In two short days, we’ll close the session-proposal window for SRCCON, our annual conference for newsroom developers, designers, and data analysts. Every year, the deadline comes up faster than seems possible, but it’s not yet too late—in fact, this is the perfect time to submit your pitch.

But why pitch a session, anyway? In case you’re on the fence, we put together a few quick reasons why you should stop dithering and send that pitch in.

You should pitch a SRCCON session because…

• Leading a session is the best way to get productively immersed in a highly participatory conference like SRCCON. As a session leader, you’ll necessarily meet a ton of great people and learn huge amounts, both during prep for your session and especially in the session itself.
• Running (or co-running) a SRCCON session is a fantastic, low-risk way to get more comfortable in a leadership role, and with public speaking. Our sessions are hands-on and peer-to-peer, so they’re much less intimidating to lead than a traditional lecture-style conference talk—it’s more like running a work session with amazing colleagues. If you put in the work to plan a great session, no one’s going to care if you’re a polished speaker or a little nervous, and everyone in the room will be rooting for you.
• We do everything we can to support the work of session facilitation, because session leaders are at the very center of what makes SRCCON tick. As a session leader, you’ll have a guaranteed chance to buy a ticket—and as much guidance and support as you’d like from our team as you plan your approach to the session. Session leadership also gives you an advantage if you apply for a travel scholarship, so if you’ll need financial support to get to SRCCON, it’s definitely worthwhile to pitch a session.

But How?

So let’s say you’re convinced—it’s time to send in a pitch. But how to do it? Start with these three easy steps:

• Pick an idea. Any hard question or problem you find interesting will probably interest someone else at SRCCON—likely a lot of someone elses. Now consider narrowing your focus a bit, because the best session ideas are usually pretty specific, and the allotted time for any given session goes by fast.
• Plan your approach. Would your topic be best as a hands-on skillshare session? Or a small-group-style discussion? Or maybe a game? As long as your session is participatory (not a lecture), your format options are nearly limitless. Check out the links below for ideas and sketch a basic plan.
• Send in the pitch! This part is super-easy, but don’t forget to do it before midnight Pacific Time on April 20. If you’d like to co-lead your session, you can tell us on your proposal and either give us your co-leader’s name or ask us for help finding the right person.

Want more information or help figuring out your idea and approach? We’ve got you covered:

• About SRCCON Sessions
• How To Plan A Great SRCCON Session
• How to Pitch (and Run) a Great SRCCON Session
• How to Run a Great Unconference Session (we didn’t write this one, but it’s great)

And feel free to send us a note with any questions, though you’ll probably want to do that before the evening of April 20, just in case we’re not all awake when the deadline arrives.