LAST Conferences 2024.

Submission guidelines.

This page is contains information that will be useful for submitting to LAST Conference in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne & Canberra.

Video: Why submit?

We asked Preeti Mishra, Adrian Fittolani and Kirsty McDonald about their experiences with submitting to LAST.

This 3 minute video beautifully illustrates the benefits of submitting and running sessions at a LAST Conference.

Focus Area

This event is for people building digital products and services. For 2024 there is a focus on content around the use of AI in doing so.

Having said that, don't feel like you must shoehorn AI into your submission, for the sake of it. There's still lots of scope for topics that aren't focused on it.

We have the following submission categories:

AI applied
Awesome practices
Building for the next generation
Designing for the human experience
Equipping people for change
Reconnecting culture

A sample (but not exhaustive) list of subjects areas that this could be applied to include:

Product management
technology developments in AI
digital "transformation
modern Systems Thinking
workplace change
software and product development
user and customer experience
leadership and management
organisational design and strategy
project management and process improvement
innovation and creativity

We have provided more, detailed information below for those who may not be familiar with LAST and its ethos. Otherwise you can click or tap this button to find the links to the submission system.

Submission Links

Key dates

Dates are subject to change. Don't leave it to the last minute! These dates are for Melbourne, please see the ConfEngine submission pages for other cities.

Brisbane Submission dates

Sydney Submission dates

Submissions open 8 July to 25 August

Successful submissions. September

Pre-event preparation and support

LAST Conf Melbourne 29 Nov

What's in it for me?

You may want to share what you know. You may want others to know that you know things e.g prospective employers. You may want to find a bunch of like-minded people. You may want to become a better at facilitating/presenting in public. You may want to have fun, meet people and learn some great stuff that you can take back to your day job. See the video above for a great summary from the perspective of previous submitters.

People who are selected for the schedule will be given a complimentary registration. If you have already registered, we will refund you, or you can pass your registration on to someone else.

Interstate and Overseas speakers

Coming from out of town? Here is our policy about interstate and overseas speakers.

As each event is mainly focused on the community in each city, we don’t expect people to travel from interstate or overseas to participate, although you are welcome if you choose to come. As LAST is an event with low registration prices, we need to keep overheads low. Therefore, we generally do not reimburse travel and accommodation or pay a fee to session leaders/speakers.

Detailed Information

We have provided detailed information below about submitting to a LAST Conference.

The submission process.

LAST Conference has always been opinionated in its ethos. We have a particular emphasis on encouraging engaging submissions for the event.

We provide the info on this page, so you know what we are looking for and to give advice on how to prepare an excellent session.

A range of topics, experience and different/new faces

We signed up to the Diversity Charter in 2016. We want to have a lineup that reflects the community that the event serves. Giving opportunities to have opportunities for people who have been previously under-represented, less experienced colleagues who have a story to tell and/or can teach the people who have been "around the block".

Here are the steps you will follow:

Review the info below.
Please, at least watch the first video.
The other videos go into great detail (hint - speed up the videos to 1.5x speed) about our ethos, and what will give you the best chance of being accepted.

If you watch all the videos, it will take about 45 minutes of your time.
Click through, and complete the ConfEngine submission process for the city you wish to submit for.

Code of conduct

A reminder to please review the Code of Conduct that we have in place!

Why is it so particular?

Ever since the first edition in 2012, we have made a point to help people who submit sessions to put on the best, most engaging session that they can. We've run public speaking training, peer reviewed workshops and information sessions. As you can get a sense of, from the highlight video, we did a pretty good job at having high quality content at LAST.

We also want you to understand the ethos of LAST Conference.

The break caused by COVID-19 for an in-person LAST with open submissions, means that we are even more mindful of helping submitters put in an idea, and iterate on it. If it gets a slot on the schedule, we want it to be the best that it can be for everyone who goes to the session, including you.

Highlight reels

You can get a taste of what a LAST Conference is like in these highlight reels from previous editions of LAST Conference Melbourne and Brisbane.

Videos

In 2018 we held an info session. There are some logistics that have changed since the Covid-19 break e.g different venues. What still applies, are the principles around the content, and the thought process we encourage. Even though we are being thorough about passing on the principles we want you to work on, there is still flexibility for you, when you submit ideas.

You will be pointed to specific info in the videos that you should understand before submitting session ideas.

If you only watch one video

If you only watch one video, watch this at 1.5 or 2x speed!

This emphasises the main points in the previous videos and any updates since then. It was recorded in 2022, but it still applies for this year.

Submission links

Origins of LAST Conference

Relevant info is 2:00 to end of clip.

What content do we want. Part 1

Relevant info:

Please review the whole video.

What about Lean and Systems Thinking?
What is overdone?
Technical content

Note - Craig talks about 2 days and repeating sessions, this is not applicable in 2023.

What content do we want. Part 2.

Please review the whole video.

Contains a breakdown of who comes

Note - There are fewer slots available than Craig shows on his slides.

Slides, Case Studies, other formats, Games.

Important! This video talks about different formats for sessions. Presentations in front of slides have their place BUT they can also be like treacle. Craig talks about other formats that we really like to encourage. Please review the entire video.

Submission process

We often have an iterative process for LAST Conference Melbourne submissions. Craig outlines this. Please check the dates for each city. on their submission pages.

Optional videos

How you can help out.

Optional. We do need some help on the day, Craig talks about this. He also talks about the Slack Channel and how it's used for comms. Finally he talks about who we get to help us select sessions.

Preparing a session

Optional. Some tips on how to structure and get your message across. Link to video Craig mentions.

On Diversity

We want diversity of presenters.

The Entire Session

This video is the entire info session which is 1 hour long.

Submission system.

Congratulations, you have the info you need to submit to LAST Conference.

Now click the button and follow the instructions on the submissions system. We use ConfEngine, so you will need an account in order to submit. ConfEngine will allow you to clone a proposal to allow it to be submitted to more than one event.

Melbourne Submissions (Closes on 25 August)

Brisbane Submissions (Closes on 2 August)

Sydney Submissions (Closes on 2 August)