Most program committees read hundreds of proposals in a few evenings. The proposals that get through are rarely the cleverest. They are the ones a tired reviewer can understand in the first two sentences.
Lead with what the audience will leave with
Every reviewer we spoke to said the same thing in different words: tell us what people will be able to do after your talk. A title can be playful. The first line of the abstract should not be.
- Name the one problem your talk solves.
- Say who it is for, and who it is not for.
- Give one concrete takeaway, such as a technique, a checklist or a number.
If I can’t explain your talk to a colleague in one sentence, I can’t argue for it in the committee meeting.
Program chair, a 900-person JavaScript conference
Fit the event, not every event
Reviewers can tell when an abstract has been sent to forty conferences unchanged. Read last year’s schedule, and say why your talk belongs on this one.
Send it early
Several committees review proposals as they arrive. A good abstract in the first week gets more attention than a great one at midnight on the last day.