Do you have insights to share with other technical women like yourself?

Speaker applications are closed.

Tech Intersections is an annual conference for the technical women of color most underrepresented in the industry.  We come to connect and build community with each other, grow our technical skills and support our social justice and social impact efforts. Tech Intersections 2027 is on Saturday, January 23, 2027, at Northeastern University’s Oakland campus, home of Mills College. All presentations will be in person.

To keep the conference accessible for our community, we are unable to offer speaker stipends or cover travel costs. 

Eligibility

We encourage you to apply, whether you’re an experienced speaker or sharing your voice for the first time. We particularly invite speakers who:

• Identify as female, nonbinary, transgender, genderqueer, or gender fluid, and
• Work (or aspire to work) in tech, especially as an engineer, entrepreneur, designer, educator, organizer, or changemaker, and
• Belong to an ethnic group underrepresented in tech, including, but not limited to:
  • Black / African-American
  • Indigenous / Native American
  • Latinx
  • Middle Eastern
  • Pacific Islander
  • Southeast Asian communities that are underrepresented in tech (e.g., Filipino, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, etc.)
  • South Asian communities, with an explicit commitment to caste equity
  • Other communities historicaly excluded from the tech industry

While we recognize that people of all backgrounds face barriers in tech, this conference is focused on women of color from underrepresented races and ethnicities.

Session Formats

We welcome the following types of submissions:

• Short presentation (25 minutes)
• Long presentation (50 minutes)
• Panel (50 minutes)
• Workshop (50 minutes)

Panels should include a moderator and up to 3 panelists. You may specify more than one format on a single submission.

You are encouraged to view the 2026 program and information below for examples of topics and descriptions.

Tracks

The tracks are:

• Technical Skills, Dive into hands-on learning and deep technical knowledge. This track covers programming languages, data analysis, system design, infrastructure, and emerging technologies such as AI, large language models (LLMs), and machine learning. 
• Tech Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: For founders, funders, and builders. This track explores how to launch startups and nonprofits, navigate funding cycles, pitch to investors, and rethink who gets to access and distribute capital.
• Career Growth & Leadership: Build the skills to thrive and lead. This track focuses on navigating your career path–from educatin and job searching to negotiating salaries, managing teams, and moving into leadership.
• Wellness & Collective Care: Sustainable tech careers require care. This track centers practices that support mental health, prevent burnout, and address the emotional and physical toll of navigating tech as a person or color.
• Social Impact & Justice in Tech: Explore how technology can serve our communities instead of harming them. This track invies critical conversations and case studies on algorithmic bias, equity in design, ethical product development, and community-centered innovation.

Proposal Requirements

You are encouraged to begin working on the proposal form as soon as possible.

Proposals may be revised until the deadline.

There should be a single proposal for panels and workshops with multiple speakers. Proposals have the following parts:

• Title
• Track
• Session Length and format
• Description (40-200 words)
• Speaker(s) Information 
  • Contact information
  • Optional title and affiliation
  • Optional links to social media sites (LinkedIn, BlueSky)
  • Speaker bio
  • Speaker headshot (for inclusion in program if accepted)
  • Demographic information

Important Dates

• July 15: Call for Proposals Opens
• August 30: Call for Proposals Closes
• September 30: Speaker Notification
• October 13 (Ada Lovelace Day): Speakers Publicly Announced + Registration Go Live
• October 15: Speaker Orientation Meeting
• January 23: Tech Intersections 2027 Conference

Help for Speakers

See examples from previous years:

• Talk
  • Launch & Maintain Your Passion Project Without Quitting Your Job
  • What You Should Know about Application Security And Why You Should Care
  • Building Unbiasedly: Why UX Research and Design Need More Women of Color
• Long talk
  • Write Your Power
  • Tech for Social Justice
• Panel
  • Balancing Technical You vs. Community You
  • Reaching Back to Lift Us Up
• Workshop:
  • Demystifying Tech Applications: Increase Your Visibility
  • Identifying Toxic Behaviors and Exercising Self-Care in the Workplace

Questions may be sent to info@techintersections.org