Lead a session
Submissions are now closed for SPA Software in Practice 2018.
Lead a session
SPA Software in Practice is about practitioners from any aspect of software development - technology, people and process - sharing their thoughts and knowledge, and learning together.
All the sessions are interactive - everyone can be an active participant and learn by doing.
What are we looking for?
We welcome a wide variety of perspectives on all aspects of software development - new ideas, old ideas rediscovered, creativity, the unexpected, reflection and fun. In the past we’ve had sessions on programming languages, tools, techniques, design, architecture, testing, coaching, team dynamics, pairing and organising a team’s work.
We’ve also had some great sessions on topics you might not expect at a software conference, like sketching, speed reading, and education. We really like sessions like this too - they give us more opportunities to think about and try a wide range of things.
At SPA Software in Practice you can experiment and try something new, or bring a session you’ve perfected elsewhere - we value both. All submissions get feedback to help them improve, and accepted sessions will be assigned a shepherd to help with preparation so we’ll support you along the way.
You can get an idea of the sort of sessions that have run previously from the websites for previous years' conferences.
But don't be constrained by any of these ideas; maybe you've got something totally new to bring. We'd like to hear it.
We’d love to see in your proposal how you’ll make your session interactive and get participants involved. You can get some ideas of ways to do that from our page of suggestions for interactivity or propose anything else you like.
Who do we want to hear from?
Anyone involved in the process of developing software, whatever your role - product manager, artist, developer, musician, business analyst, designer...
We particularly encourage speakers who are new to presenting at SPA Software in Practice. If you submit early, our feedback process will allow you to tune your proposal before the final review stage.
The submission and selection process
To submit your proposal, complete the form on the website.
Your submission is completely anonymous right up until we have the draft programme - then we just check no-one has too many sessions in, or several at the same time.
All sessions submitted by 10pm on 21st January 2018 will receive feedback to help improve the proposal.
Submissions can be edited until the final deadline of 10pm on 18th February 2018.
The submission and selection process is described in more detail here.
What we offer
We will help you make your session the best it can be, both through our feedback process prior to the submissions deadline and our shepherding process if your session is accepted. More detail on these stages is here.
The first two named presenters of each accepted session receive a free ticket to SPA Software in Practice. If you have already purchased a ticket before the programme is announced, you will receive a full refund. See here for conditions.
The conference is not run for profit but we do have some funds available to help cover travel and accommodation expenses for speakers whose employer will not cover their expenses. If this applies to you, please tick the travel assistance box when you submit your proposal and we’ll get in touch if your talk is selected. (Along with speakers' names, this field won't be visible to anyone during the review process.)
Important dates
The conference: 2nd – 4th July 2018 - British Computer Society, London, UK
Submissions submitted before 10pm on 21st January 2018 will receive feedback and may be resubmitted.
Submissions deadline: 10pm, 18th February 2018
Programme announced: mid-April 2018
If you're uncertain about whether to submit your idea, or have other queries, please feel free to get in touch with us at
Jenny Duckett and Melinda Seckington, Programme Chairs, SPA Software in Practice 2018