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JSConf US 2013 Call for Speakers

By Chris Williams —

As part of our on-going reinvention of JSConf, we are going to break our single, most sacred rule, if you have spoken at a JSConf, it is nearly impossible to speak again at a JSConf. Over the past four years of JSConf events, we have spotlighted individuals that would otherwise never get a stage. We have given a platform for risky, crazy, and amazing things to flourish into even bigger, more widely-known products, ideas, and libraries. Many of the brightest things in JS over the last five years have their roots deeply engrained with JSConf and this is something we take incredible pride in. We push ourselves each year to take riskier and riskier speakers because they define the discussion about JS over the next year or years. Unlike other events, attendees do not come to JSConf to learn JS, they come to have their minds blown about what they had never conceived JS could accomplish. If you would like some examples of technologies and ideas first presented at JSConf, here are just a handful:

  • PhoneGap
  • Cappuccino
  • Node.js
  • Appcelerator
  • Yahoo! Mojito
  • WaterBear
  • Sashimi
  • Gordon
  • PDF.js
  • Cloud9
  • Firefox OS
  • YepNope
  • Fab
  • Google Traceur
  • Three.js Editor
  • Jed Schmidt

The list continues further and makes all of us that help put JSConf on grin from ear to ear. Our aggressive self-dedication to spotlighting the next generation of ideas has been something fundamental to everything we do. It is specifically for this reason that we are going to break our golden rule.

Homecoming

Given that the theme of this year’s JSConf US is “5th Year Family Reunion”, we want to try out a different format for speaker selection. We are splitting JSConf US 2013 into two main speaking days split by a day of small group activities (more on that later). The first day will play host to presentations by community selected alumni JSConf US speakers. We have opened up voting for you to specify your preference on which of the alumni speakers from 2009 - 2012 should be invited back to speak again on the JSConf stage. The voting will remain open until Friday, November 30th at 12:00PM EST in order to allow time for everyone to participate. During the following week, we will tabulate the votes and send out invitations to the lucky alumni speakers.

A Blended Approach

We still want to retain the our traditional speaker selection process, continuing our trend of spotlighting new ideas. As such, we have opened up a more traditional Call for Speakers form that will remain open until Friday, November 30th at 12:00PM EST. As we have always done, we are seeking out new ideas and concepts that push the boundaries of JS and the JS community. We welcome strange and unusual presentations as long as they remain within the boundaries of our well established Code of Conduct. We are looking for talks focused on all parts of JS, including but not limited to:

  • Data Management
  • Web Security
  • MVC Frameworks
  • Server Side JS
  • Compile to JS Languages/JSVM
  • Mobile Web
  • Future of JS
  • Education and Outreach of Computer Programming

Last year we tried a new approach, what we called an “inverse call for speakers”. We are going to do that this year along with a traditional call for speakers. If you want to nominate a person and idea that you would like to see, you can submit that as well with the form above. If you are are the person submitting yourself, which is completely cool and encouraged, please mark your submission as “this is me”, so we can write you back if your submission is or is not accepted.

As we have done from the very start of JSConf, we cover full transportation costs (within reason, no first class all the way, unfortunately), admission to JSConf, and all of your lodging costs. We do this so you can provide an amazing presentation with a relaxed and refreshed outlook and attitude. There is zero risk in submitting yourself and people you admire to speak, so go ahead and throw in!

Training Included

We understand that people attend JSConf for a wide variety of reasons, whether it is to build deep relationships, be part of the next generation of JS, or to learn JS and all it has to offer. Historically, we have, admittedly, not focused on that last item and this has caused confusion and frustration with some attendees that arrive with a different expectation. This is probably the single biggest modification we are doing as part of JSConf US 2013. Training will be provided as an isolated, parallel track. Trainings will be provided for free in 1 or 2 hour blocks (allocation based on topic complexity) that align against the main track’s schedule. We will try to schedule this track as carefully as possible to avoid the “I want to be in two tracks at the same time” problem, but unfortunately that might happen. We are seeking individuals and/or organizations with a proven track record of providing best-of-breed training to conduct these segments. If you are ready to help educate JS developers at JSConf, please email us at training@jsconf.us.