Today marks the opening of crowdsource submissions for RSA Conference 2016! As the owner of all of the content for RSA Conference, I am particularly excited about this aspect of our educational program.
Introduced last year, our crowdsourced track allows the public to vote on the sessions of greatest interest to them. We’ve expanded the number of slots available for crowdsourced presentations this year and look forward to the great content that the community will bring forward. We received a lot of excellent, constructive feedback last year, and we’ve implemented some key changes.
This year, we’ll only allow one submission per presenter. This requirement will make you think very hard about what would be the best possible content for an audience like RSA Conference—seasoned practitioners who value intermediate to advanced content.
Make sure to differentiate yourself from other presentations that will be submitted. Why are you uniquely qualified? What is so cool about your perspective that people will choose your session over any of the others? How is what you are going to share timely? What can you share that will change how your peers approach their jobs? Keep in mind that all of the submissions are for single presenters only; co-speaker and panel discussions are not eligible crowdsource formats. Additionally, remember that you must submit on behalf of yourself—this program moves very quickly and we can’t work through outside submitters.
Another key change this year is that we’re flipping the review order of the submissions. Entries can be made starting today through January 3 at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, our awesome judges—Jack Daniel, Alex Hutton, Jennifer Minella, and Rich Mogull—will review all of the submissions, debating amongst themselves the 34 “best of the best” to take forward for public voting. From January 26 until February 9 voting will be open to the public, which will help narrow the field down to the winning 17 sessions that will appear at RSA Conference.
Remember your submission needs to win the hearts of two rounds of review—the judges and then the public—so make your submission stand out with unique content and packaging.
More detail, including a complete timeline, is available in the FAQ. Additional information is also available on the submission page. We look forward to engaging with you again and giving our community an opportunity to directly vote on what interests them. Good luck!