Monday PASS announced its changes to the speaker selection process, you can read the details here. This is a big change—there will be preselected speakers from a pool have folks who have a long track record of successfully speaking at PASS Summit. Is this a good thing or bad thing? I think it is a good thing, so long as it is implemented carefully. I don’t want to see new speakers get locked out of the speaking at Summit, but I also want to see good sessions from good speakers.
This change will allow PASS to better structure the conference. A good example of this is Nic Cain’s (b|t) idea for curated tracks. In order to have a “new DBA” or “new BI analyst” track, you need to have speakers collaborating with each other in order to build the complimentary track.
Another consideration is NDA content—a good example of this was last year. I would have loved to have done a talk about SQL Server on Linux, which I knew was going to be un-NDAed by Summit, however since submission is public, I couldn’t submit an abstract on it.
My advice for new speakers who want to speak at Summit? It’s the same as it’s always been—blog (note—the blogging part of this is important!) and speak about whatever interests you. Of course, you need to be strategic about submitting to a large conference like Summit, but to a local SQL Saturday, or a user group? Those organizers are begging for speakers. Additionally, consider speaking at PASS Virtual Chapters—they are many, and they meet every month, and there is no cost (other than your time) involved with speaking there.
As you develop as a speaker and writer, you’ll get better known, and develop your own niche. You will also get rejected. Getting rejected sucks—trust me, I submitted to three Summits before I was chosen (I was also nominated for MVP like 10x before getting it, but I digress). When you get rejected look at your abstracts and try to understand how you can make them better. Have a friend or colleague review them. This is an ongoing process.
I don’t think most speakers will notice a big difference with this new process. The speakers who are preselected, were likely going to get selected anyway. The big difference is they will have chosen their topic versus being subject to the whim of the program committee. If you’re a new speaker–speak as much as you can. VCs are free, and your local user group needs speakers. If you live in the middle of nowhere, a lot of user groups will welcome remote presentations. Hone your skills. Write some blog posts (you may have noticed this is my third blogging mention, fire up your keyboard). There’s a new version of SQL Server this year. Get inspired!
