Innovation Everywhere! That’s the motto of the MySQL Conference & Expo 20-23 April 2009, in Santa Clara.

If April next year sounds like the distant future to you, then you’re evidently not planning to be a presenter. Since if you do plan to present, there’s a very close date relevant for you: 22 October 2008. That’s when the Call for Papers closes.

If you’re an innocent bystander and don’t plan on presenting, you may still enjoy lurking at the MySQL Conference Website, for instance looking at some of the full-length keynote videos already posted from the 2008 conference.

On the other hand, if you’re serious about presenting, there are three blog entries to start from, beyond the Call for Participation itself:

• Baron Schwartz’s “How to get your session accepted to MySQL Conference“. OK, so his header says 2008, but the tips are as valid as ever: Be different. Be specific. Be advanced. Be basic. Be hoarse. Be credible. Be free!
• Colin Charles’s List of 10. A similar list as Baron’s. Read it with care, as Colin’s our Program Chair for 2009!
• Giuseppe Maxia’s How to get your proposal accepted to the MySQL Users Conference 2009. This is updated for 2009. Approaching the same topic as Baron and Colin, I like Giuseppe’s tips:
  1. Make sure you know the subject you propose.
  2. Always assume that someone else has proposed the same topic.
  3. A good abstract is not too short.
  4. A good abstract is not too long.
  5. Don’t even try to advertise your company in a proposal.
  6. Read the posts by Baron and Colin again.

Finally, do note a point that Giuseppe makes: We will accept some proposals conditionally. If that happens, we will inform the authors that we need more material before the final acceptance. If the material is not provided, we replace the session with some other proposal. This is the most fair way we could think of to give everybody an equal chance to compete on merits when it comes to the final choices!

Looking forward to your proposals, and to meeting with you at the MySQL UC in a bit more than half a year!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 10:56 and is filed under Architecture of Participation, Events, MySQL, MySQL Users Conferences, Use cases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.