It is once again that time of year when we ask all of you to submit your session abstracts for this years North American DotNetNuke user and developer conference. This years conference has a new name, a new location and a significantly reduced price. DotNetNuke World will be November 9th through the 11th in lovely Orlando, Florida, with registration costing as low as $349 for those registering early. So make sure to save the dates on your calendar, and you should definitely plan to register early for the best conference pricing.
Much like past years, we are accepting session submissions that focus on Development, Design, Administration and Business. We have expanded the number of rooms this year so that we could accommodate more sessions with a broader appeal to business decision makers and end users. This years conference will focus on the “Cloud, Mobile, Social Revolution” so keep that in mind as you are developing your session abstracts.
Development – These are basically sessions dealing with code. Whether it is a topic on module development or building custom providers or dissecting the internals of DotNetNuke, anything that would appeal to the software coders is fair game.
Design – This topic area is targeted at web designers. This goes beyond just talking about skins. It also includes topics like progressive enhancement, adaptive design, accessibility, SEO, and can even include Localization. These sessions should focus more on the aesthetic and usability aspects of building a DotNetNuke website.
Administration – This topic area is where speakers present sessions that address the needs of the end user: from site administrators to content editors. Whether you are demonstrating techniques for ensuring optimal system performance, discussing cloud hosting options, or even showing how to leverage DotNetNuke modules for maximum effect, this is the track for you. These sessions really focus on the day to day use and administration of running a DotNetNuke website.
Business – This final topic area is designed to show business decision makers how DotNetNuke can solve their real world challenges. Do you a particularly interesting business problem that you were able to solve for yourself or one of your customers? That would be a great topic for a session. Do you have some insight into how to build a successful DotNetNuke business? Submit it as a session. These sessions should focus on helping decision makers better understand how DotNetNuke can help their business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What are good topics?
A. Every year I get asked by speakers which topics would be good choices. There is no good answer because we have to balance topics so that we cater to a wide variety of attendees. We need topics for beginners as well as advanced users. We need sessions on staples like site administration tips and tricks, but we also want sessions that cover cutting edge topics like developing mobile solutions with DotNetNuke. At the end of the day, speakers need to ask themselves this question – Would your boss pay several hundred dollars to send you to hear the session? Every user who attends one of the DotNetNuke conferences will spend hundreds of dollars on lodging, transportation, meals, time off from work and conference registration. Will your session appeal to a large enough number of attendees and make them feel like they are getting their moneys worth? Will your session appeal to employers who will ultimately make the decision whether to send their employees or not?
Q. How can I improve my chances to get selected?
A. Every year we have speakers who submit really good topics. Unfortunately, they only submit one or two sessions. In order to keep our costs inline with conference revenue, we require speakers to present multiple sessions. If you only submit one or two sessions you significantly reduce your chances of getting selected. If you only submit sessions on one specific topic area, you likewise limit your chances. The most successful speakers have a range of sessions that they can deliver. For example, if you are a system integrator, consider submitting sessions from a couple topic areas like building mobile websites, considerations for hosting in the cloud or developing community driven websites. If for some reason the selection committee did not like your cloud topic or we have too many submissions in the cloud area, then you still have other options that give the committee some flexibility.
Do you want to further improve your odds? Submit your session topic for different user levels. If you are submitting a beginning DotNetNuke administration session, then submit and advanced administration session as well. These shouldn’t just be the same session abstract with different experience levels selected, but different sessions developed around a common theme but targeting different experience levels.
Once you have identified key session topics, spend a little time developing good session abstracts. The goal is to convince readers that your topic is both relevant and interesting. You may have the greatest presentation ever created and be an awesome speaker, but the selection committee won’t know that unless you can convey in one or two paragraphs what you plan to talk about and why people will care. Spend a little time reviewing the session abstracts from previous conferences. Speakers will often spend weeks and weeks developing material, so don’t shortcut the process and only spend 5 minutes on the session abstract. This is the résumé for your presentation. Make it count.
Q. Who Should Submit?
A. Every conference relies on the quality of its speakers and as proven over the last four years, the DotNetNuke community has a lot of great speakers. This year we have expanded the number of sessions so that we could accommodate more community speakers. So please don't hesitate to offer your speaking services. Even if you didn't get selected in past years, please submit sessions. Every year we make a concerted effort to bring in fresh speakers who did not speak at the prior year’s conferences.
Q. How do I Submit my Sessions?
A. Just go to the Call for Speakers page on DotNetNuke.com. You’ll need to have an account on DotNetNuke.com to submit and you’ll want to make sure that you’re profile contains current contact information. If your profile has an old hotmail account that expired 3 years ago then it will be a little difficult for us to notify you when you are selected.
Q. What do I get if I am selected to speak?
A. In the past we have provided free conference registration and lodging for speakers. We are still working on the final details for this year’s conference and will announce the benefits on the call for speakers page later this week.
Q. When and where is the Conference?
A. Seriously? How did you read this far without seeing the part about DotNetNuke World being held November 9-11 in sunny Orlando, Florida. We are still finalizing the conference venue and will post the details as soon as they become available.
Additional conference details will be posted on the DotNetNuke website as they become available.