2025 Call for Speakers
Now Accepting Submissions!

About the Conference Call for Speakers

The 37th annual FIRST conference will be hosted at the Bell Center Copenhagen, in Copenhagen, Denmark June 22-27, 2025.

FIRST brings together security and incident response professionals from all career stages, from public, private, and education sectors around the world. We exchange information and ideas, learn together, build trusted relationships, and cooperate in areas of mutual interest.

We are seeking engaging speakers to present the latest incident response and information security topics and ideas, to strengthen our individual and collective ability to prevent and respond to computer security incidents.

What We Are Looking For…

We are looking for ideas, developments, or experiences that can be applied to advance the state of security and incident response practice. Ideas that can be implemented by other teams—without requiring proprietary information or software—are particularly welcome. We hope this list helps you think of work you or your team members can present.

We do not allow presentations with the aim of gaining the audience’s interest in any commercial application, solution, or product. In other words, NO SALES OR MARKETING PRESENTATIONS!

The language of the annual conference is English.

Suggested Topics

Under the conference theme, “Fortresses of the Future: Building Bridges, Not Walls,” we invite submissions guided by the following broad topics:

  • New Attacks – technical, human, supply chain, etc.
  • New Defenses – beyond the broken perimeter
  • New Targets – security and incident response for mobile, ICS, IoT, cloud, etc.
  • Understanding and Detecting Marauders – novel or new techniques, analysis in threat intelligence and detection
  • Analyzing Attacks and Intrusions – tools, techniques, analysis, results
  • Building Better Products – product security, secure software development
  • Defenses in Place – skills, maturity, resilience, awareness, communication, etc.
  • Defending Others – national CSIRTs, third-party incidents
  • Joining Forces – sharing, collaboration, working with others
  • Sharing Stories – case studies
  • Playing by the Rules – privacy, ethics, norms, governance, standards & best practices
  • Building our Soft Skills – e.g., communication, presentation, incident response, management skills
  • Managing SOCs/CSIRTs/PSIRTs – recruiting/training, communicating with executives, etc.

Presentation Styles and Formats

The conference will comprise three parallel session tracks, to provide a range of different styles of learning and different levels of technical/management content. Submissions should indicate whether their content is best described as technical, management, or academic.

Submissions should propose one of the following formats (note that the Program Committee may contact you to suggest a different format for a talk or session):

  • Presentations (35 minutes, inclusive of Q&A): conventional presentation to a theatre audience of up to 500-1,000.
  • Panels (60-90 minutes, inclusive of Q&A): Must include details of the moderator, suggested duration, and a tentative list of panelists.

Presenters are expected to present in person at the conference.

The Review Process, Tips, and Guidelines

All submissions are reviewed by an international program committee, composed of experts and practitioners representing a diverse set of teams and organizations. They are responsible for selecting the best and most relevant talks to make up the conference program. FIRST does not require you to submit a formal paper for consideration. However, your submission must at least let the reviewers understand:

  • What problem is this addressing?
  • How does this help? Who will benefit?
  • Why are you a good person to tell us this?

You must provide a detailed outline (recommended 300-500 words) and an abstract (no more than 250 words, though we recommend 100-150 words) to explain what the talk is about in a way that makes people interested in hearing it. You are welcome to include additional materials to support any of these points. Submissions must be complete by the closing date (see “Important Dates” below) or they will be rejected.

Submissions must be received by the end of the day on December 13, 2024 (UTC 12:00) via the EasyChair submission tool. If you have an existing login to EasyChair, you should be able to log in and proceed with the submission process. If this is your first time using EasyChair, you will need to click on the “Create a New Account” link and follow the process accordingly. The program committee will be able to connect with you via EasyChair for any follow-up during the review process.

EasyChair Submission Form

Please allow yourself at least 20 minutes per submission and please read the above submission instructions and tips on what makes a successful and complete FIRST submission.

Speaker Privileges

FIRST offers presentation speakers discounted admission rates. FIRST does not contribute to travel, accommodation, or other expenses. Please keep in mind the following guidelines regarding complimentary admission:

  • General Presentation: One complimentary full admission registration pass per accepted presentation; discounted registration rates are offered to co-presenters at US $1700. Complimentary day passes will also be offered for those planning to attend only the day of their presentation. Remember, sessions are limited to 30 minutes with 5 minutes of Q&A; we recommend no more than two presenters max.
  • **Panels: One complimentary registration pass for each accepted panelist.

Backup speakers are offered the same speaker privileges.

Speaker discounts are non-transferable and valid for the accepted conference year.

Speakers provide consent for FIRST to record their presentations in audio and/or visual form and grant FIRST a royalty-free license to use, reproduce, and distribute the recordings and accompanying materials. Speakers also understand that while they retain the rights to their presentation materials (handouts, slides, etc.) and the content of the presentation, FIRST is the sole copyright owner of any recording and can distribute the recording, along with any supporting materials in any way, with the appropriate attribution of the speakers. Submitters can indicate an opt-out for recording their presentation.

The annual FIRST conference is open to the public and welcomes non-members, press, and social media coverage. After the conference, presentation materials will be made available on the public area of the FIRST website. If your presentation will be sensitive in nature and will require special handling, you must indicate your TLP level during your CFS submission. Submitters may be asked to explain the reason for the chosen TLP level. TLP definitions can be found at www.first.org/tlp.

Professional photographs, audio, and video will be captured during the Conference. Conference Attendees wearing lanyards indicating their approval to be photographed/recorded, grant FIRST and its representative’s permission to photograph and/or record them during Conference activities and to use such recordings in support of FIRST’s mission. Uses of records may include but are not limited to, electronic broadcasting on FIRST’s YouTube Channel, educational initiatives, post-conference reporting, and FIRST’s social media activities.

Important Dates

  • Call for Speakers Opens: October 31, 2024
  • Call for Speakers Closes: December 13, 2024
  • Acceptance Notifications: February 17, 2025 through March 7, 2025
  • Final Confirmations of Acceptance Due: March 14, 2025
  • Optional Draft Presentation or Talking Points Due for Review: April 23, 2025
  • Optional Presentations for Final Review/Feedback: May 14, 2025
  • Conference Event Dates: June 22-27, 2025

Questions for the Program Chair

If you have questions about the conference submission process or need additional information, please contact the Program Chair, Henrik Larsen at firstcon25-chair@first.org.

On behalf of the Program Committee, we look forward to bringing the community another compelling program and look forward to seeing everyone in Copenhagen!

Looking to Present a Workshop? Submit a Training...

If you are interested in presenting a workshop at the conference, we encourage you to submit your entry to the upcoming FIRSTCON25 Call for Training. Information on how to submit and trainer privileges will be available at the link below.

Call for Trainings