From Code to Stage: Organizing Conferences and Finding Your Voice as a Speaker (#88)

What turns a nervous first-timer into a confident conference speaker? Let's find out.

This the last Foojay Podcast of 2025 and also the last one with interviews recorded at the Devoxx and JFall conferences. Maybe you're already thinking about your goals for 2026: organizing a meetup, submitting your first conference talk, or taking a bigger role in the Java community. If that sounds like you, this episode is for you.

I talked with the people behind these conferences and developers at different stages of their speaking journey. At Devoxx, I spoke with Stephan Janssen, who has been organizing Devoxx for 20 years, Susanne Pieterse, about what makes conferences valuable for learning, and Daniël Floor, a developer just starting out with public speaking. At JFall, I caught up with organizers Martin Smelt and Brian Vermeer, Berwout de Vries Robles, who coaches new speakers, and Annelore Egger about her journey from developer to conference speaker.

You'll hear practical advice about what makes a good CFP, why conference organizers actively want new speakers, and how the Java community is set up to help you get started. Whether you're thinking about submitting your first talk or curious about what goes into organizing a conference, there's something here for you.

00:00 Introduction of topic and guests

01:33 Stephan Janssen

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanjanssen/
• Devoxx Organizer

07:03 Martin Smelt

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-paul-smelt-8b699a8/
• JFall Organizer

13:27 Brian Vermeer

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianvermeer/
• JFall Organizer and speaker
• Tips for speakers, writing a CFP
• Join a JUG!

21:02 Annelore Egger

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneloredev/
• How to become a speaker

27:43 Daniël Floor

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani%C3%ABl-floor-266652208/
• Taking the first steps into public speaking
• Finding your speaking topic

31:28 Berwout de Vries Robles

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/berwout-de-vries-robles/
• Tips for speakers
• Propose a talk to speak at a JUG

37:08 Susanne Pieterse

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannepieterse/
• Learning at conferences, RAG, and other topics
• Meeting and talking to the presenters and specialists at a conference
• CO-organizer of ML Con and DevOpsCon in Amsterdam
• https://mlconference.ai/
• https://devopscon.io/amsterdam/

41:20 Conclusion