Call for Proposals — Code for America Summit

We want to hear from you

We welcome submissions from anyone whose work touches government technology and civic innovation. Whether you’re a government employee, work or volunteer at a nonprofit, an academic, or something else—if you’re doing the work of improving people’s lives through technology and government, your knowledge and passion has a place here.

Summit is the place where experts and leaders learn from newcomers and beginners, and vice versa. You don’t have to be an experienced professional to share your story.

Theme

The theme for 2023 is:
Showing what’s possible in a changing world

We chose this theme in recognition of the tumultuous change the world has been through the past several years. In the face of great uncertainty, we’ve seen people come together like never before to make government work better for everyone—and we want to celebrate that at Summit.

Service Design + Delivery

This track focuses on the end-to-end design and delivery of government services, which are at the core of what matters most—where people experience government. Delivery of services, technical or non-technical, was once viewed as an afterthought to policy decisions. Today, we know that a just and equitable government must get implementation right.

Policy + Administration

In many ways, policy and technology are two sides of the same government coin. Policy is how the government creates the guardrails for our society, and technological implementation is how those policies are brought to life. But there’s often a disconnect between the intention of a policy and its impact when implemented. This track focuses on bringing policy and administrative decisions closer to their desired real-world impacts.

Operations + Management

This track highlights best practices across governments, where public servants are enabling the delivery of equitable outcomes by focusing on operations and management. We hope to showcase the breadth of operational excellence that helps deliver better government services, with examples from human resources, finance, and procurement, as well as cross-cutting topics like collaboration, innovation, and community engagement.

People Power + Community

Over a decade ago, Code for America was founded on the belief that government can work for the people, by the people, in the digital age. We hope that anyone interested in creative problem solving and bringing people together attends sessions in this track, which will spotlight change agents and innovators who influence government to better serve all people.

Show what’s possible

Let’s face it, this is hard work—work that doesn’t always get recognized or appreciated. Summit is your opportunity to show others what’s possible, but also an opportunity for you to learn about what your peers are doing across the country.

Teach others

Have a really interesting problem that you, your team, or your organization solved in the past year? Share your story, and show others how you made it happen. Chances are, if you had a challenge and struggled with something, someone else did too.

Increase broader visibility into your work

Raise up your organization or agency to a national audience. Whether you’re hiring or looking to build your profile and your brand, Summit has the people you’re looking for.

Step 1

Review our submission guidelines and tips

Check out our helpful FAQ’s on Summit submissions to help make your proposal stand out from the hundreds of submissions we receive annually.

Step 2

Submit your proposal

Call for proposals has now closed. Submissions were accepted Wednesday, November 9 through Friday, November 18, 2022.

Step 3

Submit your co-presenters (if applicable)

If your submission has co-presenters, please share this form for each presenter to complete.

View the co-presenter form

When and where is Summit 2023?

The 2023 Code for America Summit will be an in-person experience held on Tuesday, May 16 and Wednesday, May 17 in Washington, D.C. You will be able to select which day(s) you are available and we will do our best to accommodate your selections.

How should I structure my session?

Breakout sessions last an hour, allowing for at least ten to fifteen minutes for questions and answers. We strongly encourage no more than three or four people to be a part of an hour-long session, including the submitter. We’re eager to see how you would structure your session—it could be a series of short talks, a discussion panel, or interactive activity. Please do specify how you’ll use the time to deliver quality, engaging material.

Lightning talks are short but impactful five minute talks with a limited slide presentation given by one individual. Several lightning talks will be delivered by different speakers in a single session.

Who is the Summit audience?

Our Summit is open to anyone and everyone whose work touches government technology and civic innovation.

What should I know about Summit attendees?

Our attendees represent a wide range of local, state, and federal government, as well as civic tech practitioners from across the country. They include public servants (both technical and non-technical) who are involved in delivering government services, representatives of technology vendors who work with governments, nonprofit advocates, and other change agents.

Of our 2022 registrants, 30% worked in government while the other 70% worked in nonprofits, the private sector, philanthropy, or were volunteers.

Usually, about 60% of our attendees are new to Summit. When submitting your proposal, please think about whether your content is introductory level or more advanced.

What’s the key information to include in submissions?

For your submission, you’ll need to let us know:

About you: Your name, contact information, title, organization, and demographic information
About your submission: Your target audience, your chosen track, your session or lightning talk title, description, and format
About your co-presenter (if applicable): Share the link with all your co-presenters so they can submit their information

What happens after I submit?

The submission deadline is November 18, 2022.

We aim to let you know if your submission has been accepted no later than January 31, 2023.

How are sessions selected?

We’ll be curating dozens of breakout sessions and lightning talks across the two days of Summit. All submissions are reviewed by our content committee, made up of your peers in the government technology and civic innovation community. We review submissions based on the quality of title and description, how well they fit into our theme and tracks, how they complement other submissions—and, most importantly, for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

How is Summit prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion?

At Code for America, we strive to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive attendee experience that meets our vision and values.

We prioritize this vision at the Code for America Summit because government must work for everyone, especially the most marginalized. That starts with having inclusive conversations about this work.

Please note that we may reject submissions based on DEI criteria, especially for larger panels where all speakers are demographically homogeneous. We strongly encourage you to include a wide range of perspectives in your proposals.

If our committee finds that your submission topic is relevant to our attendees but doesn’t meet our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, we will contact you to make sure the session is representative.

Read about last year’s submission selection process and DEI statistics.

What do I receive if my session is selected?

All session speakers will receive one complimentary in-person registration for Summit. Additionally, we are pleased to offer each speaker a $250 honorarium.