The Call for Papers for Scala Exchange 2015 went out today. Once again, Underscore are proud to be assisting with the organisation of the conference, and once again we will be providing assistance to new speakers and attendees.

The only requirement for benefitting from these services is that you are a first-time speaker or attendee at a Scala conference. To apply, simply check the I would like additional feedback on my submission box on the Call for Papers, or get in touch directly to discuss your talk ideas!

Shepherding for Talk Proposals A lot of people don’t submit talk abstracts to conferences because they can’t think of something to say or don’t think their ideas are interesting. We’ll provide advice and feedback to help you turn your ideas into a concrete talk proposal, to submit along-side all the other abstracts from potential speakers. Asking us for help won’t guarantee you a slot in the programme, but it will give you an idea for a talk that would compete against the other submissions. If you have a good talk idea but for some reason it doesn’t make it into the conference, we will help you find another conference or meetup group for your first public speaking experience.

Speaker Training A lot of people are concerned or nervous about speaking in public. We are offering free public speaking workshops for any new speaker who submits an abstract to the conference, whether your abstract is accepted or not. Depending on demand, we will offer face-to-face workshops for people in the London area and/or Google Hangouts for people across the globe. There are a limited number of spaces available on these Hangouts, but we hope to be able to support everyone we can.

Help with Presentation Writing If your abstract is accepted to the conference, we are offering free mentoring services to provide advice and feedback as you turn your abstract into a talk.