--- title: A First Time Speaker’s Journey from CFP to Stage | daily.dev description: A first-time conference speaker shares their end-to-end experience submitting a CFP to The Lead Developer New York, getting accepted for a 10-minute lightning... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-first-time-speaker-s-journey-from-cfp-to-stage-livaerx4d twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A First Time Speaker’s Journey from CFP to Stage | daily.dev og:description: A first-time conference speaker shares their end-to-end experience submitting a CFP to The Lead Developer New York, getting accepted for a 10-minute lightning... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-first-time-speaker-s-journey-from-cfp-to-stage-livaerx4d og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/LIvAERx4d.png og:image:alt: A First Time Speaker’s Journey from CFP to Stage og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A First Time Speaker’s Journey from CFP to Stage **[Touchlab](https://daily.dev/sources/touchlab)** · 12 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A first-time conference speaker shares their end-to-end experience submitting a CFP to The Lead Developer New York, getting accepted for a 10-minute lightning talk, and preparing through multiple iterations — a meetup, a webinar, and progressively trimmed slide decks. The post covers the CFP submission process, the two-month wait, and the three-month preparation journey including outlining, slide creation, design collaboration, and practice. It also touches on the day-of experience, managing nerves, and the personal and professional growth gained from the process. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Foojay Podcast \#88: From Code to Stage: Organizing Conferences and Finding Your Voice as a Speake](https://daily.dev/posts/foojay-podcast-88-from-code-to-stage-organizing-conferences-and-finding-your-voice-as-a-speake-vuh3p9ud7) · Foojay.io · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [So You Want To Speak At Software Conferences? : dylanbeattie.net](https://daily.dev/posts/so-you-want-to-speak-at-software-conferences-dylanbeattie-net-2gmftuwck) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#kotlin](https://daily.dev/tags/kotlin), [#conference](https://daily.dev/tags/conference), [#public-speaking](https://daily.dev/tags/public-speaking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-first-time-speaker-s-journey-from-cfp-to-stage-livaerx4d) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A First Time Speaker’s Journey from CFP to Stage","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-first-time-speaker-s-journey-from-cfp-to-stage-livaerx4d","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-first-time-speaker-s-journey-from-cfp-to-stage-livaerx4d"},"datePublished":"2026-08-02T07:15:44.101Z","dateModified":"2026-08-02T07:42:27.346Z","description":"A first-time conference speaker shares their end-to-end experience submitting a CFP to The Lead Developer New York, getting accepted for a 10-minute lightning...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/79574c323d7e81840cde73a77a463afc?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/79574c323d7e81840cde73a77a463afc?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Touchlab","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Touchlab","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CQ0u6GwB--/f_auto,q_auto/v1785654902/logos/touchlab?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/touchlab"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-first-time-speaker-s-journey-from-cfp-to-stage-livaerx4d","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"career,kotlin,conference,public-speaking","timeRequired":"PT12M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Touchlab","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/touchlab"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A First Time Speaker’s Journey from CFP to Stage"}]} ```