| CFP closes at | February 28, 2026 12:39 UTC |
| (Local) |
Monki Gras 2026: Prepared Craft
Monki Gras, the tech conference about craft and tech culture, returns to London in early 2026.
The theme this year is Prepared Craft: examining the foresight, tooling, and intentionality required to build and thrive in an age of accelerated technological change. We’ve spent the last two years exploring how to prompt and how to sustain; now, we look forward.
In an era where foundational models are constantly shifting the ground beneath our feet, this theme is about laying the strategic groundwork. We’ll be looking at the skills, governance, and architectural planning required to not just react to new technology, but to lead with proactive purpose.
As ever at Monki Gras, talks will span disciplines. While we are fundamentally a tech conference focused on software and systems, we are equally interested in how these forces intersect with art, writing, culture, and business strategy. We’re looking beyond the prompt to understand what it takes to be truly ready for what comes next.
CFP Description
Monkigras 2026: Prepared Craft
We’re looking for the talks you can only find at Monkigras. The last two years we’ve explored the practical realities of prompting craft and the longer-term necessity of sustaining craft. This year, we’re asking: what does it mean to be prepared?
Our theme, Prepared Craft, is about looking forward and laying the groundwork for what’s next. This is the stage before the first line of code, the first prompt, or the first sprint—it’s about intentionality, strategy, and foresight in a world of accelerating technological change.
Naturally, we’re still keenly interested in the evolution of Generative AI and LLMs, but through the lens of preparation. How are builders, organizations, and even societies proactively setting themselves up to both leverage and withstand the next wave of innovation?
We’re looking for proposals that address:
The Intentional Stack: What does your long-term technology roadmap look like in a world where foundational models are commodities? How do you architect your system today for the AI tools of tomorrow? What are the new tooling and infrastructure choices required to move from experimental usage to enterprise readiness?
The Governance Blueprint: Preparation isn’t just technical; it’s social and legal. How are you creating ethical guardrails, data provenance policies, and governance structures before an AI system goes live? What does a robust data strategy look like when data quality and lineage are paramount to model performance? We want to hear about the cultural, legal, and operational prep work.
The Human Upskilling: If GenAI abstracts away more routine tasks, what new skills must your team acquire to remain relevant? We’re interested in talks that cover the learning, training, and strategic talent investments that future-proof your craft. How are you prepping the people for the new world of work?
Historical Foresight & Meta-Talks: As always, we love talks that bring perspective. Perhaps you have a historical parallel—what can the preparation for the Industrial Revolution’s impact on infrastructure tell us about preparing for today’s AI shift? Or maybe you have a story of how a seemingly unrelated discipline, like disaster preparedness, or even culinary mise en place, provides a surprising framework for technical readiness.
Don’t be afraid to propose a talk that’s skeptical or even critical. Monkigras is about thoughtful discussion, not just hype. What are the risks you are proactively mitigating right now? What are the common preparation mistakes you’re seeing in the industry?
Finally, we always appreciate a great primer. If you have an incredibly clear, fundamental explanation of a core concept—be it Data Mesh, Federated Learning, or Observability—that is a prerequisite for being “prepared,” please submit it!
Share your experiences about how you or your organization are preparing the ground today for the complex challenges and powerful tools of tomorrow.
For would be speakers our main advice is straightforward: “be good.” One of the things all our conferences have in common is the uniform excellence of our speakers. Talks at RedMonk events are not only creative and compelling, they are prepared, rehearsed and engaging.
As for topics, that’s up to you. But remember there are two rules: Go meta - always try and find ways that one discipline informs another. No product talks, sponsor or otherwise From there, we’re open. We’ve had first-time speakers, we’ve had people who’ve been doing it for years. At the end of the day, we’re simply looking for excellent talks you wouldn’t hear at any other conference. In a perfect world, you’ll make the attendees think about the world they’re a part of and their role in it.
Be interesting, be insightful, be original.
FAQ:
Q: What’s the deadline?
A: Technically, there is no hard deadline. That said, as a single track conference, our slots are extremely limited.
Q: How long are the talks?
A: 30 minutes.
Q: Should I assume deep technical knowledge?
A: The majority of our audience is fairly technical, but they come from very different backgrounds and disciplines. If you want to go deep on one technology only, your best bet is to head to a conference about that technology.
Q: I’d like to purchase a speaking slot, how can that be arranged?
A: You can’t. We do not sell speaking slots at the conference.
Q: Can I nominate someone else I’d like to hear speak?
A: Certainly! We always appreciate suggestions, particularly where potential speakers might be enticed by the best beers in the world.
Q:I’ve already been asked to speak - do I need to submit a proposal?
A: If we’ve talked separately, you’re all set.
Q: Where can I get an idea of the kinds of talks that have appeared previously?
A: You can view past talks at Redmonk tech events.