The submission window for TrustCon 2022 has closed. Please contact trustcon-submissions@tspa.org if you have any questions.
TrustCon is the first global conference dedicated to trust and safety professionals. At TSPA, our vision is to build a community of practice among trust and safety professionals and provide support as they do the incredibly challenging work of keeping our online communities safe.
TrustCon 2022 will feature two days of programming aimed at fostering a supportive and enduring community of professionals. We will feature presentations and workshops that examine the challenging work of trust and safety, exploring successes, lessons learned, and the future ahead. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from each other, hear from trust and safety thought leaders, and connect with peers from all over the world.
We’re accepting submissions on any topic related to the professional practice of trust and safety; here are some examples of topics that would do well at TrustCon:
- Careers in trust & safety
- Careers beyond management
- Privacy and security as a trust and safety professional
- The nuts and bolts of trust and safety
- Labeling for policy enforcement and recommendations
- Transparency reporting
- Proactive vs. reactive processes at scale
- Designing reputation systems
- Wellness and resilience for trust & safety professionals
- Building a resilient team
- Design and implementation of wellness programs
- Trust & safety and society
- Bias in algorithms
- History and evolution of content policy norms
- How we built this
- Showcasing your trust and safety project or organization
The Programming Committee may suggest related proposals be combined into a single session so that as many people as possible may actively participate. Please see “What happens next?” in the FAQs below.
Important Dates
Proposal deadline: May 31, 2022
Acceptance notifications: June 30, 2022
Submission Types
Lightning Talks
A lightning talk is a brief presentation (5-7 minutes) accompanied by slides. Lightning talks are great opportunities to celebrate a success, share a new idea you have, or get feedback on early work. You may also want to use a lightning talk to introduce yourself and talk about your T&S journey. All TrustCon 2022 lightning talks should be focused on some aspect of trust and safety.
Successful lightning talks usually consist of 1-3 key ideas and/or takeaways and feature slides with images rather than text. Think of this submission type as an opportunity to share a short, illustrated story with the community!
Please note: If your lightning talk is accepted, you’ll be required to send your slides to the TSPA team ahead of time so that all session slides can be projected in succession without switching between computers.
Panels
A panel is a 50 minute thematic session consisting of 3-4 panelists and facilitated by a moderator. With this submission type, you have two options:
- Propose a full panel. When submitting a full panel, you must provide the theme/topic, possible questions to be asked and discussed, the name of the moderator, and the names of the panelists. You may list yourself as either the moderator or a panelist.
- Propose to be a panelist. When submitting to be a panelist, you must provide a range of themes/topics to which you are willing to speak.
Panels are great opportunities to investigate a topic from different points of view. Successful panels require a strong moderator who can facilitate conversation and ask succinct questions. Successful panels also require panelists who are willing to engage openly, honestly, and respectfully with one another—especially when they disagree.
Please note: We will prioritize panel submissions that are intentionally inclusive of different lived and professional experiences, races, ethnicities, ages, genders, disabilities, economic statuses, and other diverse backgrounds. We reserve the right to add panelists to a session to ensure inclusivity and representation.
Presentations
A presentation is a 20 minute talk that may or may not be accompanied by slides. Presentations are great opportunities to share current work, lessons learned, or how you and your team have built a product, service, policy, or organization. You may also want to present research you and your team have recently completed and/or published. Each presentation will be followed by time for Q&A.
Successful presentations are well-organized and rehearsed with thought given to key points and take-aways.
Please note: If your presentation is accepted, you will be asked whether you will include slides so that we can adequately prepare to meet your AV needs.
Workshops
A workshop is a 90-120 minute hands-on, in-person session focused on a specific audience and with specific goals in mind. For example, you may want to plan and facilitate a workshop for trust and safety managers about how to provide online and offline security for their frontline employees.
Successful workshops involve hands-on demonstrations, engage participants in collaborative work, meet predetermined goals, and generally result in an artifact of some kind (e.g., shared notes, a template, a set of preliminary evaluation metrics).
With this submission type, you will be asked to indicate the goals and outcomes of the proposed workshop, the proposed format and/or schedule of activities, the ideal number of participants, and how the workshop will contribute to the trust and safety community.
Submission Form
The submission window for TrustCon 2022 has closed. Please contact trustcon-submissions@tspa.org if you have any questions.
FAQs
What happens next?
The Programming Committee, made up of TSPA staff, TSPA members, and trust and safety professionals serving as volunteers, will review all proposals during the month of June. Before the end of June, we will reach out to you to let you know whether or not your proposal has been accepted. In the case of a presentation, panel, or workshop, we may ask you to consider collaborating with another applicant if there’s significant overlap in topics, themes, and/or goals.
If your proposal is accepted, members of the Programming Committee will follow up with you in the coming months to ensure we have your bio, slides (if applicable), and any additional information needed for a successful conference program. If you have any questions about your proposal, please contact trustcon-submissions@tspa.org.
What if my proposal isn’t accepted?
If your proposal isn’t accepted but you’d still like to participate at TrustCon, please reach out to us at contact@tspa.org. There may be other opportunities!
Are there provisions for COVID and other contigencies?
Anyone submitting an in-person proposal should be prepared to attend TrustCon 2022 in Palo Alto, CA if their proposal is accepted.
However, we know that COVID uncertainties will carry on throughout the year. If restrictions issued by the United States government or your home country prevent you from traveling to Palo Alto, we will make sure your work is included in the program (via video or delivered by an attendee). If we are forced to cancel the in-person component of TrustCon 2022 completely, the entire program will be delivered virtually.
