Microsoft Ignite New Zealand - Become a speaker

The TechEd you know and love is returning this year with a new name – Ignite NZ. At Ignite you’ll discover ideas and innovation everywhere. We've been inspiring the insatiable techie for nineteen years, so this year it’s going to be big. Twentieth year BIG.

Whether you've been with us since the conference first sparked in 1996 or it’s going to be your first experience, the core of the conference remains the same: mix and match tracks, jump from session to session, and at the end of the day, kick-back and connect with like-minded peers.

A limited number of earlybird discounted tickets are on sale now for you or your company, but to get these you'll have to be quick!

Become a speaker

Join as an inspiring speaker. With event entry, free speaker training, support, and a network of diverse and welcoming speakers it’s not just a great chance to teach – but to learn too.

Who are we looking for?

  • You, I hope!  You're reading this after all.  We're calling out all girls and guys - local and international - with a story to tell and experience to share.
  • If you're lining up a session in the technical tracks, then typically it's going to include Microsoft technologies as a core part of that story.  There are some subjects however - like UX design, or Architectural patterns, than transcend the Microsoft ecosystem and can be applicable universally.
  • Sessions in the Make yourself more awesome track are not-necessarily technology focused. An example being the Succeeding on Purpose session from James Whittaker that should really you catch online if you missed it at last years event.
 Microsoft Ignite Speaker

Our audience:

Ignite NZ is for anyone who’s a techie or works with technical people on or in IT. Typically we mean Architects, Developers and IT Professionals.

And when we say Developers we’re looking at Architects, Testers, Designers, Engineers, Business Analysts and User Experience professionals.

And if we’re calling out IT Pros – we mean Infrastructure Specialists, Systems Administrators and Engineers, Database Administrators/Architects, Operations Managers, IT Managers, IT Technicians, Service Delivery Managers, BI Consultants, Solutions Specialists and Network Managers.

Tips for a successful submission:

  • Aim for at least a 300 level session. That usually includes advanced live coding or step-by-step demos. Read more about session levels here
  • Check our session page for broad topic ideas. Review recent San Francisco //build/ and Chicago Ignite conferences for popular topics and inspiration
  • Focus on currently released technologies, technologies in beta, or technologies that will be released within 12 months of Ignite
  • Describe content that is new, unique, or significantly refreshed from a previous presentation
  • Do not pitch us a marketing session. This is about technical education, not promotion for your company or product.

Selection:

Submissions will be evaluated and you will be notified, via email, by the end of June. 

Onboarding:

 Once you accept your invite to become a speaker:

  • Check in with your track manager for guidance
  • Download the PowerPoint template from the speaker portal and start preparing your talk.  Talks will be 1 hour long including question time (optional)
  • Join the yammer network and network/collaborate with other speakers
  • Attend both sessions in our speaker training live webinar series
  • Attend one of our in-person speaker training events, if you're able
  • If you're travelling from out of town, and you have had two or more sessions accepted, we may be able to help with your travel costs - please check with your track owner
  • Once the session catalog is published, promote your talks!

How?

To submit your ideas, please head over to the Ignite NZ website and look for the Become a speaker link on the sessions page.

Questions?

Please reach out to me if you have questions!  Either via LinkedIn message, tweet to @nzregs, or email me using regan dot murphy at microsoft dot com.