Thank you for your interest in speaking opportunities at HostingCon 2007. Please read this page carefully before submitting a session proposal, as understanding it will help you submit a proposal that may be accepted.
Proposed Tracks and Topics
Track 1 - Business
Business issues facing today's hosting provider including legal issues, sales and marketing techniques, funding and M&A, and operational issues such as customer service.
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Debt & Equity Funding
- Search Engine Marketing
- Sizing up Competition
- Risk Management (SLA's, TOS, AUP's and Business Insurance)
- Customer Service (Impressing your clients)
- Legal and Regulation Issues
Track 2 - Shared Services
Sessions focused on shared and VPS hosting services
- What's new in Automation?
- Virtual Private Servers (market analysis, demographics, profit model)
- Security in a Shared Environment
- Going from 1 to 10,000 Customers (Panel)
- Marketing Your Hosting Services
- Overselling - The Key to Profitability or Disaster?
- Branding and Standing Out
Track 3 - Infrastructure
Sessions focused on the data center, enterprise-class hosting, and co-location
- Blade Servers
- Utility Hosting
- Disaster Recovery and Backup Solutions
- IPv6
- Load Balancing/Failover Solutions
- SAS70 and Other Compliance Issues
- Colocation Trends and Future
Track 4 - Hosted Applications
Sessions focused on application hosting - email, groupware, VOIP, web-based applications; includes "Software As A Service"
- Email and Groupware Hosting
- CMS, Blog, and Podcast Hosting
- Adding VOIP to Your Service Offerings
- Technology Best Practices
- Partnering with ISVs to Host SaaS Offerings
Please note that this list is a starting point for the topics that we'd like to cover. We will gladly consider other relavant topics if submitted.
Important Dates:
- Proposals Due: March 16, 2007
- Speaker Notification: On or before April 13, 2007
- Session Presentation Files Due: June 29, 2007
- Conference: July 23-25, 2007
Proposals:
We are considering proposals for 45 minute conference sessions. Your proposals are examined by a committee which draws from them and which also solicits proposals to build the program. Proposals are due by March 16, 2007.
Prospective speakers will be notified whether their proposal was accepted on or before April 13, 2007. Please do not contact us asking for a status before this date, as this will only slow down the selection process.
Unless the content of your talk is particularly timely, you are required to send us your slides several weeks before the conference begins.
Some tips for writing a good proposal for a good talk:
- Keep it free of marketing
- Keep the audience in mind: they're technical, professional, and already pretty smart.
- Clearly identify the level of the talk: is it for beginners to the topic, or for gurus? What knowledge should people have when they come to the talk?
- Give it a simple and straightforward title: fancy and clever titles make it harder for people (committee and attendees) to figure out what you're really talking about
- Limit the scope of the talk: in 45 minutes, you won't be able to cover everything. Make sure your talk is focused and not too widely targeted.
- Keep it free of marketing
- Explain why people will want to attend: how will the talk impact their business? will they be able to apply the principles immediately?
- You may submit more than one session proposal. Let us know in your proposal notes whether you can give all the talks you submitted proposals for or just one.
- Explain what you will cover in the talk in as much detail as possible
- keep it free of marketing
NOTE: All speakers whose talks are accepted will receive free Full Conference Registration.
To submit proposals, please email the following to speakers@hostingcon.com:
- Name, Title, and Company of the speaker
- Brief Biography of the Speaker
- Proposed session title
- Proposed session description (for the hostingcon.com website and the conference guide)
- Detailed description of the session
- If available, relevant white papers, website article links, presentations from previous talks, etc. showing the speaker's previous works
If you have additional questions, please contact George Roberts, +1 866 464-3687 x 801 (Outside the US, +1 630 364-4100 x 801) or email speakers@hostingcon.com.
Speaker Rules:
By submitting a proposal to speak at HostingCon, you agree to follow the following speaker rules:
As a speaker at HostingCon you commit to present the proposed session as published, including the topic and speaker. HostingCon attendees plan their schedule according to the session topics provided to them in the conference guide and on the HostingCon website and expect that the content that they receive in the sessions they attend will be that which was promised.
You agree to prepare thoroughly for the session and to present a well thought out, well researched presentation. It is our expectation that attendees should feel that they have gained valuable knowledge and insight after leaving your session. You may not use your session for commercial sales and marketing purposes, self-promotion, or unfair criticism of others. We are firmly committed to providing educational sessions free of marketing. Speakers found to have broken this rule will not be asked to speak again.
All speakers MUST provide a copy of their presentation slides by the specified date using the supplied presentation template. The presentations will be made available to conference attendees via a password-protected area of the hostingcon.com website.
Conference management reserves the right to recommend changes in your submitted presentation to minimize any self-promotion and maximize the session's educational value. Failure to provide your presentation by the specified deadline, adjust slides upon request of show management or follow slide template guidelines may result in your session being cancelled.
Presentations may be recorded for use following the show. Speakers agree to allow and assign all rights to show management to capture, reproduce, make available and/or sell recordings of presentations, slides and related materials without license, liability or limitation.
Speaker substitutions are not permitted unless approved in writing by show management. If you are unable to deliver your session as planned, your company is not guaranteed a speaking slot for the alternative speaker. Show management reserves the right to reassign the session slot to another speaker.