OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam Call for Speakers

Call closed 23:59 — 11 May, 2015 CET.

OSCON in Amsterdam celebrates and demonstrates the power of open source technologies, from languages and frameworks up through their use in the enterprise. We invite you to join us as we convene the open source community including core contributors, leaders, and learners.

Please submit original session and tutorial ideas that share your technology passions. Proposals should include as much detail about the topic and format of the presentation as possible. Detail matters; vague proposals face an uphill climb, but a direct and straightforward title and description can make all the difference.

If you are one or more of the following, we invite you to submit a proposal to lead sessions and/or tutorials at OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam:

Open source has a role to play at every level of the stack, so in addition to representing all of the technology you love, we’re organizing the stories in a more holistic way to help you discover new things and solve increasingly complex problems.

Tracks

Protect Identity, privacy, and security are emerging and nuanced facets of living in and developing software for individuals in the digital age. New challenges have emerged in how you can confirm you are you, how you can remain anonymous, if you choose, and how to keep your info protected. Security has a been a longstanding problem in the software world, now coupled with issues surrounding identity and privacy we’ll examine solutions, offering frameworks and libraries, strategies for testing, and field reports of both security failure and success. Proposals could include such topics as:

• Real identity
• Right to be forgotten
• Securing distributed and cloud systems
• User ownership of data

Performance and Scale – Most leading-edge developers consider performance to be a key consideration in the development of a great application, but the very definition of performance is something nearly impossible to agree on. Now, how will you scale that application? What if sometimes you need computing power for 1,000,000 interactions while at other times you need to accommodate only 100? OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam will explore performance in all its facets, from compilation and interpreter time to DOM manipulation and *aaS choices to containers. Proposals could include such topics as:

• Response time
• Real-time data (location data)
• Docker as containers (security, isolation, devops, agile)
• Parallelism

Devices – Mobility, once defined by the ownership of a laptop, has taken on hundreds of form factors and rendering technologies ranging from task-specific devices running embedded Linux to open source libraries on closed systems like iOS. OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam will explore what it means to have a successful mobile game plan, from wearables all the way to native apps. Proposals could include such topics as:

• Mobile payments
• AI for data mining
• Speech as input, command line
• Sensors

Collaboration and Craft – We often talk about managing code and computers as if we’re just manipulating objects, but successful projects require managing people as well as software and hardware. Making projects work requires communications, collaboration, and respect, inside teams, among teams, and often across organizations and the broader world. Whether you’re working together in person or distributed across time zones and continents, OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam will show how a new generation of tools and approaches can help you work. Proposals could include such topics as:

• Managing an open team
• Agile/lean/startup culture
• Massive communications, collaboration, coordination
• Career development

Architecture – Software architecture is a massive multidisciplinary subject, covering many roles and responsibilities, which makes it challenging to grasp because so much context is required for every subject. It’s also a fast-moving discipline, where entire suites of best practices become obsolete overnight. OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam will examine how software architecture plays a key role in the success of any business and how you can can learn to make the best decisions about your own software architecture. Proposals could include such topics as:

• Refactoring, problem solving
• Microservices Architecture
• Coexistence of business and tech
• Resilience

Design is critical for success. You could have the greatest code running a site or a device that could change the world but if it isn’t designed for ease of use and gives the user feedback in a timely manner then your DOA. OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam will look at how to incorporate design best practices from the beginning of your project rather than an afterthought and take a look at the newest trends in the design world. Proposals could include such topics as:

• UX/UI
• Hardware
• Interface Design
• Accessibility

Data is literally everywhere you look and our devices and computer are working with bigger and more diverse sets of data than ever before. How do you manage this deluge? OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam will tackle big data’s continued and growing influence over the entire business world and how you can make it work for you. Proposals could include such topics as:

• Data at rest
• Data security
• Data encryption
• Data in marketing

Foundations – A strong foundation in computational thinking, problem solving, and programming best practices makes for a successful programmer. Whether you are new to programming or want to brush up on the fundamentals again this track will have something for you. OSCON 2015 in Amsterdam will ground new and experienced programmers in theory and best practices, giving attendees the power to optimize, manipulate, and innovate in their next project. Proposals could include such topics as:

• Programming best practices
• What math do programmers need to know
• OO vs. Functional
• Coding within a team

You’ll be asked to include the following information for your proposal:

• Proposed title
• Overview and extended descriptions of the presentation: main idea, subtopics, conclusion
• Suggested tags
• Suggested track
• Speaker(s): expertise, summary biography, and hi-res headshot
• A video of the speaker

Proposals will be considered for the following types of presentations:

• 40-minute sessions
• 3-hour Tutorials

Some tips for writing a good proposal for a good talk:

Help us understand why your presentation is the right one for OSCON. Below are some tips for writing a successful proposal. Please keep in mind that this event is by and for professionals. All presentations and supporting materials must be respectful, inclusive, and adhere to our Code of Conduct.

• Keep the audience in mind: they’re technical, professional, and already pretty smart. They will easily detect a marketing pitch.
• Clearly identify the level of the talk and why people will want to attend: is it for beginners to the topic, or for gurus? Is this a trending topic, or an installation tutorial?
• Give it a simple and straightforward title or name: fancy and clever titles or descriptions make it harder for people (committee and attendees) to figure out what you’re really talking about.
• Limit the scope of the talk: in 40 minutes, expect to pick a useful aspect of a topic; a particular technique; or walk through a simple program.
• Be bold and creative in your exploration of a topic. Audience members enjoy stories about what went wrong, what went right, how you selected a technology, and the human dynamics of applying a certain piece of software.
• Pages of code are unreadable: mere mortals can deal with code a line at a time.
• Be authentic. Your peers need original presentation ideas that focus real-world scenarios, relevant examples, and knowledge transfer.
• If you are proposing a panel, tell us who else would be on it.
• Include people we don’t see often enough at tech conferences: Does your presentation have the participation of a woman, person of color, or member of another group often underrepresented at tech conferences? Diversity is one of the factors we seriously consider when reviewing proposals as we seek to broaden our speaker roster.
• Above all else, present something relevant. One of your challenges as a proposer is to demonstrate that you understand attendees might need an extra reason to pay attention to something that they might otherwise think of as “settled.”

Other resources to help write your proposals:

• Take a look at this handy proposals guide that goes through examples of winning proposals, divided by presentations types: Skills, Technology, Case Study, and Tutorials.
• View Matthew McCullough’s presentation on 10 Quick Tips for More Effective Conference Submissions and Presentations.
• See the list of sessions chosen for the OSCON 2015 program and read their descriptions.
• View a Women Who Code panel discussion on preparing for and speaking at technical conferences.
• Download and read the free ebook, Propose, Prepare, Present.

Important Dates

• Call for participation closes – 11 May
• All proposers notified – by mid-June 2015
• Program announced and registration opens – June 2015

Code of Conduct

We expect all participants, including speakers, to support our Code of Conduct, the core of which is this: an O’Reilly conference should be a safe and productive environment for everyone. Read more »

Create your proposal now