Lightning talks at Percona Live Data Performance Conference

The main schedule for the Percona Live Data Performance Conference is available. Almost everything has been defined. There are tutorials and plenty of sessions waiting for conference attendees.

One thing that is still undefined is the session of lightning talks. The call for participation for these mini sessions of 5 minutes each is still open. If you plan to attend Percona Live, this is your chance to get your 5 minutes of celebrity: you can submit a proposal up to February 7th, 2016. There is a lot that can be said in 5 minutes. If you have an interesting topic to highlight, a pet project to show off, a neat trick to recommend, a happy or painful experience to share, a lightning talk is the right place to apply.

There are also open slots for Birds Of A Feather (BoF) sessions. These are not lectures, but rather meetings of users who share the same interest. If you want to apply for one of these sessions, don't propose a topic where you address the audience, but propose a theme for a discussion among peers. BoF sessions are often the place where new ideas are born, helped by the free discussion among passionate users. If you have an open source project and want to ask for feedback, or if you want help defining the road map for an already successful project, a BoF is what you need. Also for this kind of sessions, the deadline is February 7th.

And remember: the conference is not limited to MySQL. Every data related topic (such as nosql, big data, database engines, data storage technologies) could trigger an interesting talk.

Free software and business in Sardinia

On June 10th and 11th I attended two interesting workshops, both related to the Italian Free Software conference, and both organized by private institutions that have expanded their boundaries and created two quite lively international events.

The first event was held near Pula, in an innovation laboratory encased in a beautiful forest. The Technological Park of Sardegna Ricerche is a place where research and business boil together to produce new companies and to help consolidate existing ones.
The workshop was titled A community for a new business model and it was a show case of a dozen companies, both local and from abroad. After the presentations and a lovely open air lunch, there were 1-to-1 20 minutes meetings between companies, to dive deeper in technologies, ideas, and friendships. I must say that I enjoyed the event, not only because my presentation on MySQL community and values was quite well received, but also because I met interesting people and found some new ideas that need further exploration.
The main event, the fourth Italian free software conference, was not as exciting. The organizers decided to paint the event with local colors only, thus making it less interesting for me, as my job takes me around more abroad than in my own country. Oh' well. It's the Italian conference after all, and it has the right of being an all-Italian show. IMO, it's a pity, though. Exposure to external ideas is often beneficial, and I would have welcomed at least some openness beyond the national boundaries.
Anyway, the show was rescued by another workshop, organized by a local company, which was not afraid of venturing in international waters. The company is named Tzente, which means People in Sardinian, and true to their name they brought to the event several international companies, with Italian and foreign speakers. Also this event was very lively and interesting.
The hosts (Tzente) are a company to keep an eye on. They produce an open source software, called Java Agile Portal System or jAPS for short. In spite of the name, jAPS is much more than a portal. It's an integrated and versatile system to automate companies and public organizations. Their business model is simple: give the components away for free, thus building a community of users and testers, and sell integration and customization services either directly or through partners. Compared to many other startups, Tzente has a distinct advantage over the competition. They have customers. Not only they produce an excellent open source product, but their monetization strategy has already brought them large customers in Italy and abroad. They have partnerships with well known names (among which MySQL, Pentaho, Ingres, Red Hat) and I think they are going to grow fast. Good job, Tzente!
A personal note. At the first workshop I did my presentation in English, and I felt very comfortable. At the second workshop, I did the same presentation in Italian. I had the feeling that the English version was more effective. Probably I am traveling too much.

MySQL Developers Room at FOSDEM 2010

I am in Brussels, waiting to attend FOSDEM 2010, one of the biggest open source gatherings in Europe, taking place this weekend in Brussels. On Sunday, there is a Developers Room for MySQL and Friends, with 14 talks from open source professionals coming from Europe and North America.

The novelty of this round of talks is that thy will be 20 minutes long, rather than 1 hour. This will force all presenters to be more cautious about their timing, and to concentrate their talks on the essential. Even the experienced ones, who have given the same talk several times, will have to make an effort to come to the point in less time. The idea cam from reading Scott Berkun's book, Confessions of a public speaker, where he argues successfully on the usefulness of short lectures. It's going to be interesting!
The hosts of the Developers Room are Ronald Bradford and myself, but nothing of this could have happened without the excellent preparatory work done by Lenz Grimmer, who can't be here to enjoy the results of his organization, because he must stay home, waiting for his second child to come any moment. Thanks, Lenz, and good luck!
In addition to the DevRoom, I will have a lightning talk on an unusual (for my public speaking record) topic: Blaming the unknown: a positive approach to technology. If you happen to be around, come see it. It's fun, I promise you, and also informative, or so I hope.

How to get your proposal accepted to the MySQL Users Conference 2009

The call for papers for the MySQL Users Conference and Expo 2009 is open. Proposals are accepted until October 22, 2008. This post will tell you how to get your proposal accepted. First: READ the following posts. I mean it! Baron Schwartz's advice on how to write a great proposal. If you follow these guidelines, you can't be wrong. Colin's list of 10. If you still had doubts after reading Baron's post, this one will clear your mind.

Sorry is we sound harsh, but we have the responsibility for the quality of MySQL UC sessions, and the only way to ensure quality is to be picky in our choice. Here are a few more rules of the game for the next conference.

Make sure you know the subject you propose.

We may ask you to prove your claims. We have had a few surprises during the last conference, with a couple of sessions lasting 20 minutes because the speaker had exhausted the topics. We are going to be stricter in our acceptance. We will accept some proposals conditionally. If that happens, we will inform the authors that we need more material before the final acceptance. If the material is not provided, we replace the session with some other proposal.

Always assume that someone else has proposed the same topic.

The competition is fierce. We usually reject two proposals for each one we accept. If you want your proposal to be selected, don't be lazy. Write a comprehensible abstract and a good bio. Work hard on it. For each subject, there are probably two or three more people who have spent days polishing their proposal. We will be only too happy to choose the best one! If you put together a half baked proposal in 5 minutes, you won't get in. Period.

A good abstract is not too short.

If your abstract is just a few lines promising the wonders that everyone knows you can deliver, that won't do. You may be a well known big shot in the field, but we won't default to "accepted" if we recognize your name (see what Colin says about rock stars). If that's the case, prove your status by writing a superb proposal.

A good abstract is not too long.

If you have written an article on a given topic and you simply cut and paste 13,000 words in the abstract box, it will only show us that you can't summarize, and your session would be unbearably boring.

Don't even try to advertise your company in a proposal.

The review committee is full of open source enthusiasts and technology lovers. We smell a stealthy marketing message a mile away. If you want to boost your company business, don't propose a session, but look at the conference page for sponsorship opportunities.

Read the above posts by Baron and Colin again.

Seriously. If you want that pass for the conference and a podium to greatness, you need to work hard. How hard? well, consider that, according to Damian Conway, you need to prepare from 10 to 50 hours for each hour of presentation. Some of this work must show in your abstract. If you read the above posts and follow the advice you are given, some of the hard work will show for sure.

All done? Sure? Have you read all the above twice? Good. Then, SUBMIT A PROPOSAL!.