2026 Call for Speakers

About the Conference Call for Speakers

The 38th annual FIRST conference will be held June 14-19, 2026, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, in Denver, Colorado, USA.

FIRST brings together security and incident response professionals from multiple career stages and from public, private, and education sectors around the world. Participants exchange ideas, datasets, and new techniques, debate key issues, strengthen trust networks, and collaborate on areas of mutual interest.

We are seeking speakers to present their latest insights on incident response and security operations, advancing our collective ability to prevent and respond to computer security incidents.

What We Are Looking For…

We welcome ideas, developments, or experiences that advance security and incident response practices. Ideas that can be implemented by other teams—without requiring proprietary information or software—are especially encouraged. The Suggested Topics list is provided to help spark ideas about work you or your team members may wish to share.

Please note: presentations designed to promote commercial applications, solutions, or products will not be accepted. In other words—no sales or marketing pitches.

Language

The official language of the annual conference is English.

Suggested Topics

Aligned with the conference theme, “Peak Defense: Building Adaptive Systems for Modern Threats”, we invite submissions under the following broad topics:

  • New Attacks and/or Defenses – technical, human, supply chain, or hybrid vectors.
  • Emerging Targets – ML/LLM/NLP, mobile, Industrial Control & Cyber-Physical Systems (ICS/CPS), IoT, cloud environments, etc.
  • Understanding and Detecting Threats – innovative techniques, intelligence analysis, and detection methods.
  • Attack & Intrusion Analysis – tools, techniques, case studies, and results.
  • Operationalizing Incident Response Methodologies – frameworks, playbooks, automation, tabletop exercises, and practical detection-to-recovery workflows.
  • Quality and Maturity of Security Teams – assessing ability of teams to follow best practice processes and guidelines to improving the maturity of the teams
  • Product Security – secure development practices and building resilient systems.
  • Building Trust – sharing, collaboration, and working effectively across boundaries.
  • Shaping the Rules of the Game – privacy, ethics, norms, governance, policies, standards, and best practices.
  • Software and Hardware Supply Chains – preventing incidents due to implicit trust of vendors.
  • Managing Security Operations and Response Teams – recruiting, training, executive communication, and preventing staff burnout.
  • Applied Machine Learning – statistical models, LLMs, and AI techniques in incident response, CTI, and security research.
  • Securing AI Systems - best practices for securing pipelines, models and AI systems infrastructure from attacks, misuse, and data breaches to ensure they behave safely, reliably, and ethically.

The Program Committee recognizes the rapid growth of AI-related topics, and we welcome submissions that explore the role of AI in enhancing Incident Response. However, our focus is on substantive research in this area which includes work on developing new models, training and fine-tuning models, or vigorously evaluating their performance. General AI research without a clear tie to Incident Response or practical security operations are not in scope for this CFS.

Submission Formats

The conference will feature three parallel session tracks, offering a variety of learning styles and content types. When submitting, please indicate whether your presentation is best described as technical, management, or academic. You should also specify the intended audience level: beginner, intermediate, or advanced.

Submissions may propose one of the following formats:

  • Presentations: Conventional talk to a theatre audience of 300-1,000 participants.

    • 30 minutes (including Q&A)
    • 45 minutes (including Q&A)

  • Panels: Must clearly outline audience takeaways, identify the moderator, and provide a tentative list of panelists.

    • 45 minutes (including Q&A)

Please note: presenters are expected to deliver their sessions in person at the conference.

The Review Process, Tips, and Guidelines

All submissions are reviewed by an international program committee of experts and practitioners, representing a diverse set of teams and organizations. They are responsible for selecting the best and most relevant talks to make up the conference program.

FIRST does not require you to submit a formal paper. However, your submission must clearly demonstrate the following:

  • What problem is this addressing?
  • How does this help? Who will benefit?
  • Why are you a good person to tell us this?

A complete submission must include:

  • Detailed Outline (recommended but not limited to 300–500 words).
  • Abstract (100–150 words recommended, maximum 250), written to spark interest and explain what the talk is about, and what the actionable takeaways will be.
  • Optional: additional materials to support your proposal, for example a draft slide deck, data set, or white paper.

Important: Submissions must be complete by the deadline or they cannot be considered.

Deadline: December 03, 2025 (23:59 UTC)
Submission Tool: EasyChair

If you already have an EasyChair login, you can sign in directly. New users will need to create an account. The program committee will use EasyChair for any follow-up during the review process.

Please allow at least 20 minutes per submission, and carefully review these instructions to ensure your proposal is complete and successfully submitted.

Access the Call for Speakers Submission Form

Please allow yourself at least 20 minutes per submission and please read the above submission instructions and tips on what makes a successful and complete FIRST submission.

Speaker Privileges

FIRST offers presentation speakers discounted admission rates. FIRST does not contribute to travel, accommodation, or other expenses. Please keep in mind the following guidelines regarding complimentary admission:

  • General Presentation: One complimentary full admission registration pass per accepted presentation; discounted registration rates are offered to co-presenters at US $1700. Complimentary day passes will also be offered for those planning to attend only the day of their presentation. *Co-presenters added AFTER the review and acceptance process will not be eligible for speaker discounts.
  • Panels: One complimentary registration pass for each accepted panelist.

Backup speakers are offered the same speaker privileges.

Speaker discounts are non-transferable and valid for the accepted conference year.

Speakers provide consent for FIRST to record their presentations in audio and/or visual form and grant FIRST a royalty-free license to use, reproduce, and distribute the recordings and accompanying materials. Speakers also understand that while they retain the rights to their presentation materials (handouts, slides, etc.) and the content of the presentation, FIRST is the sole copyright owner of any recording and can distribute the recording, along with any supporting materials in any way, with the appropriate attribution of the speakers. Submitters can indicate an opt-out for recording their presentation.

The annual FIRST conference is open to the public and welcomes non-members, press, and social media coverage. After the conference, presentation materials will be made available on the public area of the FIRST website. If your presentation will be sensitive in nature and will require special handling, you must indicate your TLP level during your CFS submission. Submitters may be asked to explain the reason for the chosen TLP level. TLP definitions can be found at www.first.org/tlp.

Professional photographs, audio, and video will be captured during the Conference. Conference Attendees wearing lanyards indicating their approval to be photographed/recorded, grant FIRST and its representative’s permission to photograph and/or record them during Conference activities and to use such recordings in support of FIRST’s mission. Uses of records may include but are not limited to, electronic broadcasting on FIRST’s YouTube Channel, educational initiatives, post-conference reporting, and FIRST’s social media activities.

Important Dates

  • Call for Speakers Opens: October 31, 2025
  • Call for Speakers Closes: December 3, 2025
  • Acceptance Notifications: February 9-27, 2026
  • Final Confirmations of Acceptance Due: February 27, 2026
  • Optional Draft Presentation or Talking Points Due for Review: April 23, 2026
  • Optional Presentations for Final Review/Feedback: May 13, 2026
  • Conference Event Dates: June 14-19, 2026

Questions for the Program Chair

If you have questions about the conference submission process or need additional information, please contact the Program Chair, Merike Kaeo at firstcon26-chair@first.org.

On behalf of the Program Committee, we look forward to bringing the community another compelling program and look forward to seeing everyone in the Mile High City, Denver!