EclipseCon Submission FAQs

Thank you for taking the time to consider presenting at EclipseCon 2013. Your submissions make up the heart and soul of our conferences, and we look forward to reading your proposals.

If you have a question that isn't answered below, please email us. The FAQs will be updated regularly, so check back occasionally for new information.

When is the submission deadline?
The last day for proposals to be submitted is November 19, 2012. If you want to be considered as an Early Bird Selection, the last day to submit is October 31, 2012.

What is an Early Bird selection?
Before the submission deadline, the program committee will pre-select a short list of their favorite talks and publish these on the conference website. You'll get early notification that your talk is accepted, and some special publicity that will generate interest in your session. If you want to be considered, submit your talk by October 31, 2012.

Are EclipseCon speakers compensated for speaking?
Speaking at our events gives you exposure to an audience of highly skilled developers and other software professionals from around the world. Logos from our Friends page will help you publicize your talk on your website or blog. For the hard cash type of compensation, each EclipseCon Standard talk earns one 100%-off discount. Tutorials earn two 100%-off discounts. For details, see the Speakers FAQs. EclipseCon does not pay speaking fees or reimburse speakers for travel costs.

Who is choosing the program?
The program committee, made up of volunteers, chooses the program with help from the Eclipse community. The community indicates the submissions they like through votes and comments. The 2013 program committee is John Arthorne (chair), Doug Schaefer, Cédric Brun, Gunnar Wagenknecht, Ian Bull, Kevin Sawicki, Lars Vogel, Sven Efftinge and Mike Francis.

When will I know if my talk has been accepted?
Accept/decline notices are expected to go out before mid-December. The program will be published on the website shortly after that.

How do I submit a talk?
You must have an account on the EclispeCon 2013 website before you can submit a talk. If you already have an Eclipse Bugzilla account, log in using those credentials. To create an account, click on the "Create new account" link in the login box on the home page, or go here.

• Write a short, descriptive, and catchy Session Title
• Choose the Session Type: Standard or Tutorial
• Enter the Speaker name(s)
• Enter Tags (your choice) to help describe the content (modeling, SOA, "success story", etc.)
• Before writing the Description, read the advice below on increasing your chances of being accepted
• Choose the Track (see tracks below)
• Choose the Experience Level

Please note that the submission system does not send an auto-email to confirm that your talk was successfully submitted. To verify that your talk is in the system, use the filters on the list of submissions page to locate it. If you don't find it, please send email to speakers@eclipsecon.org.

What are the tracks?
The tracks for EclipseCon 2013 are:

• Eclipse 4
• EclipseRT
• Modeling
• Mobile Development
• Web Development
• Tools
• Community
• Cool Stuff (Other)
• OSGi DevCon
• ALM Connect

To view potential talk ideas, please visit the Submissions page.

Standard talks: Standard talks (35 minutes) each earn one 100%-off discount on registration fees. The discount goes to the first person listed as a speaker.
Tutorials: Tutorials (3 hours) each earn two 100%-off discounts on registration fees. The discount goes to the first two people listed as speakers.

What if I want to change who's designated as a speaker on my talk?

You may edit your submission and change who is designated as a presenter on your talk up until the submission deadline on November 19. After a talk has been accepted, you must contact us if you want to change a presenter name.

How will I know if someone comments about my submission?

If you want to be notified when someone comments on your submission, follow these steps:

• Finalize your submission
• Access it on the website
• Click on the "Add new comment" link at the bottom of the page
• Write a comment, and select "Notify me when new comments are posted"
• Select "All comments" and click "Save"

Why isn't my name being displayed with my submission?
The system uses the "human name" associated with your Bugzilla account to show the speaker. If you have not set that field on your account, your name will not be displayed. To fix this, edit your account to add your name.

What can I do to increase my chances of being accepted as a speaker?

• Choose the Session Type, Track, Experience Level, and Tags carefully – try to get it right the first time
• If you receive an email from a program committee member, respond promptly
• Be prepared to work with the program committee to modify your talk to fit into the program; this can mean shortening it, combining it, etc.
• Take time to write a good Session Title – descriptive, yet short and interesting
• The bar is higher for tutorials! For tutorials, include an outline that covers the content and the hands-on exercises you expect to have in the tutorial
• And above all, make sure your Description is good – if your title is longer than your description, you have more work to do.
• All descriptions should indicate
• What you are presenting
• Why it is important
• What someone can expect to take away from the presentation
• What makes your presentation unique

What are some useful tips to know before submitting?

Thank you for asking. We hope you find these tips useful!

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?

After each conference we survey the attendees, and they have been consistent and clear about how to improve our technical talks. You will have a better chance of being selected as a speaker if you do the following:

• Tell your story. Technical deep dives are interesting. But so is your experience! What have you been doing? How have you combined the various Eclipse technologies? Did everything work well? What have been the problems and how did you solve them?
• Provide your presentation materials ahead of time. Either upload a file with your submission, or choose a file-sharing site for your materials and add the URL to your Description. Providing advance materials is a great advertisement for your talk and increases attendee interest in your presentation. It helps the attendees pre-select sessions, providing you with an audience that is already interested in your topic.
• Be clear about requirements and expectations. Should attendees have software pre-installed? Should they know how to use a particular plug-in in order to get the most benefit from your session? Should they be proficient in a certain technology? For tutorials, this type of information is required.
• Provide detail about your talk. Have you given this talk before? If so, where and when? Will your talk include a demo? Hands-on exercises? Singing and dancing?
• Get organized before your talk. This is especially true – and required – for tutorials. Instead of spending the first thirty minutes helping attendees install software from a flash drive, use your Description to tell attendees how to prepare for the session, and provide a link to items they should download ahead of time. Then you and your audience can get to the interesting stuff right away.
• Upload a photo and bio with your account. Use the bio to explain why your experience, knowledge, and presentation skills will help make your talk worthwhile.

Choosing a good Session Title can be tricky. Your title should be short, descriptive, and catchy. If you want people to attend your talk, work on the title! Here's a simple test: If you are faced with choosing between the following two talks, which one would you choose?
Pimp My Editor
or
Improving the Visual and Functional Attributes of the Eclipse Editor Through the Addition of Compelling Visual Communication Elements

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