Off Topic: Some Advice on Submitting Conference Abstracts

I like to experiment and play with new shiny objects. LinkedIn recently added a blogging platform to their site. I’ve decided to publish a little thing on how to do a better job on writing abstracts for conferences.

A few disclaimers:

• I’m no expert, but I write and review a TON of these
• Many people tell me they want to submit a talk, but don’t have the experience to do it up ‘right’
• I mentioned a few conferences in this post, but only as an example of my background and experience – this is not advice specific to any one conference or group

Onto the advice, with a little teaser:

I sit on a couple of abstract review committees, including ones for ODTUG’s KScope and RMOUG’s Training Days conferences. Disclaimer: I’m not speaking on behalf of those two organizations or on behalf of Oracle. But, I’ve been speaking at conferences since 2006 or so, and have had about 40-50% of my abstracts accepted since then. I think I can help you get there, and that’s where this post is coming from.

So if you’re in the business of writing abstracts and presenting regularly at conferences – this post isn’t targeted to you. If you have a ‘real’ job and don’t regularly speak at conferences, then I hope this post will give you a couple of pointers on increasing your odds for getting that next ‘ACCEPTED!’ email notification.

Something I’d like to see at all conferences is a quick talk on how the speaker selection works for that particular conference, what they like to see in speakers, and how to increase your chances to get accepted for the next go-around…but since that’s not happening, I thought I would write this.

And while I’m coming from a heavy Oracle background, I hope this translates to much larger technology audience. I think it will, but feel free to chime in and share your own experiences.

Also, if you have never spoken or have never submitted an abstract, please read this awesome post from @snipeyhead, ‘Why You Should Stop Stalling and Start Presenting.’

And without further ado (I hate that phrase!!!), let’s move onto the advice…

Click here to read the rest.