Welcome to my first email regarding TechEd Australia 2013!  This year I’m looking after content again and today I like to announce that call for topics is now open for submissions.  This is the first of many milestones on the journey to this event in September.  I believe good content is what makes an event such as TechEd possible and we rely on the expertise and creativity of our speakers to make a successful event.

So please submit your sessions using the Call for Topics tool at:  http://techedau.cft.hubb.me 

Every year at TechEd we have a theme and this year is no different.  Last year was a huge launch year so we focused mainly on all the new products such as Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.  This year it’s about getting those products deployed and developing great apps for Windows 8 and Windows Phone.  With in mind we are focusing on 2 broad themes.

• Developing Windows 8 and Windows Phone apps
• Deployment of Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 SP1, Windows 8 and Office 2013
• Building apps for Windows 8

With that in mind we have reduced the number of tracks down to 9 this year.  Below are a list of the tracks we will have this year.

Architecture and trustworthy Computing
Windows Azure Application Development
Data Platform and Business Intelligence
Developer Tools & Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)  
Office, Office 365 and SharePoint      
Modern Datacenter
Exchange and Lync     
Windows Client, Access & Management
Windows Phone

Now you may notice the absence of tracks that we have had in the past.  We have consolidated the Windows Server, Virtualization and Management tracks into the Modern Datacenter track.  So if you are submitting sessions on those topics then submit them to the Modern Datacenter track.

The Call for Topics tool is open from today; May 15th 2013 until Monday June 17th 2013.  Get those creative juices going and start submitting sessions.  When you are submitting sessions please keep the following in mind:

To enhance the success of your session submission, please prepare your content to ensure it provides TechEd attendees with comprehensive technical readiness to inspire and succeed in their career. Your content should also align to meet the content themes for TechEd 2013, which are:

For Developers:  TechEd is the place to get ready to create Windows 8 and Windows Phone Apps.

For IT Professionals: TechEd will provide an accelerated path to the skills they need to for deployment of Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012, Office 2013 and the Hybrid cloud.

Submissions that compliment the TechEd 2013 content themes will be recognized throughout the approval process.

Below are some additional tips for a successful submission:

• Abstracts should be limited to 300 words
• Be sure to showcase your speaking experience
• A succinct and descriptive session title is a must to engage attendees and should match the delivered content 100%
• Session objectives should indicate clearly what a delegate will gain from attending the session
• Build your presentations with 60-65 mins of content and allow 10-15 mins for Q&A
• TechEd is about technical readiness so focus on the technology and ensure there is no blatant marketing in your content

Good luck with your submissions and we look forward to see some great sessions submitted!

Jeffa