[PLUG-Devel] ABLEConf Call for Presentations/Volunteers/Sponsors - Women In Technology WIT

[Lisa Kachold]

The Arizona Business and Liberty Experience Conference Call for
Presentations, Volunteers and Sponsors

The Arizona Business and Liberty Experience Conference (ABLEconf) is
soliciting presentations for its second annual conference. ABLEconf will
take place on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at the University of Advancing
Technology in Tempe, Arizona.

Continuing ABLEconf's drive to showcase free and open source software for
business, we are seeking presentations in either 20 or 50 minute formats.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

    * SMB/SME
    * Health/Medical Software and Systems
    * Local Business Use of Free and Open Source Software
    * Women in Technology and Business
    * Education
    * Multimedia
    * Gadgetry and Fun Devices
    * Green Computing
    * Multi-Platform Applications and Free Software for proprietary
systems
    * Virtualization, Grid and Cloud Computing
    * Network Setup, Management and Security

Proposals submitted by September 7th will qualify for an early bird prize
drawing.

Proposals should include the following:

   1. title for the talk
   2. name, affiliation, bio and contact email address of the presenter
(needed for publishing on the website and final program schedule)
   3. Is a 20 minute or 50 minute presentation is preferred?
   4. What will be covered? A list or a brief description of the main
points to be presented should be submitted. Please include enough detail
to enable the committee to evaluate the proposal.
   5. Please notify us if the presentation will require a special
technical set up.

Submission formats in plain text, PDF and Open Document Format (ODF) will
be accepted. As we are attempting to increase awareness of free and open
technologies, it is highly desirable that presentations be done in open,
non-proprietary formats.

Email proposals to proposals at ABLEconf.com.

To see an updated full listing of the desired tracks and requirements
please visit the presentations page.

http://www.ABLEconf.com/2009/Phoenix/Presentations

ABLEconf was founded in 2008 by a coalition of open-source software groups
and associations in Arizona. The free-admission one-day conference hosts a
wide variety of speaking tracks and sessions on how to take advantage of
open-source software in small business, government, medical, enterprise,
and individual use.

Important Dates:

    * 2009Aug17: CFP opens
    * 2009Sep07: early bird deadline for proposal submissions
    * 2009Oct05: final deadline for proposal submissions
    * 2009Oct12: last date for notification of proposal acceptance
    * 2009Oct24: ABLEconf at UAT


Women in Technology:

"Women in Technology" Committee/Track

Please join the
[http://lists.ableconf.com/listinfo.cgi/wit-ableconf.com committee
mailing list]

Program chair:  ABLEconf2009wit at ardmorevalleyproductions.com
(Please protect this email address from online spiders via obfuscation
to control spam!)

Focus:  Women working in "technology", women with techno-career
aspirations, women with volunteering power for ABLEconf to promote
education about technology.  This track can include appropriate
presentations from other tracks as well as those specifically meant
for WIT.

There are three primary goal areas:
* Promoting women volunteers to present at ABLEconf
* Promoting women volunteering in other ways at ABLEconf
* Inviting women to attend ABLEconf (Technical Ability is interesting
and very rewarding!)

For presenters, what topics does ABLEconf want?
* Primarily technology for business
* Technology, business and balance as they relate to WIT
* Anything that facilitates success for WIT (beit psychology,
sociology, health or technical FOSS related)

== Recruiting Technology Presenters ==

"Pretty much anything is fair game.  I (the chair) personally think
that in order to attract women, we need to avoid limiting technology
discussions to open source, although we want to encourage that.  It
seems to me that the combination of woman + technology + open source
is perhaps a little too rarified and if we limit presentations to
that, we may fail entirely.  Anything you know about technology is
fair game for consideration."   - Der Hans - 2009

Ideas for Presenters/Presentations (expect overlap with other tracks):
* OpenOffice.org (Der Hans (Chair) presents annually on OpenOffice
also - confer to provide unique content)
* Linux Servers or Linux Hosting
* Linux Business Applications
* Linux in Early Childhood Education
* Home Schooling with FOSS
* Graphic design with FOSS
* Web Development with FOSS
* VOIP and Cell Technology Solutions for Extended Family or Business Networking
* Women, Trust and Open Source -
* Business, Security and Social Intrusion Detection Systems
* Camera/monitoring Systems for Everyone
* Wordpress, Facebook, WeeWeb, Text Messaging and Twitter
* Gender, Socialization and Techno-Individualism
* Medical, Criminal, Court & Credit Information Technology in a Digital Age

== Recruiting Business Presenters ==

Ideas for Presenters/Presentations (may overlap with other tracks):
* Current Federal Financial (Loan/Bond) aide Programs for
Women/Minority-Owned Businesses
* Challenges (& Solutions) for Gender Stereotyping in Business Technology
* Panel Discussion: Women WIT  -- Statistical Overview - share
anecdotes of the good, the bad and the ugly.  Share war stories and
brag to dispell misconceptions of what roles women currently hold in
technology, what differences exist industry wide, and how women are
perceived in team business technical environments.
* Evolution of remote workers; home workers; telecommuters in business
technology.  Job Sharing, team contracting, and the Internet,
including solutions for staying motivated, educated and connected.
* Employment Related: Legal ramifications and rights for Federal
overtime exempt engineers, managers, programmers and other creative
engineers or developers and the melding of technology roles in small
start ups (or how to keep from being required to work 90 hours a week
on salary, while being on call 24X7 365 days a year) during an
economic avalanche.

http://www.ableconf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Women_in_technology

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