Lightning Talks
William Bilancio is organising a Lightning Talks session for the LISA'11 conference in Boston. A LISA Birds of a Feather("BoF") session is an informal opportunity for sysadmins to share knowledge and/or enthusiasm.
What?
Lightning Talks are a series of five-minute talks where enthusiasm is paramount and almost anything that might be of interest to sysadmins is on-topic.
In particular this is for real, practical material that wouldn't make it to the technical sessions for one reason or another, but might be of benefit or interest to the community.
Some examples
- Here's a really cool tool/technique that I think is underrated.
- Call for Assistance. "I want to do X, but I need help".
- Testing the Waters. "I'm thinking starting X, what do you think about the issue?"
- Wouldn't it be nice if...? Someone should do it.
- Here's how I got to wear the hero/fool cape recently at my company. And the lesson.
- Heresy. "Everyone" says/does X and this is why they're wrong.
- Orthodoxy. "Everyone" says/does X and this is the lesser known reason *why*.
- You All Suck. Here's what's wrong with this community and how to fix it.
- Here's an issue facing our industry/community/project. What do we think about it?
Why might I want to give a Lightning Talk?
- You can get heard by some smart folks who might be able to advise or assist.
- The barrier to entry is very low. It doesn't require a lot of preparation to do five minutes on something you really care about.
- It's about time you gave something back.
- You might get a fresh perspective or a shot of encouragement.
Why might I want to attend the Lightning Talks BoF?
Because you might learn of something great you haven't come across before. Because you might get (re-)enthused about something you heard of but forgot about. Because listening to smart people talk about what fires them up is fun.
5 minutes each means low risk. And if you leave with just one idea that you actually use, then it's well worth it.