So, I mentioned that I was considering submitting an abstract to EclipseCon.  Just following up to mention that I indeed did…  I’m waiting to hear if the talk’s accepted – should hear later this week.

This was one of those ‘what do I have to lose’ kinds of things.  It’s a topic I need to figure out, it’s a topic for which there isn’t a lot of material already out there for, and it’s also a topic which impacts lots of projects.  If we (I talked my tech lead into working on it, too: gives me cover for doing it as a chargeable item for my project) get shot down, hopefully someone will at least point us in a useful direction.   I’ll let you know later whether we got accepted…

In the meantime, the submission model they’ve used for the conference really intrigues me.  I’ve learned a lot just by looking over the abstracts other folks have proposed.  I’d like to consider a similar model for a geek user group in the area: the topic(s) for the month are based on a sort of digg-like voting model.  Votes would have to be counted some amount of time before the user group, to give the presenter adequate time to prepare.  Frankly, you could use that model for any kind of presentation group: votes determine the presenter.  After the presentation, folks could give anonymous feedback, which helps drive the voting process next time.  Oh, that guy was an awful presenter.  Or, the presenter was great, but the material was a bit over my head.  Or…  whatever.  The group learns from itself what works best for it.  As new members join, they’d influence the votes for upcoming meetings, so the group would theoretically not automatically only serve the needs of the original members.

Thoughts?  Influence the idea a bit??