2023 Call for Papers

Call for Papers – Talks

The BSides Orlando 2023 Call for Participation is now open!

SUBMIT TO THE 2023 CFP HERE!

CFP Process – Talks

For the upcoming event we will be using the Call for Participants Process. Please follow that link and read more about being a live stream participant!

BSides Orlando is proud to have adopted an anonymous CFP review process to maximize the opportunity for new speakers and diverse voices to have their work selected by merit. Every attempt has been made to remove bias from the process while still ensuring the utmost care is taken to remove bias from selections. To achieve this BSides Orlando implemented the following process for help engaged the community and encourage people to be part of BSides Orlando to share their knowledge about information security:

CFP Review Board

Establish a CFP Review Board consisting of experienced professionals from diverse background representing different experience levels, educational focuses, socio-economic backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, and sexual orientations. The goal is to ensure we have reviewers with different perspectives that will help us reduce the possibility of implicit bypass in our overall selection. These reviewers were chosen first for their knowledge and professionalism in the field of information. Their varied backgrounds and life experiences bring a wealth of additional understanding to the review of specific topics in the field of information security. You can read more about our previous CFP Review board here.

Anonymous Review Process

BSides Orlando may change CFP submission tools between conference events selecting the best tool for the event at the time. However, we will always endeavor to use an Anonymous CFP Review Process and select tools that support that end.

Our Anonymous Review Process

Team members will be selected as part of the CFP Review Team that will see the full name and any additional details about the talk abstract. These team members will not be able to vote on the talks. They are administrators of the system. The administrators may also review the talks for details in the abstract that may give away details about the submitter. Ex: If there is a field that asks for your employer in the form that would not be passed to reviewers. If the CFP submitter includes where they work in their abstract that would be scrubbed before being sent to the reviewers to maintain anonymity. Once the administrators have closed the CFP the abstracts will be scrubbed and sent on to the reviewers.

Our CFP review board will receive the title and abstracts scrubbed of any identifying details for the speakers and rate them according to several criteria. Detail in the abstract, similarity to other reviewed talks, popularity of the abstract topic, interest to the reviewer and the BSides Orlando audience, over all quality of the abstract, and the reviewer may give general comments.

This is formed into a weighted score that is used to select talks for the available talk slots.

Board Selected Talks (70/30)

We do select talks on merit, but we also have a category of “Board Selected Talks”. This include Keynotes or nationally known speakers that BSides Orlando invites to speak for the benefit of the local information security community. Not everyone can get on a plane and travel to expensive conferences to hear well known and authoritative speakers on specific information security topics. The BSides Orlando Board and Staff may select up to 30% of the talks to be part of the conference. These Board Selected talks will be clearly identified in the schedule. Since we started this the split has been closer to 80/20 with 80% being selected by anonymous review. We are also dedicated to ensuring no more that 30% of talks are board selected to allow for new voices and speakers to have their work selected on merit while also bringing nationally known expert speakers to our local community to benefit the conference and Central Florida professionals looking to learn from them.

We are always open to feedback on this process.

CFP Talks – FAQ

What are the CFP Dates I should know about?

CFP Submissions Open: 12 Jun 2023
Deadline for CFP Submissions: 20 Aug 2023 at 11:59 PM ET
Notification of Acceptance: Round 1: Aug 4th; Round 2: Sep 6th
Training Date: October 6th, 2023
Conference Date: October 7th, 2023

Where can I see talks that have been accepted in the past?

What is the review process?

Each submission will be reviewed by our CFP Review board. Each submission will be reviewed with the following concepts as a framework for review:

Uniqueness of Topic
Timeliness or Necessity of the Topic
Value to local BSides
Value to larger Information Security Community
Thought and detail put into the abstract
Who makes up the CFP Review Board?

CFP Board

How should I submit my talk?

Our Sessionize CFP submission is open!

SUBMIT TO THE 2023 CFP HERE!

Who can I reach out to if I have more questions or want to check on the status of my talk?

You can reach out to cfp@bsidesorlando.org if you have any questions about your submission, or about submitting in general.

Can I submit a talk that has been presented somewhere else?

Yes, but it may not be accepted if it has already been presented and recorded at another large conference. Good content may be accepted even if it has been presented before.

Where can I submit my proposal to host a workshop for BSides?

For workshops, we looking for fun and new workshops to not only hold in conjunction with our conferences, but also to give throughout the year. If you have a workshop you’d like to submit, please email us at workshops@bsidesorlando.org.

Please include as much information as possible in your submission including any requirements for the workshop, an outline of what will be covered in the workshop, and any relevant prior training courses taught or other similar experience. Review for workshop submissions will not be blind, and will be handled separately from the CFP review.

Currently we are only accepting submissions for 4 hour training classes. The workshops can either be free of charge to students, or have a registration fee. Because BSides Orlando is intended to be an affordable community event, we will primarily focus on free or low cost workshops that will offer a great value to our attendees.

CFP Tips

Read Everything on this Page
Do not Include Vendor Pitches or Marketing
Look Through Previous Talks
Start and Submit Early
Check for Grammar and Spelling

2023 4
2022 1

2022

/unprecedented-times/

BSides Orlando 2022: Unprecedented Times