The public CFP flow

The flow#

The link (/cfp/<event>/<form>) is fully public — nobody signs up or signs in to submit. The form runs in two steps:

• Your talk — the session questions from your form builder: title, abstract, tracks, format, and anything you added. Conditional questions appear as their triggers are answered.
• About you — the speaker questions, always ending with first name, last name, and email (those three are built in and required — the confirmation and any decision go to that address). Up to five co-presenters can be added here, each with their own name, email, role, and bio.

Submitting creates (or updates) the speaker’s contact record by email — the same person submitting twice never becomes two people, and a second submission never blanks out details an organizer already filled in.

Drafts#

Save as draft keeps an unfinished submission on the speaker’s own device (browser storage) — returning to the link offers Resume draft. The draft is cleared only after a successful submit.

Deadlines and limits#

• The close date shows as a badge (“closing in 18 days”). After it passes, the form is replaced with a “Submissions are closed” notice — and existing submissions become read-only in the portal too.
• Per-submitter limits are enforced at submit time with a clear message telling the speaker to contact the organizers if they need a change.

After submitting#

• The success page shows your custom title and message, confirms which proposal was received, and explains what happens next. The confirmation email address is shown masked (m•••@a•••.com) since the page URL is shareable.
• A confirmation email goes out automatically (if enabled on the form), and the submission lands in Submissions — and in Airtable, if connected.
• Buttons offer Submit another proposal and Go to the speaker portal, where edits and co-presenter changes live from here on — see The speaker portal.