We hope that's given you all the information you need to submit a great proposal. We can't wait to read them!
Good morning New York!
We’re super excited to announce that StaffPlus is returning to New York on 19-20 March 2024. We're back with double the days, incredible content, the best community in engineering, and soon - your talk proposal!
About StaffPlus
StaffPlus is an event aimed specifically at the challenges faced by Staff Engineers, Principal Engineers, and other folks on the technical track in their organisations. Senior ICs are leaders at their companies and their roles require as many new skills as stepping into management - but more often than not, companies don't provide support for that transition.
That's why we're bringing together the most incredible community of leaders on the technical track to think about what it means to be a senior individual contributor in today's engineering landscape; how to navigating your role as a leader; how to frame your strategic thinking; how to bring your organisation up a level technically; and more!
What topics are we interested in?
All of our StaffPlus events are focused around four themes: big picture thinking, making the right technical decisions, influence at scale, and crunchy tech talks. We’ve detailed a bit about them below and remember, you can submit more than one idea!
- Big Picture Thinking - As you scale the technical track, the impact of your decisions increases. Strategic planning; consistently prioritizing the “big picture”; thinking about systems and architecture, and how choices impact the engineering org and the business in the long term all become core to your role.
- Making the Right Technical Decisions - Very senior ICs are ‘force multipliers’. You’re expected to lead, execute and complete deeply technical projects across teams. In other words, you are continuously pushing on a project to ensure forward progress, filling in the gaps when needed, while understanding at what altitude you should be working.
- Influence at Scale - As a high-impacting engineer, you don’t just focus on solving technical problems, you have to influence other people to make things happen. But getting a large group of folks to walk in the same direction to bring the whole organisation to an upper level is easier said than done, especially when you won’t directly manage team members. So how can you be a good influence?
- Crunchy Tech Talks - Senior ICs solve technical problems of the highest scope, complexity, and ambiguity. Making high-value, high-impact technical decisions and recommendations and motivating teams to deliver is core to your role. We particularly value case studies in this category - check out Maude's talk from last year to see exactly what we mean.
Themes for StaffPlus 2024
We are super interested in any idea that you have the falls into the above categories - but for StaffPlus New York 2024, we've also set four themes in which we're particularly interested. We've detailed them below, and you can read all about them at this link:
- Navigating IC + manager + exec relationships
- Pitching projects effectively
- Maintaining and reducing infrastructure costs
- Practically engaging with AI
The speaker experience
Working with speakers is one of our favourite things about running StaffPlus. We love to giving you the opportunity to share your stories and knowledge with our audience - and we put a tonne of work in to help your content shine. Throughout the process, you’ll have the opportunity to work with our editor on your talk descriptions, our professional coach who’ll help you hone your presentation delivery, and our content team who’ll review your talk and help you sharpen it for our audience.
As a speaker for the event, we'd also offer you:
- A free ticket to the conference
- A complimentary ticket to a LeadDev conference in 2024
- 2 nights accommodation at the conference hotel
- Economy travel expenses
- Professional speaker coaching if requested
- Dedicated support from our team at all stages of your participation in the conference
Good luck
We hope that's given you all the information you need to submit a great proposal. We can't wait to read them!
Good morning New York!
We’re super excited to announce that LeadDev is returning to New York on 19-20 March 2024. We're moving to a new venue, bringing even more folks together, and taking control in a time that feels more uncertain than ever!
About LeadDev
LeadDev is an event aimed specifically at the challenges faced by engineering leaders. If you're a Tech Lead, Engineering Manager, Staff Engineer, or a touch more senior than that - then this is the place for you. And every event focuses on two things: how to give you the skills to be the most effective in your job; and how you can supercharge the effectiveness of your team.
And now, more than ever, it feels important to be talking about that! The tech industry is going through some really big shifts - and many of us have never worked in an environment like this before. So how can we support each other through this change? And what's story do you have that could help other engineering leaders?
What topics are we interested in?
All of our LeadDev events are focused around three big themes: team, tech, and tools. We’ve detailed a bit about them below and remember, you can submit more than one idea!
- Team - Our team talks cover anything related to leadership, personal development, and anything that happens within the unit of your teams. Think about: the skills that you need to be an effective leader; skills for growing people; creating inclusive and diverse environments; hiring and retention; adapting to new roles.
- Tech - Our tech talks cover anything you need to run an effective technical team in 2024. We love hearing case studies for our tech talks - real stories about what went right and what went wrong (which is always more interesting!). Think about: new languages, frameworks, technologies, scaling, architecture.
- Tools - Our rools talks cover anything related to the way your teams get work done. Think about: agile and other delivery methods; frameworks for meetings like code reviews and 1:1s; on call; observability; continuous integration; velocity and debugging productivity; maintaining a high performing team.
Themes for LeadDev 2024
We are super interested in any idea that you have the falls into the above categories - but for LeadDev New York 2024, we've also set four themes in which we're particularly interested. We've detailed them below, and you can read all about them at this link:
- Navigating the non-boom market
- Developing your reports and performance management
- Maintaining reliability
- Tackling build vs buy
The speaker experience
Working with speakers is one of our favourite things about running LeadDev. We love to giving you the opportunity to share your stories and knowledge with our audience - and we put a tonne of work in to help your content shine. Throughout the process, you’ll have the opportunity to work with our editor on your talk descriptions, our professional coach who’ll help you hone your presentation delivery, and our content team who’ll review your talk and help you sharpen it for our audience.
As a speaker for the event, we'd also offer you:
- A free ticket to the conference
- A complimentary ticket to a LeadDev conference in 2024
- 2 nights accommodation at the conference hotel
- Economy travel expenses
- Professional speaker coaching if requested
- Dedicated support from our team at all stages of your participation in the conference
Good luck
We hope that's given you all the information you need to submit a great proposal. We can't wait to read them!
Who will you be writing for or speaking to?
Our audience consists of all senior engineering folk, from tech leads to VPs and senior ICs. They are consistently technical (across a very broad range of technologies and industries) with many line managing people in their organisations. It’s also important to note that some attendees have just been promoted, or are trying to figure out what skills they need to progress into a more technical role.
What does LeadDev offer?
If we choose your article for publication, we’ll offer all the support we can in the creation of your article. After a first draft has been handed in, it will be passed to our in-house editor who will work with you to ensure that your article is the best that it can be.
We also pay an honorarium of $250 to everyone who writes an article for our site.
What subject should you focus on?
- Team (anything related to people management, inclusive & diverse environments, hiring & retention, challenging issues etc.)
- Tech (anything related to new languages, frameworks & technologies, trends & changes, scaling, architecture etc.)
- Process (anything related to the way your team works, Agile & other delivery methods, maintaining a high-performing team etc.)
- Personal Development (anything related to improving leadership skills, maintaining your mental health, adapting to a new role etc.)
- StaffPlus (anything on big picture thinking, making the right technical decisions, or influencing at scale)
How our article review process works
We review all of the article proposals on a monthly basis. Article proposals will be reviewed the month after they have been submitted. Article proposals are reviewed during the first week of the month, and you’ll hear from the team during the second week of the month.
For example, if you submit an article proposal in February, we’ll review your submission during the first week of March. You’ll then find out if your proposal has been selected for publication during the second week of March.
If you haven’t heard back from us, please give us some time before reaching out to enquire about the status of your article proposal - we might just be running a little late! If it has been 4 or more weeks, feel free to get in touch with a member of the team to enquire about the status of your submission :)
If your article has been selected, we’ll be in touch with the next steps and the timeline for you to write your article within (this tends to be 3-4 weeks).
If you have any questions about the article submission process, you can contact a member of the team at hello@leaddev.com