I am co-chairing the Invited Talks for this year’s LISA Conference, alongside Patrick Cable. I’ve attended LISA since 2010 (with the exception of 2014) and it’s a great conference for systems administrators and other operationally-minded tech folks. I’ve enjoyed many great talks over the years, and as a co-chair, it’s up to me to help make sure that trend continues.

So here’s where you come in: it’s time for you to submit a proposal. The Call for Participation is open through 11:59 PM PDT on Monday, April 25. You may think “I have nothing worth sharing,” but you may be wrong. Patrick and I are particularly interested in finding talks that address cross-cutting topics, talks from new attendees, and generally interesting talks.

Talks don’t have to be about the cutting edge of technology to be interesting. Some of the best-received talks last year weren’t even technical in nature. So much of the job is cultural: the culture of your team and the larger organization. Alice Goldfuss’s “Scalable Meatfrastructure” talk may have broken the record for the amount of praise on social media channels.

Tell us about a problem you had and how you solved it. Tell us about how you applied technology to improve life for your organization and users. Or propose a tutorial in order to share your deep knowledge.

Go out on a limb and propose a talk. If you get accepted, it’s a great way to attend the conference and expand your professional network. if you don’t get accepted, I promise it it’s okay (I’ve had several proposals to other conferences rejected). If you want some advice on how to make your proposal awesome, both Patrick and I are happy to talk to you.

I hope you’ll submit your proposed talk soon.