Lotus Geek :: Lotusphere 2006: Abstract Suggestions

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Last year I posted an entry entitled "So you want to be a Lotusphere speaker...", wherein I gave suggestions for abstract submissions. I felt that it would be good to reiterate my suggestions again, and to refresh them a bit for this year. You don't need to follow the link to last year's article - I am going to cover it again here.

What are we looking for?
I am the track manager for the Best Practices and Jumpstart tracks, so I can't speak for all track managers - but I can give you some insight into what I am looking for in my tracks, and I am sure that other tracks will be looking for similar topic areas to be covered. Let's begin by taking a look at the track descriptions again:

Pre-Conference Jumpstarts
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." -- Neil Peart, drummer - Rush
Lotusphere's JumpStart sessions are designed to help you increase your chances of being "lucky" as a developer, by preparing you to get the most out of Lotusphere. When you combine the foundation you'll get from the Jumpstart sessions with the breadth and depth of technical content coming your way during the rest of the week, you'll be the "luckiest" geek alive when you encounter your next technical opportunity. This year we're focusing on programming languages, development models, administration and security - and much more! And we've scoured the industry for the top experts in the field to deliver sessions to help you understand these basics quickly.
Sessions will be held on Sunday, January 22nd, and are two hours in length.

Best Practices
You've learned all the theories, you've heard all the hype - now's the time to put it all to work! The Best Practices track is where the rubber meets the road - where you get to see what it actually takes to put your great ideas into action. This track is created by you, for you - the developer in the trenches making "geek magic" happen every day. Come learn from the ingenuity - and mistakes - of others, and walk away better prepared to turn your geek dreams into reality.

Let's begin by discussing Jumpstarts. Obviously Jumpstarts (JS) imply that you are going to get a introduction to a topic and enough information to at least be comfortable listening to other sessions on the topic. However, just because these are "introductions" does not mean that they will all be on basic topics like Jumpstart on LotusScript or Jumpstart on Java. I would like to see some Jumpstarts on other areas that may be of use to a developer or admin. How about a Jumpstart on administering a server? Or a Jumpstart on creating web services in Notes/Domino 7? It is OK to require some prerequisite knowledge to get something out of a Jumpstart, as long as you make it clear what type of prerequisite knowledge is required of the attendee.

Now let's talk about Best Practices. Best Practices (BP) are designed to provide the attendee with tips, tricks, techniques, etc. from real-world experience. We leave the intro and theory to the other tracks, such as App Dev and Infrastructure. This year the BP track is going to be bigger, so I expect to have great content covering a broader spectrum of topics. Additionally I have seen a substantial interest in Admin sessions in the last few years, so I am going to continue to add to the Admin side of the track. This track is a haven for those of you who have some kickass trick, tip, kludge, etc. to get your work done - this is the place to show it off and share your knowledge with your peers, garnering their adulation and undying gratitude.

Last year we went back to basics and covered a great deal of core stuff from Notes/Domino and the extended products. This year I intend to continue that focus, except that this year we have a major product release and other exciting releases as well in the Workplace products. So, I would like to see a mix of "old and new" - I want to have a mix of sessions on the stuff that is widely deployed (Notes/Domino 6.5.x, etc.), but I also want to see some JS and BP sessions on the new product releases, especially how to best take advantage of the new features in Notes/Domino 7, how to get the most out of new products such as Workplace Designer, etc.

Now let's take a look at what makes a good abstract...

What makes a good abstract?
When you are composing your abstract(s), let me make a few recommendations:

In the case of submitting abstracts, less is NOT more. More is more. You should submit early and often. We would much rather have too many abstracts to choose from than only your "best" ones, because you never know what we're going to be looking for. So, any idea you come up with, please submit it - not to mention the more you submit, the better chance you have of being selected!
Your abstract should convey, in a clear and concise manner, exactly what you plan to cover. Also, if it is relevant, try to let the reader know what the target audience is - administrators? developers? newbies? experts?
Your abstract should be interesting to read - it should "sell" your session. Your abstract should be less like a college course description and more like a paperback novel synopsis. You can be entertaining, but don't try to get too cutesy - that is very irritating. Remember, the most important thing is to convey what you're going to be covering, not being funny. It is a fine line, but I am sure you can do it. If in doubt, run the abstract by some of your geek friends and ask them if it sounds like a session they would want to attend.
The title of your session should convey what the session is about. You can be creative, but once again it is more important to give good information than be entertaining.
When you write your abstract, make sure that the material you are covering is rich enough to fill an hour - and that's a full 60 minutes. We are sticking with our new format of 60 minute sessions with the Q&A session afterward in a "Meet the Speaker" room. So, please make sure that your information fills the entire 60 minutes. Attendees don't like attending sessions that end really early or really late.
Make sure your topic is narrow enough to be effectively covered in 60 minutes, but not so narrow that your potential audience is not too big. For instance, a session on integrating Domino with Visual COBOL wouldn't be that great, but a session on integrating Domino with various SQL servers would be good.
Don't think a topic is too basic, or too advanced. Remember, Lotusphere is a big show, and there are attendees of all experience levels and interests. Some of the best sessions are very basic, while there are also quite a few that are very advanced, yet very popular. If the topic helps people solve a problem, or do something better, then it is probably a good topic. And this goes back to the earlier suggestion - let the track managers decide what will be on the agenda, and don't cut yourself before you've even submitted the abstract.

I find there is a karmic balance between articles/whitepapers and sessions. Typically if a topic warrants a whitepaper or article, it is a topic that would make a good session. Additionally there seems to be a cosmic correlation between article length and session length. The length of the average article tends to be about the right amount of information for a great 60 minute session. So, if you've written an article, whitepaper, blog entry, etc. in the last year that was popular, it would probably make a good session - and you should submit it.

Conclusion
That should help you get a start on creating some great abstracts. If you have any questions, feel free to ask Ed Brill, Kathleen McGivney, or me - just don't lobby to be picked to speak, cause that's really irritating and greatly hurts your cause :)

Rock
**Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Comments

1 - Thanks for this overview I will have a go and enter a few abstracts. I could do with a few more hints though as I have a lot of ideas from working with customers and from bolts of inspiration.
Have Lotus marketing prodded you to cover any particular subjects in particular?
Are there any stats on which subjects are most in demand?
What are the hot subjects in Lotus and IBM that might be the next big thing to do with Lotus Notes Domino?
Thanks
-Adam

Posted by Adam Foster At 11:18:56 AM On 09/09/2005 | - Website - |

2 - If you have an abstract that could fit in two tracks, should you submit it twice? I submitted an abstract in one track, but it could really fit into another track as well. Will a track manager take a topic from another track if it works in theirs, but was submitted in a different one?

Posted by Ray J Bilyk (aka The Lion King) At 01:24:43 PM On 09/23/2005 | - Website - |

3 - Hi Adam - Well, Lotus marketing doesn't really try to steer us in any one direction. That has been tried in the past, and didn't work out too well. I am looking for materail that covers the subject matter I mentioned in my original post - core stuff, new Workplace stuff, etc. I don't want to narrow it too much because the abstracts are always a great surprise when I see what you speakers come up with - and I don't want to stifle that creativity