Attendees and the conference organizers are skeptical of technical talks proposed by marketing people. Even the appearance of a sales pitch, such as when a talk is given by a marketer, will cause people to not attend that class.
Attendees don’t want to be lectured why something is important. That’s not why they’re coming to SPTechCon, and that’s not why they are signing up for your class. They’re here to learn how to do new things. In your abstract, explain what new skills you will teach.
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.
SPTechCon wants class proposals from expert instructors — not from companies. If you are proposing to teach a class at SPTechCon, be sure that your schedule is clear, and that you are prepared to teach 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, attend BoFs, and partake of the entire SPTechCon experience. We're not looking for instructors to parachute in for a class, teach, and then disappear without a trace.
SPTechCon 2009, the SharePoint Technology Conference, is seeking proposals from speakers for half-day workshops and 75-minute technical classes.
SPTechCon is for administrators, developers and business people who must customize, deploy, maintain and maximize business value from Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Windows SharePoint Services.
The first day at SPTechCon is filled with intense half-day workshops, half in the morning, half in the afternoon. The next two days contain dozens of 75-minute classes running concurrently in four or five 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? Think about who would be most interested in your topic, and your presentation of that topic. Make sure that your proposal makes it clear who you are addressing, and what they will learn from your session. Also tell us if your session is introductory, intermediate or for experts.
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 you 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.
Sample Topics
Here are a few of the types of sessions that we are looking for at SPTechCon. If you have an idea and it’s not on the list, that’s great. We welcome your ideas, creativity, experience and expertise.
- Using SharePoint to Solve Business Problems
- Designing Reusable SharePoint Features for Line-of-Business Application Development
- Building Composite Office Business Applications
- SharePoint for Business Processes and Business Intelligence
- Security, Administration, Compliance and Governance
- Plug-Ins and Add-Ins
- Collaborating Outside Your Organization with SharePoint
- Integrating SharePoint Into Your Organization
- Hosting Services
- Reporting and Management
- Best Practices for SharePoint Services Deployment
Event Schedule
January 26: Half-day workshops
January 27:Technical Classes
January 28: Technical Classes
Speaker Deadlines
September 4, 2008: Abstract submissions, including all information described below.
September 5, 2008: 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
- 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 Kathy Bruin, kbruin@bzmedia.com. Please note that we will edit class titles, descriptions and bios to fit our style, and also to ensure that it clearly presents information about your session to attendees.
Contacts
Questions about the speaker submission process:
Kathy Bruin, Conference Manager
+1-415-642-6108 or kbruin@bzmedia.com
General questions about SPTechCon:
Ted Bahr, Director of Events
+1-631-421-4158 x101 or ted@bzmedia.com