Public speaking

At Mattermost, we encourage public speaking at all levels, from small meetups to large international conferences. The DevRel team is available to assist you with public speaking. To contact the DevRel team, join the ~DevRelOps channel on Hub.

How to get started

You could start with small meetups in your city or region, or jump straight to larger events, depending on your preference. To find small meetups, we recommend checking Meetup. For larger conferences, check sites like Papercall, Sessionize, or Developers Events.

A common challenge for beginners is selecting a topic and preparing the CFP (Call For Papers). You can join the ~DevRelOps channel for assistance with CFP creation.

Once your CFP is ready, you need to prepare your slides. The DevRel team can review your slides, give you feedback, or even have a working session to prepare the content.

After preparing your slides, there are multiple options for rehearsing your talk. The weekly Developers Meeting and R&D Meeting are great opportunities to practice delivering your content.

Finally, once you are selected to attend a conference or meetup, Mattermost can provide the necessary support. Mattermost can assist with booking the hotel and transportation (if required), and the company will cover the cost (if the conference doesn't cover it). For more information, see How to spend company money.

How to select an event

When selecting an event to apply for, consider this rule: the bigger and more high-impact the event, the farther you can travel.

We encourage you to apply to as many small events as you want in your city or region (when no flight/hotel is needed). For example, a DevOpsDays near you.

We encourage you to apply to any medium or large event in your country. Events with over 300 attendees are considered medium or large. For example, Codemotion or Commit Conf would be considered medium or large events in Spain.

We encourage you to apply to any major or relevant international event. Events with over 1000 attendees or those recognized as industry benchmarks are considered major or relevant, such as GopherCon, PgEurope, or FOSDEM.

If the event covers the cost of your flight and hotel, you can attend regardless of the conference's size.

Additionally, we focus on conferences related to Mattermost's objectives (mission-critical work) or the technologies we use. For instance, conferences on cybersecurity, DevOps, AI, Go, Postgres, and Kubernetes are good options, whereas Java or Ruby events are not. More general conferences that include relevant topics are also acceptable.

Consult the ~DevRelOps channel if you are unsure whether an event is significant or relevant enough.

Requirements about content

At Mattermost, we don't have any restrictions on the content of your talks; you can speak about whatever you want (always being respectful). However, we encourage you to highlight the great things we do at Mattermost. Additionally, we encourage you to mention Mattermost during your introduction. For example, "My name is XXX, and I'm YYY at Mattermost. For those who don't know, Mattermost is a communication platform for mission-critical infrastructure." If you are unsure about the best way to mention Mattermost, reach out to the ~DevRelOps channel.

When speaking at a conference, you represent Mattermost to a certain degree, so we expect you to be respectful and professional, regardless of your topic. We also expect you not to share any private data during conferences and, of course, to follow the conference's "Code of Conduct."

After submitting a proposal to a CFP, add it to Mattermost's thought leadership spreadsheet for tracking. If selected, update the spreadsheet and notify the ~DevRelOps channel.

FAQ

Q: Should I take PTO to speak at a conference? A: No, travel and conference days are considered work days for you.

Q: Can I expense breakfast, lunch, or dinner? A: If the conference already provides breakfast, lunch, or dinner, do not expense it. If not, follow spending guidelines.

Q: Can I expense transportation? A: Yes, if you need to book a plane, call a rideshare, or use other transportation, follow spending guidelines.

Q: Can I expense lodging? A: If the conference is not covering the hotel, you can expense it. Follow spending guidelines.

Q: Can I expense a luxury restaurant? A: Avoid luxury places, but any place where you would go to eat on a regular day should work. It doesn't need to be cheap, but spend company money like it's your own.

Q: Can I expense other things? A: Try to use common sense, but ask the DevRel team if you have any doubts.

Q: Who has to approve my expenses? A: Public speaking expenses should be submitted in Airbase.

Q: I'm a team lead, from which budget is paid the cost of public speaking for my team members? A: The cost of public speaking is paid from the DevRel budget.