Call for PApers
[OPens SOON]
Speak at MTF2024
From panels to presentations, we have over 100 speaking opportunities across 20 different tech topics at this years festival. Whether you’re a seasoned speaker or its your first time, we are looking for a diverse range of speakers to bring our festival to life.
Our call for papers open soon and we recommend signing up to our newsletter ready for when we announce next years dates!
Talk Topics
This year we want to hear from talks in the below areas:
Additional topics include:
AI, AR/VR, Crypto & Blockchain, Digital Transformation, Ecommerce, FinTech, INfoSec, Innovation, Machine Learning, Mobile, Recruitment & Talent, Retail and Sustainability.
How to apply
To apply we ask for:
- The proposed title for your talk
- Description of your talk. This should be between 800-1000 characters long (roughly 200 words)
- Talk categories. Select three categories that your talk applies to, we will use these to ensure you are placed in the right track in the festival if your talk is selected
- A biography. This should be between 500-700 characters and outline your past speaking experience and relevant career highlights
- Whether you are happy to sit on a panel. This will not go against you in the evaluation process, it simply helps us to plan the festival!
We will also ask for your personal details including Name, Email, Job Title (Speaker tagline), and the company you work for. These will be used to process your application and your email address will not be shared outside of Manchester Tech Festival.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Manchester Tech Festival is all about inclusion, whether you have spoken publicly before or attended a panel makes no difference to us. We encourage you to submit your ideas if there is something you feel passionate about, you’ve made a discovery or want to share your experience in the tech industry. No Idea is a bad idea!
If this is your first time public speaking or you need a refresh, we’ve got you covered! In the lead up to the event wewill be providing support sessions for those who are selected. Further to this we will provide a briefing session; an opportunity for you to meet your panel members and our moderators before the event takes place, so that by the time the main event is here you’re confident and ready to share your knowledge and experience with the MTF community.
Manchester Tech Festival is not a Pay to Play event, whilst our sponsors will be provided a limited number of slots, speaking and panellists opportunities are mostly available to the community. Our event is for the tech community of Manchester and therefore we will not reimburse expenses to ensure we can reinvest as much money into making our event the best it can be.
Yes! We know that you may have a lot you want to talk about or expertise in more than one area, that’s why we welcome more than one submission per person. However, due to the number of applications we receive each year, we limit applications to a maximum of three per person.
Once you have submitted your application, a minimum of three expert judges will score your application in four main areas:
- Is your talk relevant to the categories you have chosen and the attendees of the festival
- Is your talk something new? Is it interesting and will it engage the audience?
- Is your talk factually correct and can the content be substantiated if challenged?
- Easy to understand. Is your talk easy for our audience to understand or is it just too tech heavy?
We will also take into consideration any previous speaking experience, but don’t let this put you off applying if you are new to speaking, we will simply use this to gauge where you would be best placed within the festival if you are selected!
Once your applications are scored, they will be compared with other applications by our entire judging panel. If selected you will receive an email with an offer to speak at the festival and must confirm this offer to us by the deadline given.
Our judging panel
Our judging panel is made up of industry professionals from both our sponsors and organising board. Our strict process ensures that all of our judging panel members remain impartial throughout the process and their expertise ensure we have the best talks throughout the festival.