Call for Speakers

Timeline

Call for Speakers

8 – 31 August 2026

Submit your talk proposal

Speaker Selection

First week of September 2026

Selected speakers notified

Agenda Announcement

Week of 6 September 2026

Full agenda goes live

What to Expect

Here's what to expect from a talk proposal for DataConf 2026:

Talk Format

40-minute presentation sessions
Cinema-style audience setup
Topics across the entire data & AI ecosystem
We prefer real experiences over sales pitches
Submit up to 2 talks (only 1 per speaker will be selected)

Speaker Benefits

Travel & accommodation covered for SA speakers
Free conference ticket included
Be part of South Africa's leading data community event

Don't Overthink It — But Do Bring Something Real

We're not asking for a finished talk. We are asking that you've thought your story through enough to tell us about it:

Keep it simple

A title, a short description, and your core points. No slides or a rehearsed talk needed to submit — that comes later.

Ground it in something real

A project you shipped, a mistake you learned from, a pattern you keep seeing in the field. We back practitioner experience over theory or a sales pitch.

Know your one takeaway

It doesn't have to be a new skill — it could be a new way of thinking about a problem, or just something worth chewing on. If you can name it in a sentence, you've got enough of a story to submit.

The story stays, the details can flex

If you're pitching "how we rolled out X," that's still the talk. But the structure, examples, and depth can all change as you prepare — it doesn't need to be locked in yet.

Topic Categories

AI (incl GenAI)
Data Engineering
Data Science
Business Intelligence
Data Governance, Security & Privacy

Machine Learning Engineering
Data Visualisation
Managing Data Teams
Data Ops
Data Ethics

Call for Speakers is now closed. Submissions are in review – selected speakers will be notified via email within this week. Watch this space for agenda and speaker announcements!