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S4x26 Call For Presentations Is Open

Get On Stage And Create The Future

S4x26 CFP Closes In

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Here’s your chance to share your big idea, your great technical work, or anything that will make a difference with 1,100 of the best in world OT security talent. The early adopters and thought leaders who can help you make your idea a reality. Help you create the future.

The S4x26 Call For Presentations is now open. You can apply by filling out this form or send what’s new and important in your proposed session to cfp@s4xevents.com. We need to fill three stages with ~60 great sessions.

Here is our top 10 list of tips on getting accepted to speak (perform) on the S4 stage:

  1. Don’t overthink it. Just submit two to three paragraphs to cfp@s4xevents.com
  2. What is new and important for the advanced OT security professional in your proposed session? Focus on what will or should happen in the next 1 – 3 years.
  3. We evaluate talks as they come in. Early submission improves your chances.
  4. If it’s a great talk for other OT security events, it likely isn’t a fit for S4.
  5. Our most common responses to submissions:
    • Good talk for most OT security events but not a fit for S4.
    • Please clarify in 3 sentences or less what’s new and important in your proposed session.
    • It might be a fit if you focused on this particular aspect.
    • It’s not a fit, but have you considered this related issue.
    • Congratulations, you’ve been selected for the S4 stage.
  6. We take great care of our speakers. Detailed presentation review, stage info package, support from the green room until your done, hair & makeup, multi-camera video you can use, …
  7. We don’t do panels. We rarely have program/initiative/standard sessions, lessons learned, good/bad/ugly.
  8. Main Stage is for all attendees. Stage 2 sessions need to be highly technical. Stage 3 is for sessions appealing to a niche.
  9. Performing at S4 includes free ticket, speaker swag bag, video, and fame. Let us know if you will be personally paying for expenses.
  10. Don’t overthink it. Just submit two to three paragraphs to cfp@s4xevents.com

Watch Dale explain each of the 10 items in the video below to improve your submission and chances of being accepted.

BTW, if you are attending S4x26 there will be other chances to get on stage, such as Unsolicited Response and My Favorite Metric. Or you can sing on the Karaoke Stage at the Welcome Party.

The Stages

The Main Stage

The place for Big Ideas for all attendees. You will be asked to submit your Big Idea in one or two sentences, and then you can provide additional detail. The Big Idea doesn’t have to be completely new. It could be a spin or different way of looking at something. We also put related field sessions on the big stage such as insurance, economics, international relations, reputation management, etc.

This stage seats 1,100 and has a 5-camera shoot. It will be full for the keynote blocks in the morning. After that it competes with Stage 2 and Stage 3 for attendees.

Stage 2 – Technical Deep Dives

Stage 2 is S4’s heritage. Very detailed, highly technical sessions. You can’t get too technical for the Stage 2 audience. This is the reason they come to S4. The key here is to focus on what is new and important about your technical session. What new exploit, testing method, post exploit technique, protection or detection approach, … do you want to share with the audience?

Stage 2 seats 400+ people and is a 4-camera shoot.

Stage 3

Stage 3 is for sessions that will appeal to a subsection of the S4 attendees, a niche. It could be a specific industrial sector. It could be for a specific asset owner role. Or it could be something that you feel isn’t big enough for the Main Stage or technical enough for Stage 2. Stage 3 seats 200 people and is a 3-camera shoot. Stage 3 has had some standing room only sessions at recent S4 events.