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In a previous post, I wrote about putting together a barcamp-like event after the GeekSpeak Live session on the second day of Citrix Synergy. We have approval now to extend GeekSpeak Live with these additional sessions. It looks like we will have one large space (up to 80 people) and five or so other small spaces for small discussions. We plan to have food (likely pizza, soft drinks and beer) and shirts for all attendees. We hope to have at least four 30-40 minute blocks for sessions, which means 20 or more sessions.
Now, we need session speakers. Anyone can sign up who is attending the Synergy event. You can speak about any IT topic you would like. The only rules are it must be an in depth technical topic (not a product or marketing pitch). This is open to attendees, customers, alliances partners, resellers, Citrix Technology Professionals and Citrix employees. Any one attending the Citrix Synergy event is eligible to speak and attend.
I am working with Vishal Ganeriwala (who runs the CDN) to create a wiki page for session sign up. Once we have the schedule finalized, we will post the new wiki page and the speaker sign up. If you have an idea for a topic but do not feel comfortable presenting it yourself, please post it in the comments or email me at citrixblogger @ citrix.com . We will post any topics ideas we receive on the wiki (once it is up) and here on the Official Citrix Blog.
The goal for GeekSpeak Live is to get a wider range of technical topics and to give you the chance to participate in creating the content for the event. Share your experiences and lessons learned with everyone at GeekSpeak, and we can all learn something new and useful.
You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy.
Some of you may be familiar with the BarCamp concept
. BarCamps are "user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants".
BarCamp.org is a great site for background on this concept. You can find the "rules of BarCamps" below.
BarCamp: What's this all about?
COMMUNITY AND INFORMATION
BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.
Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.
When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers.
When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.
NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS
Attendees must give a demo, a session, or help with one, or otherwise volunteer / contribute in some way to support the event. All presentations are scheduled the day they happen. Prepare in advance, but come early to get a slot on the wall. The people present at the event will select the demos or presentations they want to see.
Presenters are responsible for making sure that notes/slides/audio/video of their presentations are published on the web for the benefit of all and those who can't be present.
If you are familiar with the concept of BarCamps, you know that most of them are focused on web development. There have been a few BarCamps on IT in general, investing, self help and other topics. This is just a great way to get people together to talk tech. Since so many of us are going to be at Synergy anyway, I thought this would be a great way to get together to hear from a broad range of people on a wide variety of tech topics.
Here is a video from the first BarCamp in Orlando last year -
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Geek Speak Live is a part of Synergy for the first time this year. Geek Speak will span all three days of the Synergy event, and have discussions lead by several of the Citrix Technology Professionals and other industry technologists. (James Rabey blogged about Geek Speak Live here) The goal is to extend Geek Speak Live to include community generated content and discussions with this "mini-BarCamp".
We are working on a plan to hold a "mini-BarCamp" immediately after the Geek Speak Live session on the second night of Citrix Synergy. We will set up a page (probably on CDN) that lists the speaking slots where you can sign up for a slot. Some BarCamps only allow sign up for the session slots on the day of the event, while others allow sign up on a wiki before the event begins. We are going to stick with the Wiki for this first one to give those who participate a chance to plan ahead.
The goal for this is to give the technical audience at Synergy a chance to get together to discuss whatever technical content most interests you. No marketing slides, no features and benefits, just hard core technical discussions about any IT topic that interests you and the attendees. You can run a white board discussion, present a technical presentation on your latest project, or show a demo of your newest creation with an SDK. Anyone can sign up for a slot. You may be an IT admin, a technology consultant, a Citrix technical employee, a technical employee of a Citrix partner (or competitor), or a student who loves technology and wants to share it. We do not yet know how many speaking slots there will be (that depends on the room and amount of time we get).
Once we get final approval to use some rooms at the convention center where Synergy is hosted, we will be putting together a committee to run the mini-"BarCamp" event. This committee will include both Citrix employees and members of the community. We will need volunteers to help with coordination of the event on site, food and drink setup and live blogging and video of the sessions. We are also working on setting up a network gaming area in the lounge for use after the event concludes later in the evening.
As I have stated before on this blog, feedback is the Breakfast of Champions. If you have any thoughts on this event, please post them in the comments or send me an email at citrixblogger @ citrix . com (just remove the spaces).
You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy.
Do you have an interesting story to tell about your experience with Citrix products? Are you eager to share the wisdom you have gained about the relationship between business and technology? Would you like to discuss the valuable lessons you have learned about delivering applications with the entire Citrix Community?
Submit your session idea and you could get free admission to the conference ($1395 value) and four nights in the conference hotel (over $800 value) at Citrix Synergy in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston Texas. Submit your session proposal at the Call for Presentations site now.
We are looking for presentations that address trends, technologies, needs and solutions in the following three conference tracks:
IT 2.0 Business Symposium Track: Strategic Considerations for the Business IT Professional
Sessions in this track will cover how application delivery and its underlying technologies - virtualization, application networking and optimization are transforming the IT industry and IT organizations. Topics in this track are intended for senior IT leaders. Sessions such as "The IT Department in 5 Years", "The Talent You Need: Engineers and Architects for the New IT World", and "Key Considerations for Infrastructure Consolidation" should be designed to help IT professionals survive and thrive in today's dynamic.
iForum Track: The Latest on Citrix Products from A to Xen
Sessions in this track will give attendees the latest scoop on Citrix products - from Access Gateway to XenServer. Topics that give attendees architectural insight, tips and tricks, and technical product detail - such as "Extending Virtualization to the Desktop" and "NetScaler for the Enterprise" to Industry Best Practices and Customer Case Studies - are well-suited for the range of Citrix customers who will attend this track.
Application Delivery Industry Track: Hot Topics and Solutions in Application Delivery
Realizing that no single vendor can address all of a customer's application delivery challenges, this track will bring together both hot topics and realistic approaches for making everything from the datacenter to the desktop work in the real world. Topics that provide insight and advice in this area - including "Making it All Work Together" and "VDI Comparisons" as well as "Best Practices in Green Computing" and "Considerations for Data Security and Compliance" - are ideal for the technical and business savvy attendees who will attend this track.
GeekSpeak - Geek Speak Live! Meet industry tech geeks, analysts and bloggers at the ultimate "unconference," where participants choose the topics and run the sessions. It's an informal forum for sharing ideas and learning from one another. Click here to read more about GeekSpeak Live, and here to find out the details of the GeekSpeak BarCamp.
You can get a full list of all the technical sessions at Citrix Synergy at this link.
Tell your story, share your vision, make new connections with others in the Citrix Community, and increase your own visibility. We are accepting proposals at the Call for Presentations site until April 4th. You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy.