FabCon and SQLCon Call for content opens Tuesday, February 17th. Are your titles and abstracts ready to go? I'm resharing some advice I offered in the lead up to previous FabCon/SQLCon events. I've had a lot of people follow up to tell me that this guidance was helpful and their acceptance rate increased. So, I share it here with you and say good luck!
Important Dates
- FabCon/SQLCon Europe in Barcelona, runs 2026 September 28 - Oct 1, 2026
- Workshop Call for Content open Feb 17, 2026 to March 23, 2026
- Breakout Session Call for Content open Feb 17, 2026 to April 17, 2026
When submitting a session to a conference, consider the following:
Title:
The title should answer the attendee's question what's in it for me? Why should I attend this session? Is it going to make me better at my job? Will it save my company money? Will it make my reports more organized or my database faster, more secure or modern?
The title needs to make sense; it needs to inform. It doesn't need to be funny or contain a dad joke. It CAN, but that's secondary.
It shouldn't just be the name of a product or even "Learn [product name]" because you can't teach me everything about it in 60 minutes or less.
Abstract:
The abstract should contain 3 things:
It should define the problem you're trying to solve.
It should introduce the solution.
It should briefly describe what they'll learn about the solution.
In the time allotted.
The problem can be that the attendee doesn’t know how to create great visuals, performance tune, connect to Lakehouse, etc. If so, consider titles like “Creating Great Visuals Using...”, “Cutting Costs by Optimizing Your...”, or “Understanding Governance in…”
The abstract can introduce a new feature or concept. If so, then the problem is "there's a new thing that you don't know about yet." The solution is "this feature does X, Y & Z." Then tell them that they'll learn everything about X or a little bit about X, Y & Z.
If you include an acronym, make sure you spell it out first. Not everyone is going to know what it means, and you don't want only a room full of attendees that already know everything.
Avoid using many buzz words in you title or abstract.
Drop it into Copilot for a final check and use prompts to help improve your work. Use "make it more precise" if it's over the character count. Tey "make it more professional" if you think it's more casual than you intended.
Final check:
Before you hit submit, run your abstract by a friend.
Does it make sense to the technical and/or non-technical?
Do the grammar & spelling check out? With allowances for English not being your 1st language, the abstract should show that you can effectively communicate the topic to an audience.
Does the level assigned match the abstract?
Is it in the right track? Most calls for content provide definitions on what's a good fit for content in each topic. You can find the topic definitions for FabCon/SQLCon Europe here.
Can you do ALL THIS in 60 minutes?
Does it fit within the character count?
Lastly, a few "don'ts"
Don't include your name in the abstract if you know the review is done blind.
Don't add it to every category or track. Be mindful.
Don't email organizers to say you've submitted a session. They know.
Don't demand feedback the very day you're declined. Well, never demand it, but waiting a week to politely ask never hurts. Respect the decision if they aren’t able to offer you feedback. Remember that 800 people might be asking the same question.
Don't be entitled. No one *stole* your spot. It was never yours to begin with.
Don't use AI to write your entire abstract. Reviewers typically know when it's not written by a human or there are tools that help them check. If you can't convey a concept on your own in 400 characters, how can we trust that you can speak on the concept for a full hour?
Microsoft