iPhoneDevCon - Boston

Call for Speakers

CALL FOR SPEAKERS IS NOW CLOSED!

Are you an expert in building or managing applications for Apple's iPhone, iPad or iPod touch devices, with solid teaching experience and credentials?

BZ Media's iPhone/iPad DevCon is seeking proposals from speakers for full-day and half-day workshops, as well as shorter technical classes.

iPhone/iPad DevCon is the technical conference for everyone working with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch applications. Whether they're enterprise IT professionals, develop for a commercial software company, or are entrepreneurs driving their own start-up, you’ll find them at attending iPhone/iPad DevCon, coming Apr. 4-6, 2011, to the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, across the Charles River from Boston.

The first day at iPhone/iPad DevCon is filled with deep-dive full-day (6-hour) and half-day (3-hour) workshops. The next two days contain dozens of 75-minute classes. You may also propose two-part sessions consisting of two back-to-back 75-minute classes.

When you propose a workshop or a class, be clear about the audience. Details matter.

There are three concurrent tracks at iPhone/iPad DevCon:

iPhone/iPad Developer Essentials: These technical classes/workshops are for all iPhone and iPad app developers, and cover all programming topics for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. They also cover marketing mobile apps.

Spotlight on iPad: These technical classes/workshops cover the specifics of migrating and creating apps specifically for the iPad.

Enterprise Apps Management: These technical sessions cover topics specific to managing apps for employees, business customers and partners, such as back-end integration corporate datacenter communications, ERP or CRM systems.

In your class proposal, please tell us:

• Is your class for the programmer who has a great idea but little experience with the platform? Is it for an expert developer who wants to refine and hone his/her skills? For a developer who wants tips on the fine points of creating compelling user experiences? For the entrepreneur who wants to learn how to make money in the fast-growing apps market? For the IT professional building or managing enterprise apps?

Think about who would be most interested in your topic, and your presentation of that topic. Be specific!

• Be sure to explain what new knowledge skills attendees will take away from your class. Be specific!

• Tell us if your session is introductory, intermediate or for experts, and what prerequisite skills or knowledge should be expected. Be specific!

• Tell us if your session is hands-on – that is, it requires attendees to follow along on their own system. If so, please tell us the specific hardware/software requirements.

APPLE-COMPLIANT APPS ONLY
iPhone/iPad DevCon is focused exclusively on teaching our attendees how to create Apple-compliant apps for the iPhone and iPad devices, and how to manage Apple devices and approved applications either written for in-house use or acquired from the App Store.

Acceptance of your class proposal will be based not only on your topic's timeliness and relevance, but also on your own credentials as an subject-matter expert and experience as an instructor. Be sure to communicate how clearly you can state what your class will be about, who would benefit from taking it, any prerequisite knowledge, and what the student will learn, as described above. A muddled, confused submission is likely to get rejected.

The ideal instructor is someone with real-world experience creating or managing iPhone/iPad/iPod touch applications, who has proven experience teaching practical solutions to real-world challenges, presenting new skills, and offering students an information-packed learning experience.

Sample Topics

Here are some of the types of sessions that we are looking for at iPhone/iPad DevCon. If you have an idea that’s not on the list, that's great. This list is meant to spark your thinking. We welcome your creativity, experience and expertise.

Sample iPhone/iPad Developer Essentials Topics
• Learning Objective-C • Advanced Objective-C • “Hello, iPhone”: Building Your first iPhone application • Understanding Apple's Human Interface Guidelines • Anatomy of the core iPhone/iPad app • Testing and tuning an app for best performance • Deep diving into the iPhone SDK (for iPad too!) • Managing memory in iPhone/iPad apps • Understanding the iPhone/iPad hardware/software design • Architecting an iPhone/iPad application • Using SCM technology to manage your app assets • Good and great iPhone/iPad user-interface design • Interfacing iPhone/iPad apps with server-side systems • Working with the iPhone/iPad Simulator • Characters, plots, worlds: Making great games • Understanding tools needed for iPhone/iPad development • Libraries and frameworks for iPhone/iPad apps • iPhone/iPad Apps and the Cloud • Mastering the Target-Action paradigm • Working with Table Views and View Controllers	• Tilt! Exploiting the accelerometer, camera and more • Advanced customization of Xcode and other dev tools • Data management for iPhone/iPad apps • Graphics, drawing, video and animation • iPhone/iPad application security • Working with files and network connections • Working with app preferences and settings • Intro to iPhone/iPad development for .NET developers • Event handling, multi-touch and motion-based events • How to move to Mac for iPhone/iPad development • Graphics design for iPhone/iPad app developers • Choosing the price point for your app • Moving users from “lite” to “paid” versions • Building a business plan for iPhone/iPad apps • How to research an idea's market potential • Intellectual property and licensing • Navigating the App Store acceptance process • Managing your best-test process • Driving your business with PR and advertising • Best Practices for Maximizing Your Sales Through The App Store
Sample Spotlight on iPad Topics	Sample Enterprise Apps Management Topics
• “Hello, iPad”: Building Your first iPad application • Preparing Universal Applications • Migrating your iPhone app to the iPad • iPad applications – sample code walk-through • Mastering the iPad Simulator • Deep dive into the iPad hardware platform • Reach out and touch the iPad Human Interface Guidelines • Effective UI design for the larger iPad display • Bootstrap into the iPad's unique APIs and software features • Content publishing and the iPad	• Integrating iPhone/iPad apps with Saleforce.com • App security models for customers and partners • Authentication iPhone/iPad apps access with Active Directory • Tying iPhone/iPad apps with SAP systems • Using iPhone/iPad apps with Microsoft SharePoint • Oracle/iPhone/iPad integration and interoperability • iPhone/iPad apps and enterprise messaging • Managing and deploying iPhone/iPad in the field • Systems security for enterprise deployments

Tips for Getting Your Proposal Accepted

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 intended to persuade attendees to buy your product, use your services, or hire you as a consultant. iPhone/iPad DevCon classes are for teaching, not for marketing. ("It was a sales pitch!" is a complaint we don’t want to hear from conference attendees.)

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 iPhone/iPad DevCon .)

Be Prepared!
Teaching at iPhone/iPad DevCon 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 iPhone/iPad DevCon is that you'll stick around for the conference and interact with attendees and other speakers. We expect our instructors to commit to the iPhone/iPad DevCon experience, and not just parachute in for a class, teach, and then disappear. Of course, speaking at iPhone/iPad DevCon gives instructors a free pass to the rest of the technical conference.

No Substitutions!
Proposals are from individual instructors, not from companies. You are proposing something that you personally wish to teach at iPhone/iPad DevCon. If we accept your proposal, our agreement is with you, not with your employer. We expect that you will actually 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.

Event Schedule
Monday, April 4, 2011: Workshops
Tuesday, April 5, 2011: Technical Classes
Wednesday, April 6, 2011: Technical Classes

Preparation of Submission

Please include the following information in your speaker proposal:

• Title of 75-minute class or half-day or full-day workshop.
• Tell us which track your session falls into.
• Abstract or submission, 150–200 words, describing the class and what attendees will learn from it.
Be specific and provide details!
• Any prerequisites of the proposed class, such as technical proficiency or knowledge-level of a topic.
• Describe whether your talk is hands-on, requiring that students bring a laptop with the SDK and tools, or if it's lecture/discussion.
• Speaker bio, 125–150 words, with a summary of your teaching expertise.
• Speaker name, mailing and e-mail addresses, telephone and cell phone numbers.
• Hi-res digital headshot of speaker.
• 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 also to ensure that the description clearly presents information about your session to attendees.