Lightning talks at Percona Live MySQL Conference and Expo 2013

It happened last year at the previous Conference, and it's going to happen this year as well.

There will be a session of lightning talks during the conference, for the joy of both the audience and the speakers.

Lightning talks are fun and instructional micro events. Their official purpose is to give the audience a chance to learn something in a very limited amount of time. The real purpose is for the speaker to be as entertaining and memorable as possible within the allocated time.

The call for participation is open from now until February 10th. If you have something that you want to say in not more than 5 minutes, you can SUBMIT A PROPOSAL.

In addition to propose a compelling description that will make us choose your proposal, be aware of the lightning talks rules:

  • All slides will be loaded into a single computer, to minimize delays between talks;
  • Someone (probably me) will nag the speakers until they either surrender their slides or escape to Mexico;
  • All speakers will meet 15 minutes before the start, and be given the presentation order. Missing speakers will be replaced by reserve speakers;
  • The speaker will have 5 minutes to deliver the talk.
  • When one minute is left, there will be a light sound to remind of the remaining time.
  • When 10 seconds are left, most likely the audience will start chanting the countdown.
  • When the time is finished, the speaker must leave the place to the next one.

BTW, if lightning talks are not for you, you may try Birds of a feather (BoF) sessions instead. Also for BoFs, the deadline is February 10th.