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Artificial Intelligence Speaking Opportunities

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    linuxbash
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Win AI Speaking Opportunities from the Command Line

Artificial Intelligence talks are in high demand, but Call for Papers (CFP) windows are short, competitive, and easy to miss. If you’re a Linux/Bash user, you already have the superpower you need: the shell. With a few small scripts, you can automatically discover AI CFPs, get daily deadline alerts, and generate polished proposals in minutes.

This post shows you a practical, Bash-first workflow to consistently find and win AI speaking slots—without adding more tabs to your browser or to‑do list.

Why this matters (and why Bash helps)

  • Opportunity is perishable: Many CFPs stay open for only a few weeks.

  • Consistency beats chance: Automating discovery and reminders helps you submit regularly.

  • Reproducibility: Bash scripts and Markdown templates make your proposals fast to create, easy to version, and simple to reuse.

What you’ll use

  • git: Pull a maintained conference dataset.

  • jq: Filter JSON data for AI/ML CFPs with approaching deadlines.

  • cron + optional desktop notifications: Get daily alerts.

  • pandoc: Turn your Markdown proposal into DOCX/HTML in seconds.

  • curl (optional): Post alerts to Slack or another webhook.

Install the essentials

Debian/Ubuntu (apt):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git jq curl pandoc cron libnotify-bin
# Enable cron on Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo systemctl enable --now cron

Fedora/RHEL/CentOS Stream (dnf):

sudo dnf install -y git jq curl pandoc cronie libnotify
# Enable cron on Fedora/RHEL:
sudo systemctl enable --now crond

openSUSE Leap/Tumbleweed (zypper):

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install -y git jq curl pandoc cron libnotify-tools
# Enable cron on openSUSE:
sudo systemctl enable --now cron

Note: notify-send works in a graphical session; cron jobs typically run headless. The scripts below also provide a Slack webhook option.

1) Discover AI CFPs automatically (Bash + jq)

We’ll use the open “tech-conferences/conference-data” repository and filter for AI/ML keywords with upcoming CFP deadlines. First, clone the data:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tech-conferences/conference-data.git "$HOME/conference-data"

Create a helper script to find AI/ML CFPs that close within the next N days.

$HOME/bin/fetch_ai_cfps.sh:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

DATA_DIR="${DATA_DIR:-$HOME/conference-data}"
WINDOW_DAYS="${WINDOW_DAYS:-60}"
KEYWORDS="${KEYWORDS:-ai|machine learning|ml|deep learning|data science}"

TODAY=$(date -u +%s)
CUTOFF=$(date -u -d "+$WINDOW_DAYS days" +%s)

tmp=$(mktemp)

# Traverse all JSON files in the dataset and filter with jq.
find "$DATA_DIR" -type f -name "*.json" -print0 \
  | xargs -0 -I{} jq -r --arg re "$KEYWORDS" --argjson today $TODAY --argjson cutoff $CUTOFF '
      .[]? as $c
      | ($c.name // $c.title // "") as $name
      | ($c.url // $c.website // $c.link // "") as $url
      | ($c.city // $c.location // "") as $loc
      | ($c.country // "") as $country
      | ($c.cfpEndDate // $c.cfpClose // $c.cfp?.deadline // $c.cfp?.end // $c.callForPapers?.end // "") as $deadline
      | ($c.topics // $c.tags // []) as $tags
      | ($name + " " + ($tags|join(" "))) as $hay
      | select($hay|test($re;"i"))
      | select(($deadline|length) > 0)
      | (try ($deadline|sub("Z$";"")|fromdateiso8601) catch 0) as $dl
      | select($dl >= $today and $dl <= $cutoff)
      | @tsv [$dl, $name, $url, ($loc + (if $country != "" then ", "+$country else "" end))]
    ' "{}" >> "$tmp"

if [[ ! -s "$tmp" ]]; then
  echo "No AI/ML CFPs closing in next $WINDOW_DAYS days."
  rm -f "$tmp"
  exit 0
fi

# Sort by deadline and pretty-print dates.
sort -n "$tmp" | awk -F '\t' '{
  cmd="date -u -d @"$1" +%Y-%m-%d"
  cmd | getline d
  close(cmd)
  printf "%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\n", d, $2, $3, $4
}' | column -t -s $'\t'

rm -f "$tmp"

Make it executable and run it:

chmod +x "$HOME/bin/fetch_ai_cfps.sh"
"$HOME/bin/fetch_ai_cfps.sh"

Tip:

  • Adjust KEYWORDS to match your niche (e.g., “NLP|LLM|MLOps|GenAI”).

  • Set WINDOW_DAYS to tighten or widen your alert horizon.

2) Turn results into daily alerts (cron + notify-send or Slack)

Create a small alert wrapper that runs the finder, prints the results, and optionally pushes a notification.

$HOME/bin/cfp_alert.sh:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

OUT="$("$HOME/bin/fetch_ai_cfps.sh")"
case "$OUT" in
  "No AI/ML CFPs"*) exit 0 ;;
esac

echo "$OUT"

# Desktop notification if available (in a GUI session).
if command -v notify-send >/dev/null && { [[ -n "${DISPLAY:-}" ]] || [[ -n "${WAYLAND_DISPLAY:-}" ]] ; }; then
  # Truncate body if too long for your DE
  BODY="$(echo "$OUT" | head -n 10)"
  notify-send "AI CFPs closing soon" "$BODY"
fi

# Optional: Slack (or any webhook) using an env var
if [[ -n "${SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL:-}" ]]; then
  payload=$(jq -n --arg text "*AI CFPs closing soon*:\n```\n$OUT\n```" '{text:$text}')
  curl -sS -X POST -H 'Content-type: application/json' --data "$payload" "$SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL" >/dev/null
fi

Schedule it with cron (daily at 08:00). Edit your crontab:

crontab -e

Add a line (customize keywords and window as needed):

0 8 * * * KEYWORDS='ai|ml|machine learning|deep learning|genai|nlp' WINDOW_DAYS=30 SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL='https://hooks.slack.com/services/XXX/YYY/ZZZ' bash $HOME/bin/cfp_alert.sh >> $HOME/ai-cfp.log 2>&1

Now you’ll get a daily digest in your terminal log, desktop notification (when you’re logged in graphically), and/or Slack.

3) Generate ready-to-submit proposals in seconds (Markdown + pandoc)

Stop rewriting bios and outlines. Use a simple generator that scaffolds a Markdown proposal and exports to DOCX/HTML so you can attach it anywhere.

$HOME/bin/new_proposal.sh:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

read -rp "Talk title: " TITLE
read -rp "Event (optional): " EVENT
read -rp "Duration (e.g., 30m): " DURATION

echo "Short abstract (end with Ctrl-D):"
ABSTRACT=$(</dev/stdin)

SLUG=$(echo "$TITLE" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | tr -cd 'a-z0-9 -' | tr ' ' '-' | sed 's/-\+/-/g')
DIR="$HOME/ai-proposals/${SLUG}-$(date +%Y%m%d)"
mkdir -p "$DIR"
MD="$DIR/proposal.md"

cat > "$MD" <<EOF
---
title: "$TITLE"
event: "${EVENT:-TBD}"
duration: "$DURATION"
author:
  name: "YOUR NAME"
  email: "you@example.com"
  bio: "50–80 words speaker bio here."
---

# $TITLE

$ABSTRACT

## Outline

- Introduction (5m)

- Core concepts and demo (20m)

- Q&A (5m)

## Takeaways

- Attendees learn X

- Attendees can apply Y

- Attendees avoid Z

## Requirements

- Projector (HDMI)

- Wi‑Fi (for optional live demo)
EOF

pandoc "$MD" -o "$DIR/proposal.docx"
pandoc "$MD" -o "$DIR/proposal.html"

echo "Wrote:"
echo "  $MD"
echo "  $DIR/proposal.docx"
echo "  $DIR/proposal.html"

Use it:

chmod +x "$HOME/bin/new_proposal.sh"
"$HOME/bin/new_proposal.sh"

You’ll get clean DOCX/HTML files you can upload to forms immediately.

4) Track your submissions with a lightweight ledger (CSV + Bash)

A simple CSV file keeps you from double-submitting, and lets you see what’s pending or accepted.

$HOME/bin/add_submission.sh:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

LEDGER="$HOME/ai-speaking/submissions.csv"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$LEDGER")"

if [[ ! -f "$LEDGER" ]]; then
  echo "date,title,event,url,status,cfp_deadline,notes" > "$LEDGER"
fi

DATE=$(date +%F)
TITLE=${1:-}
EVENT=${2:-}
URL=${3:-}
STATUS=${4:-"submitted"}
DEADLINE=${5:-}
NOTES=${6:-}

if [[ -z "$TITLE" || -z "$EVENT" ]]; then
  echo "Usage: add_submission.sh \"Talk title\" \"Event\" [url] [status] [cfp_deadline YYYY-MM-DD] [notes]" >&2
  exit 1
fi

printf '%s,"%s","%s",%s,%s,%s,"%s"\n' \
  "$DATE" "$TITLE" "$EVENT" "${URL:-}" "$STATUS" "${DEADLINE:-}" "$NOTES" >> "$LEDGER"

echo "Logged to $LEDGER"

$HOME/bin/upcoming_deadlines.sh:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
LEDGER="$HOME/ai-speaking/submissions.csv"
WINDOW_DAYS="${1:-30}"
CUTOFF=$(date -u -d "+$WINDOW_DAYS days" +%F)

if [[ ! -f "$LEDGER" ]]; then
  echo "No ledger at $LEDGER"
  exit 0
fi

# Print entries with a CFP deadline on or before the cutoff
awk -F, -v cutoff="$CUTOFF" 'NR==1{next} $6 && $6<=cutoff {print $0}' "$LEDGER" | sort -t, -k6,6

Use them:

chmod +x "$HOME/bin/add_submission.sh" "$HOME/bin/upcoming_deadlines.sh"

# Log a submission
"$HOME/bin/add_submission.sh" "Practical GenAI on Bash" "AI Dev Summit" "https://conf.example/cfp" "submitted" "2026-09-15" "Submitted via Paper form"

# See deadlines in the next 30 days
"$HOME/bin/upcoming_deadlines.sh" 30

Real-world flow (putting it all together)

  • Morning cron alert flags two AI CFPs closing within 14 days.

  • You run new_proposal.sh, paste your abstract, and get DOCX/HTML exports in under a minute.

  • You submit to both events and log them with add_submission.sh.

  • upcoming_deadlines.sh shows what’s still urgent; your daily cron keeps you honest.

This cadence—discovery, preparation, submission, tracking—compounds quickly into more acceptances.

Conclusion and next steps

Speaking accelerates your AI career: it builds credibility, network, and opportunities. With a small, scriptable workflow, you can consistently discover CFPs, hit deadlines, and submit professional proposals—without extra overhead.

Your next steps:

  • Install the tools (apt/dnf/zypper commands above).

  • Clone the conference dataset.

  • Drop the scripts into $HOME/bin, make them executable, and wire up your cron job.

  • Ship your next AI talk this week.

If you want to go further, add:

  • A Git repo for proposals, so your abstracts and outlines evolve with version control.

  • A webhook to your team’s chat for shared visibility.

  • A makefile to bundle your bio, headshot, and proposal into a single artifact.

Your shell can be your best speaking coach—quietly, every day.

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