Call for Papers (Papers, Talks, Presentations)

SAINTCON's stage runs on the community that fills it. Whether you're a veteran with a circuit of conference talks behind you or someone who's never spoken in public before, we want to hear what you've been working on. New speakers, local speakers, and original content always get a serious look.

What we’re looking for

Original talks of the highest quality, on topics that move the security community forward. The list below is a starting point, not a fence.

Offensive
Defensive
Reverse engineering
Incident handling
Cloud security
Cryptography
Web application security
Wireless hacking
Hardware hacking
AI / ML security
And more

If you have something the security community needs to hear and it isn’t on the list, submit anyway. Surprise us.

Talk formats

Topic Briefing

30-minute slot, ~25 minutes of content. Tight, focused, one big idea.

Topic Presentation

60-minute slot, ~50 minutes of content. Room to go deep, demo, or hold a discussion.

Keynote

50 minutes opening or closing the conference. Stage-defining; reach out if you have something keynote-worthy.

SAINTCON does not run multi-presenter sessions. One speaker per slot.

What we ask of you

If we accept your talk, you’re agreeing to:

Show up. SAINTCON is October 27 to 30, 2026. Your slot is yours; if your situation truly changes, tell us as early as you can.
Deliver original content. We strongly prefer talks not previously presented at other conferences. Recycled material is occasionally fine but tell us up front so we can weigh it accordingly.
Hit your time. A 30-minute slot is 30 minutes. Speakers who run long short-change the speakers behind them and the audience moving between rooms.
Follow the Code of Conduct. It applies to speakers in particular; you’re shaping the conference culture from the front of the room.
Be available for the audience. Stick around for questions, Discord follow-ups, and hallway conversations. SAINTCON is a community, not a one-way broadcast.

What you get

Travel covered for speakers based outside the greater Wasatch Front area.
Up to three hotel nights at the conference block.
A full conference pass for you.
Exclusive SAINTCON wearables (yes, we have a separate speaker shirt).
An exclusive Speaker MiniBadge. A separate piece in the trading-card-collectible-circuit-board ecosystem.

How the call works

The CFP runs in two rounds each year:

Open Round (Round 1). The submission form goes live. Anyone can submit, and most of the schedule comes from this round.
Targeted Round (Round 2). The committee reviews the program for gaps and reaches out to fill them, sometimes with cold pitches. If you didn’t get into Round 1, this is the second window.

Both rounds typically run in spring. Selections happen on a rolling basis once each round closes. The committee weighs original-vs-recycled content, topic balance across the program, and speaker mix (returning, new, local).

Questions

Drop into Discord. The CFP coordinator (on the Planning Committee page) handles speaker questions year-round.