Fwd: OSBC2005 Boston: Call for Papers (Live)

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

Subject: OSBC2005 Boston: Call for Papers (Live)
Date: Monday 27 June 2005 08:03
From: Matt Asay <masay(at)osbc(dot)com>
To: Matt Asay <mjasay(at)comcast(dot)net>

Sorry for the blanket blast. At least you¹re not on the cc line this
time....

With July 1 being the cutoff date for speaking proposals for OSBC2005
Boston, I wanted to send a last-minute reminder to put in your proposals.
We¹ve already started filling out the faculty, but have a number of prime
sessions left.

OSBC offers you the chance to speak to an overwhelmingly executive audience,
with ~90% at director-level or above (Over a third hold a CxO title). And
with a significant (and growing) IT executive base (~10% of our 714-strong
attendee base in 2005, a five-fold increase over 2004), OSBC is also the
place to connect with potential customers in a high-end setting. Of OSBC¹s
attendees, ~50% authorize IT spending of at least $100,000.

As such, please remember that we won¹t even consider thinly-veiled vendor
pitches. We¹ll consider any topics, but would especially like to hear
proposals that deal with:

* Real-world examples/strategies in moving off off proprietary databases,
virtualization technologies, CRM, etc. In short, how is it actually working
in practice to move from proprietary to open source?
* Candid assessments (funded neither by proprietary nor open source bigots)
of open source¹s vulnerabilities, security, legal risks, etc.
* Emerging business opportunities for open source

Please plan to join us, and speak to us. To submit a proposal, please
visit:

http://www.osbc.com/live/13/speakers//callforpapers

The deadline for proposals is July 1, 2005.

Thank you for your interest in the Open Source Business Conference. We hope
to see you in Boston, whether as a speaker or as an attendee. I¹ve included
some information below on OSBC2005 San Francisco: Attendee demographics and
other highlights. Enjoy.

Matt

P.S. For those interested in gaining a more detailed view of open source
legal issues than is generally covered at OSBC West, please consider
attending OSBC Legal, kicking off in Seattle this September.)
_____________________
Matt Asay
Co-founder and Program Director,
Open Source Business Conference
(801) 518-5951 (mobile)
(801) 994-6760 (office)
masay(at)osbc(dot)com (email)
mnasay (aim)
asay.blogspot.com (blog)

Attendees:
OSBC2005 West drew a record number of attendees (714), with registrations
rocketing past OSBC2004¹s significant start. And, even more so than
OSBC2004, a large majority of OSBC2005 West¹s attendees were senior IT
executives (~10%), representing a five-fold increase. Sometimes considered
a ³vendor show,² ISVs and IHVs made up less than half of the attendee base.
This shift ­ from vendors to IT executives ­ will continue at OSBC2005 East
and OSBC2006 West.
* IT Executives - ~10%, up from ~2% at OSBC2004, or a roughly five-fold
increase. This year¹s group included SVPs and CIOs of Thomas Weisel
Partners, JP Morgan, Fidelity, Bank of America, PayPal, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, Motorola, and a range of others.
* Executive Attendance - Of the remainder, a large percentage were CxOs
(34%), VP-level (30%), and Director-level (25%). All told, 89% of the was
director-level and above.
* Spending Authority - ~70% of OSBC2005 attendees authorize IT spend of at
least $10,000. (50% have spending authority for $100K or more.)

Media:
OSBC 2005 received almost 50% more news coverage than the debut event last
year. As Doron Gerstel (CEO of Zend, an open source ISV) put it, ³[Y]ou've
succeeded in establishing OSBC as the Mecca for open source business.² As a
result, media showed up en masse: As of April 1, OSBC 2005 had registered
83 leading business, technical, legal and venture reporters. Tier-one
business press attendance included The New York Times, Economist, Financial
Times (whose president attended), Businessweek, Business 2.0, Forbes,
Bloomberg, and others.

Sent using the Microsoft Entourage 2004 for Mac Test Drive.

-------------------------------------------------------

--
Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco