Lightning Talk Submissions, Business of Software 2012. Deadline 29th July & instructions.

If you have been to Business of Software before, you will know, Lightning Talks are an important part of the program. They follow a simple format – every speaker gets 15 slides and 30 seconds per slide to talk about a subject of their choice. The slides advance automatically. They also give some amazing people a platform to talk about a subject they really care about.

Health Warning: If you would like to do a Lightning Talk at Business of Software in 2012, you are probably clinically insane. However, sane or otherwise, if you want to do a Lightning Talk, here is what to do before Midnight PST, Sunday July 29th:

• Upload a video of yourself talking about what you would like to talk about in a Lightning Talk to YouTube or some swanky video hosting service like Blip.tv, Vimeo or whatever.
• The video should be between 2 and 4 minutes in length. Unless you indicate otherwise we will take submission as acceptance that the video may be published.
• Send us a note containing your contact details, with a link to the video, the title of your talk and a brief (max 100 words) description of the talk.
• We will review all of the submissions, and pick what we feel will be the most appropriate ones, to talk live at BoS 2012.
• Remember to submit by July 29th to: mark @ businessofsoftware.org
• (Please note submissions from third parties including marketing departments, speaking agents etc will be ignored – we don’t have the time – please see below).

IMPORTANT – DO NOT submit a Lightning Talk on behalf of anyone else especially if you are a Speaker Agent or PR agency working for a really important CEO. We only want submissions from people that care enough to do their own sutff. This is NOT a chance to shill your company, or a company/person you work for, this is a chance to stand up in front of a bunch of people and share an idea you love. The same principle applies to the main speaking slots at Business of Software.

Rewards Doing a Lightning talk at Business of Software is not easy but there are some advantages beyond the respect, adulation and recognition of your peers at the conference and watching on the Live Stream.

• Every submission to deliver a Lightning Talk that is accepted will be given a free pass to the Business of Software Conference.
• You will be treated with reverence whilst you are there.
• The ‘winning’ Lightning Talk, as chosen by the votes of our attendees, will receive a small, electronic-based, prize.
• You will remember it for the rest of your life.

Remember though, this is the worst way to get a free pass to Business of Software.

To get your creative juices flowing, here are the previous winners:

• Business of Software 2011. Justin Goeres, ‘Getting to Nowhere‘ (You can also see all last year’s talks here too).
• Business of Software 2010. Patrick McKenzie, ‘Hello Ladies’
• Business of Software 2009. Mark Stephens, ‘Are you a large lizard or small and furry?’
• Business of Software 2008. Alex Ohanian, ‘Keeping it Real’

Even if you don’t submit an idea, why not think about what you would talk about in 7.5 minutes? Strange as this might sound, lots of our attendees do, even if they have no interest in standing on stage. Thinking about the essence of what you are passionate about can be a very good way of helping you work out what is important to you.

• Remember to submit by July 29th to: mark @ businessofsoftware.org