[Announce] Linuxchix Miniconf 2009 Call for Presentations

[Robyn Willison]

LinuxChix mini-conf 2009: Call for Presentations

LinuxChix is pleased to announce that they'll be hosting the LinuxChix
mini-conf at Linux.conf.au in January, 2009 in Hobart, Tasmania. This
mini-conf exists to encourage women with an interest in free and open
source technology to share their ideas, network and improve their
presentation skills.

We are now calling for presentations by women on both free and open
source software (FOSS) technical topics and other topics of general
interest to women involved in open source software or working in IT.

The presentations will likely cover a spectrum ranging from technical
talks to professional development and community topics. For example, a
talk on productivity strategies or how to negotiate successfully in
business might fit in the professional development stream, while a
community-focused talk might look at how to get involved with mentoring
groups which go out to schools and evangelise the benefits of getting
girls into IT, or what kind of steps an open source project can take to
increase female participation.

(If you'd like an idea of the kind of presentations given at the Chix
miniconf last year, you can look at the program here:
http://conf.linux.org.au/programme/tuesday#linuxchix)

We strongly encourage you to submit a paper which falls under the
following general categories:
technical
professional development and productivity
community

Please stipulate in your proposal the format you're proposing (ie
presentation, tutorial or workshop). We will look very
favourably upon proposals which encourage participation and action.

While LCA is a technical conference and clearly Chix attendees as much
as anyone else will want to talk tech, we're also keen to devise ways to
involve younger or less experienced LCAers to attend and get involved
with the the Miniconf. Perhaps this could be a 'how to' session such as
how to set up an open source blog or how to set up a web server. Or it
could be a guide to getting involved in an open source project, or how
to start hacking on something simple.

Our goal for the day is to ensure a good mix of listening and
speaking/networking time (question time is important! as is
networking!).

*About the mini-conf*

LCA 2009 will be the third anniversary of the LinuxChix mini-conf. It
will be held on either Monday the 19th or Tuesday the 20th of January,
2008 (We don't know which) at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, as
part of the annual linux.conf.au conference. All attendees of
linux.conf.au are welcome to attend the women's mini-conf, but are
reminded that the focus of the miniconf is encouraging female
participation in open source.

There is no need to be an active member of LinuxChix, as attendees and
speakers from other women's advocacy and development groups including
project-specific women's groups and others, are encouraged to
participate.

The mini-conf has both 50 minute and 25 minute talks slots available. We
recommend that inexperienced Speakers opt for the shorter slots and plan
to present for around 15 minutes; the remaining time will be devoted to
discussion. Experienced speakers may choose to opt for a full 50 minute
slot, and prepare to talk for 35-40 minutes. We reserve the right to
request that 35 minute presentations be shortened to 15 minutes to
enable best use of the time we have. Abstracts for talk proposals should
be submitted

to: Linuxchix Miniconf Organisers
at: miniconf-submission at au.linuxchix.org
by: Monday 20th October 2008 12:00 GMT

All talks should be on Free and Open Source Software related topics.

Please see http://conf.au.linuxchix.org for more information about the
women's mini-conference and http://conf.au.linuxchix.org/2009-cfp for
full details of the call for presentations.

We are very keen to include women who may not have attended LCA or given
a presentation to a tech conference before, so please help us get the
message out by forwarding this announcement to any women or groups you
think would be interested. Students, professional IT geeks or hobbyists
are all equally welcome. :)

About LinuxChix

LinuxChix is a community for women who like Linux and Free Software, and
for women and men who want to support women in computing. The membership
ranges from novices to experienced users, and includes professional and
amateur programmers, system administrators and technical writers.

About linux.conf.au

linux.conf.au (http://linux.conf.au/) is Australia's annual technical
conference on Free Software. Fun, informal and seriously technical,
linux.conf.au draws together Free and Open Source Software developers
from across the world.

About Linux Australia

Linux Australia (http://www.linux.org.au/) is the peak body for Linux
User Groups (LUGs) around Australia, and as such represents
approximately 5000 Australian Linux users and developers. Linux
Australia facilitates the organisation of this international Free
Software conference in a different Australasian city each year.