[mindcrime]

Yep, the larger and more prestigious conferences may be harder to break into (as they have so many people submitting) but there are smaller conferences that are probably desperately hoping for more people to submit proposals. Or they were before COVID. I'm not sure how the transition to all (or mostly) virtual has affected the conference scene, but that's the way it was in the past.

Based on my own experience, I'd say that you can always start out by speaking at local user groups or Meetups, build a resume of talks you've given, then apply to smaller / regional conferences, do a few of those, and ... well, that's where I stopped. All Things Open is the most prominent event I've presented at. But the point is, bootstrap and work your up the ladder.

Look at the whole thing holistically too: blogging, putting content on Youtube, open source projects, etc, all go towards building your overall image and presence "out there".