The Haecksen miniconf is on again! This year, linux.conf.au is going to be held in sunny Brisbane, and we want to invite women who develop, administer and play with FLOSS to come and join us again at the miniconf.
Important: The CFP closes at midnight 24 September 2010. Selected talks will be announced early in October. That's not much time, so get cracking!
We're attempting to mix it up a bit this year, so we're looking for people willing to give long talks like normal (20 or 40 minutes), but we are also after lightning talkers, panel experts, and hands-on demos.
Long Talks
A long talk should run for about 40 minutes. You can use slides if you want to, run video or audio components, and encourage audience participation and discussion to your heart's content. You can discuss anything related to open source, and it doesn't have to be specific to women.
Some suggested topics are smart crafting, usability, cloud living, professional development, loyalty tax, community management, best practices, documentation, impostor syndrome, virtualisation, computer security, social engineering, fashion technology, hardware hacking, how to submit your first patch. Don't see your favourite talking point on the list? Don't worry - if you're passionate about it, we want to hear about it. If you think forty minutes is going to send you (or maybe your audience) batty, do a half-length talk (twenty minutes) instead.
Lightning Talks
Have you got a great idea and need some people to help make it a reality? Is there something really cool happening in your world but you don't have twenty minutes worth of information about it? Have you never spoken before, and would like a little practice? A lightning talk is a short, more informal talk that only runs for about 5-10 minutes. You can use slides if you want to, but many people prefer to just get up and share their enthusiasm. You can talk about anything that you find interesting. This is a great way to find out if speaking is something you want to get into. It's also a really good way to ask for contributors to a project that you are working on.
Panel Discussion
The panel discussion will be on a topic relevant to women in FLOSS. We are going to need three or four people to be our panel 'experts'. Previously speakers have incited so much excitement and enthusiasm that the conversation bubbles over in the audience. We would like to capture that conversation and give it its own spot in the program. Do you have some great ideas about getting and keeping women in FLOSS development? Perhaps you run a program for teaching and encouraging women in technology fields? Perhaps you have been involved with Girl Geek Dinners, or other social programs? Come and be a panel 'expert' and get the conversation started.
Show Off Your Stuff
Doing something pretty awesome, but don't want to stand up and give a boring talk about it? Why don't you do a hands-on demonstration, or give a short tutorial? This is great if you're doing something fun with Makerbots, Arduinos, wearable technology, or any other variety of hardware hacking. Let us know what you've got, and how long you need to discuss it.
In brief, we are looking for women doing interesting stuff with interesting technologies. If something has captured your enthusiasm, come and share it with us! If you have never spoken before, the Haecksen miniconf is a friendly and relaxed environment to find your 'stage-legs', so go ahead and submit something!
Submissions: To submit a proposal for the Haecksen miniconf, email us at unicorn@haecksen.net before 24 September. Include your name and some information about what you want to do. An organiser will get in contact with you about it.
