# Which European countries have the most conferences looking for speakers

Author: Marin Niehues, Stage Starter · Published: 2025-12-09
Topic: Finding Conferences (https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/topic/finding-conferences/)
Source: https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/conference-call-for-papers-europe-by-country/

In Europe, Italy has the most conferences with an open call for papers, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. In our analysis of 2,415 conferences that openly advertise speaking slots for 2026, Italy accounts for 108 conferences, the UK for 90 and Germany for 88. A call for papers is the public announcement with which a conference collects talk proposals, and where many of them run, experts without a well-known name also get the chance of a stage. This article puts the countries in context, shows the leading conference cities and describes what the distribution means for choosing your stages.

**Five countries form the core of the European conference market with open calls: Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. What counts for your choice is how many conferences in a country match your topic and your clients, and research on each conference decides that.**

## Which European countries have the most conferences with a call for papers?

Italy has the most conferences with a call for papers in Europe. At a specialist conference, professionals from one industry hear talks about their field, and many of these conferences fill their programme through an open call: if you want to speak, you submit an abstract, the short description of a planned talk, and a programme committee, the group that decides on submissions, makes the selection. In our analysis, Europe ranks as follows:

- Italy: 108 conferences
- United Kingdom: 90 conferences
- Germany: 88 conferences
- Spain: 78 conferences
- Netherlands: 65 conferences

Together these five countries account for 429 of the 2,415 conferences, around 18 per cent. Worldwide, the USA leads with 391 conferences ahead of India with 120, and Italy already follows in third place. Germany ranks fifth worldwide and runs almost level with the UK within Europe.

**Europe at a glance**
- 108 conferences | in Italy, first in Europe and third worldwide
- 429 of 2,415 | conferences are in Europe's five leading countries
- 154 meetings | of international associations took place in Vienna in 2024, first worldwide

A second, independent count confirms the picture. The international congress association ICCA counts the regularly recurring meetings of international associations that rotate between several countries every year. In its ranking for 2024, the USA with 709 meetings is followed by Italy with 635, Spain with 536, Germany with 491, the UK with 481 and France with 432. The order differs in individual places because ICCA counts association congresses and our analysis counts conferences with an open call, but the leading group is the same.

## Which European cities host the most conferences?

Vienna and Lisbon are the European cities with the most international meetings. According to the ICCA ranking for 2024, Vienna hosted 154 association meetings and Lisbon 153, putting both at the top worldwide. Barcelona and Prague follow in fourth and fifth place, Paris ranks sixth with 124 meetings, and Rome and Athens are also in the top ten.

For German cities, our own analysis counts 13 conferences with an open call in Berlin. The major conference cities have a practical advantage for speakers, because good flight connections keep the journey short. A one-day appearance in another city costs two travel days, or three with a long journey or an evening before, and preparation comes on top of that. If you can reach a capital with a direct flight, you stay at two days.

## How does the German-speaking region compare?

Germany belongs to Europe's leading group, with 88 conferences in our analysis and 491 association meetings in the ICCA count. Austria and Switzerland have conference landscapes of their own, and Vienna even leads worldwide as a congress city. For experts from Germany, travel and language stay manageable within the German-speaking region, where most calls appear in German or English. How things look in the two neighbouring countries in detail is described in [Conferences in Austria and Switzerland](/en/blog/speaker-agency-austria-switzerland/).

If you only submit within the German-speaking region, you use a small part of the market. Italy, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands together account for 341 conferences in our analysis, almost four times as many as Germany. Many of these conferences issue their calls in English and explicitly welcome international speakers, and what matters for an English submission is shown in the article on [international conferences in English](/en/blog/speaking-at-international-conferences-in-english/).

## Is a talk abroad worth it if your clients are in Germany?

A talk abroad is worth it when decision-makers who award contracts in your market sit in the room. International specialist conferences bring together professionals from many countries, and companies with international business send their specialist departments there. The criteria are the same as at home: the topic has to fit the programme, the audience has to belong to your clientele, and the travel effort has to match the expected order value. A talk in Barcelona in front of the right two hundred people brings more than one in Frankfurt in front of the wrong audience.

The number of calls in a country tells you where you can submit, and the acceptance rate tells you how much submitting that takes. In our submissions for clients we reach up to 19 per cent acceptances per conference, while 5 per cent at most is typical in the market at this volume of submissions. Including Europe increases the number of suitable calls, and with it the chance of acceptance: across n conferences with rate p it is 1 − (1 − p)^n, so with fifteen conferences and 5 per cent it is around 54 per cent.

## What the distribution means for your choice of conferences

Behind each country stand dozens of conferences with their own deadline and form, often in different languages. Whether your talk fits the audience of a conference only becomes clear through research, and across several countries that quickly takes up working days every month. What this work looks like and who can take it on is described in [Outsourcing conference research](/en/blog/outsource-conference-research/), and the whole process is explained in the [call for papers guide](/en/blog/call-for-papers-guide/).

Stage Starter takes on this work for you: [we find the right calls across Europe, write the submission and submit](/en/) in your name. After that we follow up and accompany you to the stage. You provide your expertise and approve talk and abstracts once before the start, and you hold the conversations after the talk yourself. The model pays off most for experts with little time and a high order value who want to speak in front of a specialist audience. The collaboration starts from €990 net per month, while a bought speaking slot quickly costs €10,000 or more. No agency can guarantee acceptance, which is decided by the programme committee.

**Three routes to European conference stages**
Criterion | Submit yourself | Pay to speak | Stage Starter
Finding conferences | you, alongside daily business and in several languages | the organiser sells the slot | we research continuously across Europe
Abstracts and submission | written by you, form by form | selection by a programme committee usually does not apply | we develop them and submit in your name
What it costs | days of your working time | quickly €10,000 or more for a single speaking slot | from €990 net per month for the whole operation
Pays off most when | your diary has room and you count in the time cost | you want to buy a single appearance | your time is short, your order value high and clients are the goal

**Italy leads Europe in conferences with a call for papers, ahead of the UK, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, and Vienna and Lisbon are the leading congress cities. If you submit beyond the German-speaking region, you multiply the number of suitable calls.**

**Sources**
- Stage Starter analysis: 2,415 conferences that openly advertise speaking slots for 2026, by country and city.
- ICCA Country and City Rankings 2024 by the congress association ICCA: number of international association meetings per country and city in 2024.
- Stage Starter analysis: 2,189 of our own submissions for clients, with acceptance rates per abstract and per conference.

## Frequently asked questions

### Which European country has the most conferences with a call for papers?

Italy has the most conferences with a call for papers in Europe, 108 in our analysis. It is followed by the UK with 90, Germany with 88, Spain with 78 and the Netherlands with 65. The ICCA count of international association meetings also puts Italy first in Europe.

### How many conferences with a call for papers are there in Europe?

Europe's five leading countries alone account for 429 of 2,415 conferences with an open call in our analysis, around 18 per cent. Many other countries from France to Scandinavia add to that. There is no complete official count for Europe.

### Which European cities host the most conferences?

Vienna and Lisbon host the most international meetings in Europe, 154 and 153 in 2024 according to ICCA. They are followed by Barcelona, Prague and Paris with 124 meetings. For Berlin, our analysis counts 13 conferences with an open call.

### Can I submit to English-language conferences in Europe as a German speaker?

Yes, most international conferences in Europe issue their calls in English and accept speakers from all countries. What matters is an English abstract in natural conference English and a topic that fits the programme. A literal translation of a German abstract often reads stiffly there.

### Are travel costs covered for speakers at European conferences?

At specialist conferences with an open call, the organiser usually covers the ticket and sometimes travel costs, while a fee is rare. The terms are stated in the conditions of each call. For experts who want to win clients, a single contract from a talk is worth more than any reimbursement.

### Do I have to pay to speak at a European conference?

With a call for papers you usually pay nothing to submit, and a programme committee decides on inclusion. Pay to speak is different: the organiser sells speaking slots, and that quickly costs €10,000 or more for a single speaking slot. Sponsored sessions are often not labelled in the programme, as explained in [Sponsored talks and pay to speak](/en/blog/do-speakers-have-to-pay-for-the-stage/).

### When do most calls for papers in Europe close?

Most calls close between February and April and between July and September, because the conferences themselves cluster in spring and autumn. The median deadline falls 50 days before the conference starts. For autumn conferences you therefore mostly have to submit in summer.

## The next step

In which European countries your topic finds the most suitable stages is something we clarify in an [initial consultation](/en/erstgespraech/).