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Events Speaking at our events
Speaking at our events
BCS Hertfordshire is interested in hearing from anyone in our community who has something that they are passionate about and would like to share with our membership. No matter whether you are an individual or an organisation. If you have something relating to IT, IT services or Computer Science. We would love to hear from you.
If you are interested in reaching out to our community, there are some basic rules that we apply in assessing the suitability of a topic. These are
For General topic overviews and introductions to subjects
- Presentations should be approachable to anyone aged 16 or over
- Where applicable, discussions relating to dangerous or controversial topics should be approached responsibly and with proper academic rigour
- Topics can relate to any aspect of IT, Computer Science or their application in the real-world/workplace. This includes subjects from non-IT fields that have or are using Information Technology in creative and innovative ways to achieve a goal
For niche and specialist topics
- Presenters can assume that there will be a more specialist audience (e.g. with some commercial experience in a topic) and thus likely an older audience
- Presenters should provide some topic background to help orientate less familiar audience members
Topics can be
- From an individual, club, commercial organisation, charity, NGO or government body that introduces a topic through the work performed by you or your organisation
- Light/Introductory
- Academic/Research/Theoretical
- Advanced/Aimed at a niche audience
- Individual presentations
- Team or group presentations
- Panel discussions
- Debates
- Hands-on demonstrations
- Hands-on labs using “bring your own device” (BYOD) participation or lab-based audience participation (subject to venue availability)
- Workshops
- Webinar/streamed presentations
- Visits to your organisation to showcase what you do and how you do it
What a topic cannot be
- A product advertisement
- Sales pitches or an attempt to undermine competitors
- The presentation of a single side of a debate topic – unless you agree to hold a proper debate/series with a counter-speaker(s) who will be approved by the committee of BCS Hertfordshire
- Anything that shows bias or prejudice towards any individual, community, group or series of beliefs
Register your interest
If you are interested in presenting at one of our events, please get in touch with the secretary of BCS Hertfordshire via our contacts page to discuss your ideas.
Our programme for the coming year – commencing in October of each year – is confirmed by the end of July. Our programme and speakers often work on long lead times, and having a speaker booked more than a year in advance is common in our schedule.
If you have a topic that is timely and must be held within an already established programme year, it may be possible to offer an additional event. So please do get in touch and let us know you idea.
All topic ideas are voted on and approved by consensus of the committee of BCS Hertfordshire.
View: Contact us
Please note: BCS Hertfordshire event venues are often supported by local businesses and organisations from our local community. If your organisation requires pre-consideration of what venues we can use. Please let us know as early as possible in your correspondence with us.
What we will request from you
If selected to present in our programme, you will be asked to provide the following information:
- Name(s), salutations and job title(s) of the speaker(s)
- If applicable, the name of the organisation(s) that you are representing
- A catchy, marketable title for your topic. This is your event name/headline limited to 100 characters
- A headline abstract for your topic of approximately 100 – 150 words for use on the website/programme card/YouTube
- Any biographical information that you would like to include about yourself as speaker(s) or your organisation. This is not included in the abstract word count but should not be more than 250 words maximum
- [Optionally] A photograph(s) of the speaker(s) for use in marketing
- [Optionally] Details of any social media handles that you would like us to promote
- Details of any accessibility or catering requirements that you might have
- Details of any equipment or facilities that you might require for your presentation
