Eclipse Summit Europe 2009 Submission Guidelines

These pages are referenced from the main Eclipse Summit Europe 2009 website. [1]

So You Want to be a Presenter?

Thank you for taking the time to consider presenting at Eclipse Summit Europe 2009. Your submissions make up the heart and soul of our conference. We would love to be able to provide a speaking opportunity to everybody. Unfortunately, we have a limited number of slots, so we need to pick those talks that we think will provide the best conference possible.

This short guide has been created to help you create the best presentation submission possible. Submissions are evaluated and selected by the Eclipse Summit Europe Program Committee (PC). The PC's goal is to provide a balanced program that represents all of the Eclipse projects and communities. Please review the EclipseCon 2009 Category Descriptions to insure that your talk is submitted to the appropriate category. Will we have this list for ESE?

Submission Guidelines

Quality presentations are a lot of work! If you are not prepared to spend the time putting together a quality proposal, it is unlikely that you will find the time to prepare for the presentation. Take the time to think clearly about what you want to say, and more importantly, ask yourself this question:

Why would someone want to use their valuable time listening to this presentation?.

Category Check

Please take the time to search the other submissions within your chosen category. If someone has a talk that is very similar to yours, you may want to approach them through the comments section to suggest working together on a presentation. Some of the very best presentations are done by a team of presenters.

Speaker Qualifications

Anyone can submit a talk, but the PC is looking for the very best presentations. Great presentations require a good topic, but the key is the presenter. Your experience, knowledge, and presentation skills all make a difference. Also, please be sure to fill out your bio in the submissions system.

If you have done this presentation at a different venue, please add a comment to your submission that details when and where. If this is your first time presenting at a conference like ESE, please consider a short talk.

The Submission Is Only a Starting Point

Please be prepared to work with the PC to modify your talk so that it can fit into the program. This may mean combining your talk, shortening your talk, or changing the subject matter.

The Submission Form

The Eclipse Submission System has been designed to be very easy to use. There are just six things to fill out:

We need to verify that this info applies to ESE 2009

• Title
• Abstract
• Type
• Category
• Difficulty
• Authors

Please remember that the program committee will probably be reviewing hundreds of submissions. If you want your submission to stand out and be selected, there are things that you can do to distinguish your submission.

Title

Make your title short, descriptive, and catchy. If you want people to select your talk or attend your talk, work on the title. A simple test -- if you are faced with choosing between these two talks

• Pimp My Editor
• Improving the Visual and Functional Attributes of the Eclipse Editor Through the Addition of Compelling Visual Communication Elements

-- which one would you choose?

Abstract

The abstract is the most important component of your submission. Take the time to demonstrate that you are an articulate communicator with something valuable to share with the community. At a minimum, your abstract should address these four questions:

• What are you presenting?
• Why is it important?
• What can someone expect to take away from the presentation?
• What makes your presentation unique?

If you are submitting a tutorial, it is highly recommended that you provide an outline that covers the content and the hands-on exercises that you expect to give during your presentation.

Type

Eclipse conferences, including ESE, have three basic types of talks as explained in Scott Rosenbaum's blog post [2] (Scott was the program chair for EclipseCon 2009):

• Show Me. Short Talks are designed to get people excited and engaged on a particular subject. Short talks are the ESE version of lightning talks (see the Perl conference's advice on giving a lightning talk). ESE short talks are different, so perhaps this description doesn't apply. Also, add a note saying short talks don't get a free pass?

• Tell Me. Long Talks are approximately one hour in length and are designed to provide a thorough road map of a particular technology. A good talk requires preparation and a good pace; the ESE audience is atypically highly intelligent and well prepared and thus any introductory material should be very brief (less than five minutes). There will be at other parallel sessions competing with your long talk (in separate rooms, of course), so your talk needs to be compelling.

• Let Me Do It. Tutorials are hands-on presentations. It is expected that attendees will learn how to work with a technology. Attendees who invest hours of their time at your tutorial have high expectations.

We also have two more informal types of presentations:

• Let's Learn From Each Other A Birds of a Feather (BoF) session is an informal discussion group. This is an opportunity to meet with your community and share each other's experiences. ESE BoFs are scheduled onsite, and are not submitted via the submission system. BoF rooms are not equipped with projectors or microphones.

• Let's Look at This Together Posters are on display during the Poster Reception. We provide portable poster panels and pins (no power or table since it's a poster, not a demo.)

Category

Please refer to the EclipseCon 2009 Category Descriptions for a full discussion of the categories, or use the simple choose-a-category flowchart. Needs updating for ESE, or needs to be deleted

Difficulty

Verify that the ESE PC will be using this system. The program committee is attempting to provide something for everyone. That means we need talks that range in difficulty from the novice to the expert. We have adopted the ski run standard to identify the difficulty of a talk.

• Easiest
• Intermediate
• Difficult
• Expert

When gauging the difficulty, consider how difficult would it be for a typical person that is a member of the categories community. If your talk is based on having two years experience developing SWT widgets, you have a strong Double Black Diamond. If you feel your talk can be attended by anyone that is attending the conference, you have a .

Authors

We love co-presenters. If you are going to team up with someone please make sure that they are added as an author and that your co-presenter has filled out their bio page. Please note that our budget allows us to provide one (1) free pass for each long talk or tutorial presentation. Co-presenters must make their own agreement about which person uses the free pass. We are not able to provide free passes for short talk presenters.

You've Read All This, So Submit Your Proposal Now

Head over to the ESE 2009 Submission System and fill out the forms.