Announcing Config Europe: a call for speakers | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma announced Config Europe, a free virtual conference taking place on September 17, 2020. After its San Francisco event showed both the value of community connection and the limitations of an in-person format, Figma chose an online conference to make participation more accessible. The company invited community members—especially first-time speakers—to submit talks, panels, lightning rounds, and workshops.

From In-Person Conference to Virtual Event

• Figma’s first Config conference brought together 1,200 attendees in San Francisco, with additional viewers online.
• Sessions covered topics including design systems and open source’s influence on urban planning and infrastructure.
• Plans to take Config to cities worldwide were paused as the global situation changed.
• Figma ultimately decided that a virtual format could still fulfill Config’s mission of amplifying community voices and enabling people to learn and share.

Call for Speakers

• Speakers could submit proposals by July 31, 2020.
• First-time speakers were explicitly welcomed and encouraged.
• Accepted speakers would receive:
  • IT support and equipment
  • Help from product specialists and editors
  • Opportunities to develop talks, panels, lightning rounds, or workshops
• Proposals not selected for Config Europe might be considered for other Figma opportunities, such as livestreams or blog posts.

Conference Content Tracks

The agenda was organized around four main themes:

• Building and maintaining design systems
  • Starting and scaling systems
  • Creating components and style guides
  • Getting teams to adopt shared systems
• Figma deep-dives
  • Improving workflows with plugins, Auto Layout, components, and other features
• Process, culture, and team-building
  • Recruiting, hiring, team culture, and remote-work practices
• Opening up design
  • Making design more inclusive, accessible, and participatory for non-designers

Attending Config Europe

• The event was free and open to anyone, anywhere.
• Figma planned to publish the agenda and open registration on August 20, 2020.
• Prospective attendees could sign up to receive updates when registration became available.

Figma’s recommendation was to submit ideas through the Config Europe speaker portal or register for event updates. The announcement emphasized that the virtual conference was intended to preserve the collaborative spirit of Config while making it accessible to a broader global community.