The next Web 2.0 Expo is this November 16-19 in New York City. It’s our annual East-coast gathering for the web community. As always we’ll have tracks and sessions for the product team (developers, ops, designers, project managers) and the business team (marketers, business development). The topics will cover mobile, ops, social media, government, geolocation, web development, RIAs, sales, VCs – just to name a few.
The CFP (Call For Participation) for the show closes this Friday. If you have something to share then submit your talk now. Last year we had over 5,000 attendees. Let us know if you have something to share with them. We are using the CFP to find speakers for 5 tracks of 12 fifty-minute sessions and 2 three-hour workshops. We’ll be looking for both single-speaker sessions and panels. We will not be using it to find keynotes.
When writing your proposal keep the following in mind:
- Think about the attendee. What will the attendee learn? Wy should they care? How useful will it be to them now and in the future? Answer these questions in your submission.
- No product pitches. The attendees are not necessarily there to learn how to use your product. Instead tell them how you made your product or service and share the lessons you learned.
- Informative first, catchy second. Make sure that your title and proposal clearly state what you will be talking about and what the attendee will gain.
- Additional Reading and/or Viewing. A good submission will have a 2-3 paragraph description. If you’ve written more on the topic feel free to suggest some additional reading. If you haven’t spoken at one of our events consider linking to a video of yourself speaking.
- DIY Submissions. Do submit your proposal yourself. Do not have a PR person submit it. To often we find that proposals submitted on behalf of someone who is unaware of the conference. It makes us wary of them.
- Always get in the system. Every conference chair gets a lot of emails asking to be a part of the event. If you’re not in the system it’s very easy to get lost in a folder.
- Check Examples. Look at last year’s Expo sessions. Chances are we’ll look for similar types of talks (though not the same ones).
- Pick a track. The Expo has five tracks. Our system allows you to select more than one. I strongly recommend that you NOT select more than two.
My co-chair Jen Pahlka has more advice on the Web 2.0 Expo Blog. We had over a thousand submissions for the San Francisco Web 2.0 Expo 2009. Hopefully, these suggestions will help you stand out.