This is an article from Peter Morgan that appeared in the BCS
SIGIST's monthly newsletter, The Tester - I hope it proves useful
to anybody hoping to submit to speak at EuroSTAR 2010 and gives an
insight into how the EuroSTAR programme is arrived at!
EuroSTAR 2010 call for papers is open!
Hardly has the dust settled from EuroSTAR 2009 when the call for
submissions for the 2010 version of this conference is made. Why is
this so early? The call is made to give prospective presenters time
to get their ideas together, and enable a quality and varied
program to be assembled. This year the Program Chair is John Fodeh,
assisted on the Program Committee by a Swede (Rikard Edgren), a
Dutch lady (Nathalie van Delft) and myself from the UK. John's bold
aim is to make the 2010 EuroSTAR conference the best ever, and as
there have some very good previous conferences, that is a tall
order. However, the quality of the conference will be determined to
a large extent by the calibre of the submissions. The theme for
EuroSTAR 2010 is "Sharing the Passion".
Not all of those who submit an outline are accomplished speakers,
and the review committee are looking for a mixture of theory and
practice, advanced and introductory session to enliven the
proceeding in Copenhagen around the end of November. Perhaps you
have presented a session at SIGiST or in your workplace in the
recent past, and your talk was well received. Then try for a larger
audience. All conference attendees need a varied program
incorporating key aspects of our profession, but we also need the
unusual. Few who heard the session 'Testing on the Toilet' from
Google co‐presenters at EuroSTAR 2008 will forget the impact of the
talk, but it was not a run‐of‐the‐mill presentation. It should be
noted that talks based upon experience, what I call 'war stories',
are always popular and well received.
Get your thoughts on paper, and review, rework and refine the
ideas. Aim to make 3 or 4 points, as it is better to have a few
well thought‐out ideas, rather than trying to pack in too much. Ask
a trusted friend or colleague to give you their (honest) opinion.
Spell check your outline, taking note of the information on length
and the guidelines on the EuroSTAR website (/).
You may like to use something like WORD to format your
submission, and then use cut‐and‐paste to submit via the web site.
You cannot be accepted for the free EuroSTAR conference slot
allocated to speakers unless you submit a proposal (which is
stating the blindingly obvious). The bad news is that if you are
accepted, the hard work really starts. But that is into the
future.
Here are the key dates to note:
Deadline for submissions: Friday 05 March,
2010
Notification of acceptance: Friday 16 April,
2010
Finalised slide material due Not yet finalised, but "end of August"
as a guideline
Conference dates: 29 Nov - 02 Dec, 2010
Do consider submitting an outline by 5th March. Your story could
make the conference extra special for a number of attendees. At the
very least, it will make sure that the program review committee
have something to do in March, when something like 480 submissions
will be whittled down to 65 sessions for what is hoped will be the
best EuroSTAR conference to date.
Brits are usually well represented in EuroSTAR speakers. YOU can
make sure that the speaking record is continued.
Peter Morgan, EuroSTAR 2010 Programme Committee Member