Speaker Guidelines

Content Guidelines and Recommendations for Speakers
The content of your presentation is at the core of the Mission Critical Computing conference! To this end, we are available to provide you with any assistance you may need to incorporate the theme and messaging behind Mission Critical Computing into your presentation. During the development of your presentation, please bear in mind the theme behind Mission Critical Computing. This is best expressed by the vision of the conference and supported by the key messages:

The Vision of Mission Critical Computing

• To provide a forum in which the world's top technology firms come together in partnership to express their collective vision and articulate the direction of computing for the new century.

The Key Messages of Mission Critical Computing

• Sponsor companies have the necessary expertise and vision to help customers architect and implement the IT environment of the new millennium.
• The Internet is changing the reach of mission critical applications beyond the domain of back-office business environments into everyday life, work, play and learning.
• Collectively, the sponsor companies represent the industry's leading supply-chain for mission critical applications.
• Strategic alliances are critical for the future of computing.

Some thoughts to consider as you draft your abstract and presentation:

• To address the senior management-level audience at the event, presentation content should focus on business critical issues and solutions. Overly technical presentation content or terminology would not be appropriate for this audience.
  
  
• Include at least one customer testimonial in your presentation, preferably having a customer alongside you as a co-presenter.
  
  
• Based on direct feedback from attendees at the MCC kick-off event, the inclusion of customers during your session significantly strengthens and lends credibility to your presentation.
  
  
• Also received as feedback from the first MCC conference is evidence that presentations that carry a strong product or corporate message from the presenting company will not be well received. Rather than using this forum to merely push products, this is your opportunity to share your organisation's vision with leading senior IT executives and present the business benefits behind your product offering.

When you arrive at the Conference:

• Please report to the speakers' room as soon as possible after arrival. It is important that you allow ample time to view your presentation and check your connections, etc. with a technician before your scheduled presentation.
• You can view your presentation on the equipment supplied in the speakers' room.
• Please make certain that your presentation is planned carefully and each phase co-ordinates with your audio-visual set up. There is an audio visual requirement form included in this manual.
• If you are bringing a laptop for your presentation, please ensure that you complete the appropriate section of the forms enclosed in this manual.
• Please keep strictly to the time slot allotted to you.
• Please be aware that there will be no facility to compose or convert a presentation on site.
• Your materials will be returned to the speakers' room after your presentation.
• Please supply us with a copy of your presentation on disk, as all presentations will be posted to the conference web site following the event.
• Please remember to speak clearly during your presentation. The language you are presenting in may not be the native tongue of all the attendees.
• Interpretation will take place during the session. Please submit a hard copy of your presentation to the speakers' room beforehand to aid the interpreters in their translation of your presentation.