CFP in three steps, part 3: the submit

Monday, Oct 20, 2025 | 1 minute read

Alex Rivera

Part 3 is logistics: paste the abstract from the talk template, then close the laptop.

On this theme the canonical abstract lives under /talks/templates/. The blog series is the story around it, not a second copy of the CFP text.

Paste, do not rewrite

Open the template, copy the language you will speak, submit. Rewriting per conference is how CFP season turns into twelve drafts of the same paragraph.

Say no

A hook that fits Devoxx will not fit a 25-minute lightning track. The third step is choosing rooms, not filling every form.

Previous page From laptop to stage: rehearsing a demo that survives Wi-Fi

Next page CFP in three steps, part 2: the outline

How this About page is built

The About layout lists socials from data/socials.toml, then each Markdown file in content/about/ except index.md, sorted by filename. That is why the files are named 10-me.md, 20-details.md, 30-speaking.md.

Add a file, pick a title in front matter, write Markdown. No extra template work.

Speaking

Alex (still fictional) talks about search, observability, and community. Recurring abstracts live under /talks/templates/. The map at /talks/map/ is built from conference.latitude and conference.longitude on each talk — there is no separate geo database.

If you present in more than one language, set talk-lang on the talk and add a versions entry on the template. The theme renders tabs so you can paste the right abstract into a CFP.

Who am I?

Alex Rivera is a fictional Developer Advocate used only in this example site. The biography, conferences, and co-speaker are invented so you can copy the content shape without copying a real person.

In a real site this section is the first 10-*.md file on the About page: short, first person or third, with the links that do not belong in the nav.

Social Links