BoS 2012 June update. Lightning Talks, speaker updates and a chance to win a copy of ‘Drive.’

A week ago I was sitting on the patio of the InterContinental Hotel in Boston as we did some reconnaissance for BoS2012. It sits next to an historic place – the site of the Boston Tea Party (the boats in the picture below are replicas of the original, located on the site where the process of American Independence started). Quite a place. We can’t wait to be back for Business of Software in October. Happy 4th July American friends.

Speaker Update The big speaker news this month is the incredible Dan Pink is confirmed as a speaker on the final day. Dan, was recognized as one of the leading business thinkers in the world last year alongside Professor Clayton Christensen. He is a reformed lawyer, political speechwriter and author of three New York times bestselling books including Drive – the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. I’m excited about having Dan speak as his new project addresses an ongoing BoS theme – sales. I don’t want to spoil his surprise – Dan is offering us a sneak preview in advance of publication – but expect your perception of sales to change – radically.

Lightning Talks If you’re interested in delivering a Lightning Talk this year, please submit your proposal, ideally via video, by 29th July. Lightning Talk speakers get a free pass to the conference, though they often spend most of the time practicing their talk. More information about Lightning Talks here.

EARLY BIRD Bonus – next 50 registrations get a free copy of Dan Pink’s book.

• Don’t forget, you can save $700 on the full price of conference attendance if you register by 10th July.
• As a little extra bonus, we are going to send the next 50 attendees a copy of Dan Pink’s excellent book, Drive, with our compliments.

Here are some of the things you might have missed if you don’t check the blog regularly:

• If you want to know why people come and what they get out of being a part of the extraordinary BoS community, the feedback from delegates at last year’s event puts it far better than I ever could. Some of the words that made BoS worthwhile for us.
• My musings on the spread of Lean Principles into the Enterprise. Geoffrey Moore, a Business of Software speaker and long time hero, described it as a, ‘Great read’. I felt like a small child who had just been praised by his favourite teacher. The Lean Startup virus mutates into virulent Enterprise form.
• Continuing the ‘Lean’ theme, Joca Torres, a Brazilian BoSer has a really great read (and some great diagrams) explaining the three most important reasons you should get your MVP out there – NOW. Why the hurry to launch your MVP?
• Sales. Paul Kenny is the one person I know who can get software geeks excited about sales. Don’t miss his talk (with transcript) on closing the deal. The Art of Asking.

All the talks from last year can be accessed from here with a pass code. Attendees for BoS 2012 also receive a code so they can see the full set of talks when they are registered for BoS2012. Other talks are posted over the course of the year – look forward to hearing from Jason Cohen talking about honesty in business at the weekend.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.