WPDevCon 2012 | The Windows Phone Developer Conference

Are you an expert in building or managing mobile apps for Windows Phone? Do you have solid teaching experience and credentials?

WPDevCon is seeking proposals from speakers for 3-hours workshop and 75-minute technical classes. WPDevCon: The Windows Phone Developer Conference is for everyone building or managing Windows Phone apps. Our attendees are independent developers driving start-ups. They work for commercial software companies. They’re enterprise IT professionals.

What do these developers all have in common? They're into Windows Phone. They want to build better Windows Phone apps. And they’ll be at WPDevCon, October 22–24, 2012.

WPDevCon kicks off on Monday morning with deep-dive 3-hour workshops. Monday afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday contain dozens of 75-minute classes.

When you propose a workshop or a class, be clear about the audience. Details matter. Expect to teach to your session description. Don’t promise something and fail to deliver it. For example, if you say that your session is advanced, it must be advanced. If you say your session is hands-on, it must be hands-on. If you say that your session covers three specific frameworks, you must cover all three frameworks.

Bear in mind, attendees pay a lot of money to attend WPDevCon – there’s not merely the cost of the conference, but also airfare, hotel and meals. They are taking valuable time out of the office — in some cases, foregoing billable hours or delaying projects in order to attend WPDevCon workshops and classes. They expect you to be a well-prepared instructor who will teach them new skills and provide real understanding, as described in your session description. Don’t let them down.

TOPIC AREAS
We are seeking sessions in the following three topic areas for WPDevCon:

WP Essentials: These technical classes and workshops are for all Windows Phone developers, and cover all programming topics.

WP Enterprise: These technical sessions cover topics specific to building and managing apps for employees, business customers and partners, such as back-end integration with corporate applications and the Cloud.

WP Marketing: These business-oriented sessions cover everything you need to know about the Windows Phone marketplace, including app marketing and distribution.

SESSION LEVELS
Classes and workshops at WPDevCon are taught at three levels: Overview, Intermediate and Advanced.

Attendees rarely complain that a session has too much detail – but they will be disappointed if your content is fluffy. Don’t forget: This is a developer conference, and the attendees are programmers. In all sessions, attendees want to know the details. And, except for sessions focused purely on Windows Phone business topics, attendees expect to see code.

Overview: No previous knowledge of the class’s subject is required, and the session may or may not contain code or demos. (Note: We accept very few overview classes.)

Intermediate: These broad technology sessions emphasize capabilities and how things work. Intermediate sessions will include code. (Note: We accept very few intermediate classes. We suggest you take the session to a deeper level and make the class advanced.)

Advanced: These sessions teach attendees how to implement a solution. Advanced sessions will include code. We plan for at least two-thirds of WPDevCon sessions to be at the advanced level.

The proposed title of your session. We reserve the right to change it.
A session description of at least 150 words, and we prefer 300 words. The more detail, you provide, the better for everyone. We reserve the right to change it.
Which of the three topic areas your session fits best: Essentials, Enterprise or Marketing.
If you will be showing code
If your session is a lecture format, or if it’s a hands-on with students following along on their laptops.
If you commit to providing your presentation and/or handouts at least a week before WPDevCon.
Tell us if your session is Overview, Intermediate or Advanced.
Explain what prerequisite skills or knowledge should be expected. Be specific!

Acceptance of your class proposal will be based not only on your topic's timeliness and relevance, but also on your personal credentials as Windows Phone expert and experience as an instructor. Be sure to communicate clearly what your class will be about, who will benefit from taking it, any prerequisite knowledge, and what the student will learn. A muddled, confused submission is likely to get rejected.

The ideal instructor is someone with real-world experience building Windows Phone applications. You should have proven experience teaching practical solutions to real-world challenges, presenting new skills, and offering students an information-packed learning experience. If that describes you, please submit a session proposal!

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL PROPOSAL
One Instructor! Our experience shows that a class taught by more than one instructor is generally not as satisfying as a class taught by a single instructor. If you are proposing multiple instructors, be sure to explain why — and define the role that each instructor plays in the class. (Only the lead instructor in a multiple-instructor class will receive a free pass to WPDevCon.)

Be Prepared! Teaching at WPDevCon means more than just showing up at the conference. Please pay attention to the deadlines for submission of handouts and other materials. These deadlines help us ensure that the conference provides a quality educational experience for all attendees, and your cooperation is appreciated.

No Parachutes! Part of the value of having an expert speaker at WPDevCon is that you'll stick around for the conference and interact with attendees and other speakers. We expect our instructors to commit to the WPDevCon experience, and not just parachute in for a class, teach, and then disappear. Of course, speaking at WPDevCon gives instructors a free pass to the rest of the technical conference. (Only the lead instructor in a multiple-instructor class will receive a free pass to WPDevCon.)

No Substitutions! Proposals are from individual instructors, not from companies. You are proposing something that you personally wish to teach at WPDevCon. If we accept your proposal, our agreement is with you, not with your employer. We expect you to personally and professionally committing to attend the conference and teach the classes that you have agreed to teach. If you change employment, we expect that you will honor your agreement to teach your class.

No Marketing! Attendees come to take technical classes — they don't want to hear a sales pitch, no matter how thickly veiled. Please do not submit classes that are intended to persuade attendees to buy your product, use your services, or hire you as a consultant. WPDevCon classes are for teaching, not for marketing. ("It was a sales pitch!" is a complaint we never want to hear from conference attendees.)

No Vendors! WPDevCon doesn’t accept session proposals “from companies.” We are looking for experts who wish to teach— not for companies seeking a PR/marketing opportunity. Therefore, we don’t accept any session proposals from PR agencies or marketing departments. If we receive such proposals, we will request that the proposed instructors contact us directly.

SCHEDULE AND DEADLINES
Event Schedule:
Monday, October 22, 2012: Pre-Conference Workshops
Tuesday, October 23, 2012: Technical Classes
Wednesday, October 24, 2012: Technical Classes

PREPARATION OF SUBMISSION
The speaker submission should be submitted to WPDevCon by the speaker himself/herself. Please include the following information in the speaker proposal. Incomplete submissions may not be accepted.

The proposed title of your session.
The length of your session (workshop or class).
The area (Essentials, Enterprise or Marketing).
The level of the session (Overview, Intermediate or Advanced).
Abstract/description, 150–300 words, explaining what will be covered in the session what attendees will learn from it.
Describe whether your talk is hands-on, requiring that students bring a laptop with the SDK and tools, or if it's a lecture/discussion.
Tell us if you will be showing code.
Tell us if you commit to providing your presentation and/or handouts to us at least a week before the conference begins.
Your bio, 125–150 words, with a summary of your teaching expertise.
Your name, mailing and e-mail addresses, telephone and cell phone numbers.
Your hi-res digital headshot, see http://www.bzmedia.com/photo.htm.
Twitter and blog addresses (if you have them).

Please submit your information electronically as a text e-mail or as a Word document to Alan Zeichick, Conference Chairman, alan@bzmedia.com.

Note that we will edit class titles, descriptions and bios to fit our style, and to ensure that the description clearly presents information about your session to attendees.