Submit To Perform On The S4x27 Stage

The S4 stage is the best place to reach an audience of over 1,000 thought leaders, early adopters, and the people who are driving change in the OT security community. Every year there are speakers and ideas introduced on the S4 stage that make a big impact.

Our CFP process is different than most events. We highly recommend you watch this video before submitting.

1. We evaluate sessions as they come in. You will get a Yes, No, or Maybe answer within a week. Your best chance of getting on the S4 stage is to submit in the first month, prior to July 15th.
2. Really think about your big idea or key point and state it in a sentence or two in the form.
3. Avoid broad and shallow presentations. Overviews. Narrow and deep is almost always better for S4.
4. We will look to see if there is a kernel of an idea that could be in your proposed sessions. A common response is no to your session proposal, and we think there may be a S4 session in this one aspect of what you proposed.
5. The S4 audience is advanced. They don’t need OT security 101 or 201 sessions. If you have given or seen a similar session at other events, it likely isn’t a S4 session.
6. Don’t suggest a panel. We rarely, maybe one per event, accept a proposed panel.
7. Don’t overthink it or put many hours into your submission. If you have something that we believe could be a great S4 session we will work with you to turn it into a S4 session.

It is common for there to be four to eight emails and even a couple of Zooms to take a submission to an accepted S4 talk. Submit early and often.

If you have any questions or difficulty with the typeform, email us at cfp@s4xevents.com.

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 1,000 people (1,500 for keynotes) and has a 5-camera shoot. 

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 600 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 350 people and is a 3-camera shoot. Stage 3 has had some standing room only sessions at recent S4 events.