So you've submitted your proposal, what happens next?
21 Apr 2025Firstly—thank you! Submitting a proposal to speak at PyCon UK 2025 takes thought, time, and for many, a whole lot of courage, and we appreciate every single submission we receive. Now that you’ve clicked that submit button, you might be wondering what happens behind the scenes. Well, in that case, you’ve come to the right place! In this blog post, we thought we’d outline the process our team follows to review all your brilliant ideas and shape the PyCon UK 2025 conference programme.
Round 1 review
Once the submission deadline has passed, we kick off a blinded review process. This means reviewers won’t see who submitted each proposal—names and identifying details are hidden. This approach allows reviewers to focus solely on the content of the proposal, nothing else.
In the Python community, many people know each other personally, so a blinded review takes any emotional strain, bias or partiality out of the process.
We hope to have at least five independent reviews per proposal, though many will receive more. Each reviewer spends up to 5 minutes per proposal, with some taking more or less time depending on the complexity. With upwards of 170 proposals at the last conference (and likely more this year), it’s a significant commitment from our volunteer reviewers!
Each reviewer assigns a rating and writes some feedback to explain their rating or highlight something particularly noteworthy about the submission.
Regardless of the topic, the care taken in writing the proposal makes a big difference to its success. Sloppy or low-effort submissions, and proposals written—or “refined”—by large language models are easy to spot and generally don’t do well. We value respect for the audience and for the conference, so proposals that show novelty, imagination, rigour, personal research, and thoughtfulness, all help a submission stand out in a positive way.
Round 2 review
At this stage of the review process, we do see the names of the speakers. Who a speaker is and their experiences can make a big difference to their perspective and insights on a given topic. We also want to ensure we have a balanced and inclusive set of voices on our stage, and we’re committed to featuring new faces.
Initially, we gather as a team to review the tranche of the lowest-rated proposals. These are typically easy decisions, but we double-check them together in case a hidden gem was overlooked. We also identify the “must-haves”—the standout proposals that received enthusiastic reviews across the board. These are the ones we know we want to include.
Then, the tougher decisions begin. It’s not just about selecting the best proposals, but curating a programme that is coherent, diverse, and engaging for everyone who’ll be attending the conference. Sometimes we receive multiple excellent proposals on the same topic—especially if it turns out to be the “hot topic” of the year. In those cases, we choose the most distinctive or complementary ones. Proposals covering neglected or novel topics may get a boost for their uniqueness.
We strive to ensure our programme includes a range of technical difficulty and that it brings together sessions that naturally complement each other. Sometimes two proposals enhance each other so well that they become more than the sum of their parts.
Final decisions
We have three full conference days to fill, followed by one day of sprints. Despite this, we always have more excellent proposals than we can possibly fit into the schedule.
The final stage of decision-making—allocating the last few slots—can be the hardest. It takes a lot of time and energy, and multiple meetings, to make those final calls. However, once the programme is finally complete, we contact everyone who submitted a proposal to let them know the outcome.
Whether accepted or not, we’re incredibly grateful for the time, effort, and heart that every single person puts into their submission. So, if that’s you, thank you! 🐍💚
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