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Call for Speakers for Boston 2012 is NOW CLOSED
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SPTechCon: The SharePoint Technology Conference Boston 2012 is seeking proposals
from speakers for full-day and half-day workshops, plus 75-minute technical classes.
SPTechCon is for administrators, developers, architects and business people who
must customize, deploy, maintain and maximize business value from SharePoint Server
and SharePoint Foundation. We are looking for sessions on the newest version of
the platform as well as sessions geared specifically to SharePoint 2007, as a great
many users still have not migrated to 2010.
The first day at SPTechCon is filled with intense full and half-day workshops. The
next two days contain dozens of 75-minute classes running concurrently in six time
slots.
When you propose a workshop or a class, be clear about the audience. Is your class
for business managers and analysts? Administrators? Developers? You should think
about who would be most interested in your topic and your presentation of that topic.
Make sure that your proposal makes it clear whom you are addressing, and what they
will learn from your session. Also tell us if your session is introductory, intermediate
or for experts. Use the guide that accompanies this to see where you class fits.
Your session also should indicate which version of SharePoint is being discussed
in your class; if it’s a general session that’s applicable to any version
of SharePoint, please indicate as such. No submissions will be accepted without
this complete information.
SPTechCon welcomes sessions built around real-world SharePoint case studies.
Acceptance of your class proposal will be based not only on your topic’s timeliness
and relevance, but also on your own credentials as a SharePoint expert and instructor.
Be sure to communicate how clearly you can state what your class will be about,
who would benefit from taking it, any prerequisite knowledge, and what the attendee
will learn. A muddled, confused submission is likely to get rejected.
The ideal presenter is someone with expert credentials in SharePoint and other relevant
technologies, and who can clearly present practical solutions to real-world challenges,
teach new skills, and provide attendees with an information-packed learning experience.
For an idea of sample topics, check out this year’s class and tutorial lineup.
Event Schedule:
Sunday, July 22, 2012: Workshops
Monday, July 23, 2012: Technical Classes
Tuesday, July 24, 2012: Technical Classes
Wednesday, July 25, 2012: Technical Classes
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SESSION LEVELS
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Classes and workshops at SPTechCon are taught at three levels: Overview, Intermediate
and Advanced.
Attendees rarely complain that a session has too much detail. Just because a session
isn’t technical, such as those for business users, doesn’t mean it can’t
be at an advanced level. If you’re talking about project management, for example,
but doing a deep examination of the methods and techniques, along with a demonstration
of implementing these in software tools, this would be an advanced class.
Overview: No previous knowledge of the class’s subject is
required, and the session will be a high-level introduction of the topic.
Intermediate: These broad technology sessions emphasize capabilities
and how things work. As appropriate, the instructor will show examples.
Advanced: These sessions teach attendees how to implement a solution.
As appropriate, the instructor will include detailed samples.
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TOPIC AREAS
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Developer Essentials: These technical classes and workshops are
geared to software developers looking to write custom applications, or extend out-of-the-box
functionality. Topics include branding, BDC/BCS, Client Object Model and more.
IT Pro Essentials: These technical classes and workshops cover
topics specific to setting up and managing SharePoint Server, including permissions,
farm architecture, integrations, storage and virtualization, among others.
Line of Business Essentials: These sessions are geared to business
users who are looking to SharePoint for document management, search, and reporting,
as well as working with lists, libraries and forms. Also, power users looking to
create their own simple SharePoint applications or manipulate metadata and content
would benefit from these classes.
Architecture Essentials: These classes and workshops are aimed
at business, software and IT architects and address topics such as workflow, governance,
search, metadata and taxonomy, and content types.
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Speaker Deadlines:
Friday, Jan. 20, 2012: Abstract submissions, including
all information described below.
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012: Speaker notification of acceptance.
Preparation of Submission:
Please include the following information in your speaker proposal:
- Title of class or workshop
- Abstract or submission, 150–200 words, describing the
class and what attendees will learn from it
- List the job title of the SharePoint professional who
would most benefit from your class
- List the version of SharePoint the class will talk about
- Any prerequisites of the proposed class, such as technical
proficiency or knowledge-level of a topic
- Any prerequisites such as a laptop and any pre-loaded
software
- Speaker bio, 125–150 words
- Speaker name(s), mailing and e-mail addresses, telephone
and cell phone numbers
- Hi-res digital headshot of speaker
Please submit your information electronically as a text e-mail or as a Word document
to conference chairman David Rubinstein (drubinstein@bzmedia.com). Please note that we reserve the
right to edit class titles, descriptions and bios to fit our style, and also to
ensure that it clearly presents information about your session to attendees.
Suggestions:
Attendees are coming to take technical classes — they don’t want to
hear a sales pitch, no matter how thickly veiled. Please do not submit classes that
are geared around persuading attendees to buy your product or use your service.
SPTechCon classes are for teaching, not for marketing.
Our experience shows that a class taught by more than one instructor is generally
not as satisfying as a class taught by a single instructor. If you are proposing
multiple instructors, be sure to explain why — and the role that each instructor
plays in the class.
Teaching at SPTechCon means more than just showing up at the conference. Please
pay attention to the deadlines for submission of handouts and other materials. These
deadlines help us ensure that the conference provides a quality educational experience
for all attendees, and your cooperation is appreciated.
Please plan on sticking around for most or all of the conference, to interact with
attendees and partake of the entire SPTechCon experience.
Contacts:
Questions about the speaker submission process:
David Rubinstein, Conference Chairman
+1-631-421-4158 x105 or drubinstein@bzmedia.com
General questions about SPTechCon:
Katie Serignese, Conference Coordinator
+1-631-421-4158 x128 or kserignese@bzmedia.com
Stacy Burris, Director of Events
+1-631-421-4158 x108 or sburris@bzmedia.com
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