Authors first submit a proposal abstract through the PNSQC website. Your abstract will be reviewed by a selection committee and if you have a great story to tell, you will be invited to write your paper and attend PNSQC to present your paper. 

Note that the program includes Keynote and Invited Speakers,  Full Technical Papers, and Poster Papers.

All proposals are reviewed by the Program Selection Committee. The  program selection committee looks at the whole picture when reviewing your proposal:

• How impactful will your paper be to the attendees?
• What is the relevance of the problem you solved?
• What is the reach of your technical contribution to the community?
• Is your contribution applicable to other domains or organizations?

We also take into account the topic of your paper and relationship to past conferences. The program selection committee also prepares for the inevitable by selecting backup technical papers, in case there is a cancellation.

The Program Committee Chair will then assign one or more reviewers to work with you on your technical paper. Reviewers assigned to you will make contact via email. Technical papers must meet all conference deadlines in order to be made available to attendees prior to the event.

Please note that if you decide to write a technical paper you will be the author. Our reviewers will work with you to ensure that your content is clear and that it meets the PNSQC standards. They are your resource to assist you in writing a professional paper and have been given specific Reviewer Guidelines on how to give you feedback and work with you towards this objective. However, they will not rewrite sentences, restructure content, or edit for grammar and vocabulary. If you are unsure about your abilities to deliver a technical paper that meets PNSQC standards, please arrange for reviewers, editors, or co-authors at your company to help you. If English is your second language, congratulations for stepping up to the challenge! You may want to have a native English speaker review your paper to help you with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. English isn’t easy!

Submit your revisions to the PNSQC site by logging with your UserID and password.

Papers that are approved by reviewers will be uploaded to the PNSQC website. The program committee has the  final authority to reject a paper if it decides that the paper does not meet the PNSQC quality.

You may submit your technical abstract proposal via PNSQC website. Once your abstract is accepted, you’ll work with two reviewers toward a final camera-ready paper which you will submit through MemberLeap. You must submit your paper, presentation, or poster in the right format. This is critical for our conference proceedings to look professional as all content will be consistent.

• PNSQC Paper Template
• PNSQC Presentation Template
• PNSQC Poster Template (Portrait) or (Landscape)

If you’re new to writing technical papers, you may want to check out these for help getting started.

• How to Write an Abstract
• Survival Skills for Scientific Writing in the Academic and Professional Environments, a summary of best writing practices.
• On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser
• The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

Yes. To present your paper at the conference you must agree to attend the event. Although we waive your conference fees, presenters are responsible for presenting their papers either in-person or online during the conference.

Great! PNSQC strongly encourages first-time presenters. Giving a talk can be scary if you are new to it, so we recommend that you practice in front of friends before the big day. If you have a good idea but are unsure how to begin, please reach out to us and we will help you get started! There are some great references above that will also help.

The Program Committee values the professional presentation of content contributing to the body of knowledge for software quality. In the last 3 years, we have brought back the concept of best presentation awards and have taken pride in ‘growing our own’ and invited the top three to return the following year as invited speakers. Our hope is that these speakers (usually new speakers, aka nerds who have written a paper) will join the field of QA professionals that feel comfortable standing up and sharing their knowledge and expertise.

We award the top presentation in each track (Emerging Technologies and Concepts, Technology, Management Leadership and People, and Process and Tools), in addition to special awards for Most Creative, and Most Interactive and Engaging; for a total of five awards. With this award structure, we hope to not only continue our tradition of ‘home-grown’ by inviting these speakers back the following year, but also encourage depth in each track as well as presentation characteristics that improve the overall quality and value of the conference for everyone. As usual, winners will be voted upon by the community at the conference (bring your friends and colleagues to vote for your presentation).

Download the PNSQC Speaker-Author Agreement

Download the Video Tips & Recommendations PDF

• Lee Copeland has an excellent slide set on conference speaking for beginners at http://www.uploads.pnsqc.org/conference/documents/Speaking_101_Lee_Copeland.pdf
• TED has several good videos on public speaking at https://www.ted.com/playlists/226/before_public_speaking
• TEDx also has some good guidelines for preparing presentations at https://www.ted.com/participate/organize-a-local-tedx-event/tedx-organizer-guide/speakers-program/prepare-your-speaker
• James Whittaker has a lot to say about presentations. Check out his Microsoft video at https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/188/ and guidelines at https://news.microsoft.com/stories/people/james-whittaker.html