INETA APAC is organizing a series of best practices webcasts of interest to the community. The webcasts apply to all members of the community, leaders, user group members and MVP’s, who might not yet be at the stage where they speak at large events. The topic would be of interest to all, and would help more people to aspire to be speakers, and get an understanding of what is involved in being a good speaker.

Here are the details of the first webcast:

Best Practices Webcast: Presenting at large events such as TechEd

Session abstract: Presenting at large events such as TechEd involves a lot of preparation. Too many speakers leave far too much to chance. Doing a good job does not happen by accident. In this session, Greg will share experience and tips related to the process of getting selected, preparing content and delivering that content. Many of the tips can also be applied to improving the delivery of technical material in classroom or user group situations.

Presenter Bio: Greg Low is an internationally recognized consultant, developer and trainer. He is the country lead for Solid Quality, a SQL Server MVP and one of only three Microsoft Regional Directors for Australia. Greg also hosts the popular SQL Down Under podcast (www.sqldownunder.com), is a board member of PASS (the Professional Association for SQL Server) and an author with Microsoft Press and Rational Press. He regularly speaks at large events around the world.

INETA APAC invites you to select a convenient time of your choice for this webcast, fill the survey(takes less than 3 minutes) and we will notify you of the final survey results and the exact webcast timing.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=AdhgSxdrRqvyUP9KZQRWpA_3d_3d
Please note that Survey closing date is : May 4, 2009

Some weeks ago I proposed to the INETA Europe board a set of regulations to become INETA Speaker for the local speakers bureau.

For those who do not know the local bureau, it is a pilot program to provide the user groups with speakers from their own region. The idea born to solve the main problems UG faced when they wanted to request speakers from the European bureau, the problems where mainly related to translation and higher logistical costs implied when somebody comes from different countries.

Today I wanted to write not about those specific rules, but about what makes a good speaker for the .NET User Groups.

If you have participated in any of the events done by companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc. or even the .NET User Groups you have probably seen different styles to communicate the same thing. We have a clear example with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer and I'm not going to start a new debate to know who is better. But we have many other things that make the speakers different from each other, you can find people who has a great knowledge and people who knows less, speakers who joke a lot others who are very formal, some use a lot of demos to complement the theory...

So, what makes a good speaker ?

I think a good speaker is not the one who has a lot of knowledge and tries to prove it, but the one who is able to communicate the message. Somebody who is not rambling and presents the content clear and easy to understand. A good communicator is able to express and defend ideas well, but not tries to influence people (remember I'm talking about a speaker for .NUGs not a sales man).

All speakers must be well prepared to explain the contents of a session, but must not be afraid of making mistakes or not knowing an answer. I personally hate when somebody tries to answer at any cost. Really, there is no problem if you don't know an answer, you will not be considered a loser because nobody can know everything.

In my opinion those things makes you a good speaker. If you are very formal, you use sense of humor, you wear jacket and tie or T-shirt with casual snickers, that's just your personal style.

Therefore if you think you are a good speaker, stay tuned for  TechEd 2008  and participate in the Speaker Idol contest.

Past week I received an e-mail from INETA with the newsletter of July 2008. I must confess I opened the e-mail thinking how pity was that INETA Europe didn't have its own newsletter, but after open it I was positively surprised to see it was not the US newsletter, instead I received the European one.

I'm very glad to see how the Ineta board has decided to start again sending update information on the activities performed, the last newsletter we could see in the website was from September 2006.

I think the newsletters and any kind of direct communication between INETA and it's members is a good way not only to inform the user groups about the activities done, but also to keep the interest of the community in INETA itself. At the end, the INETA work is as important as letting know the NUGs the results of the work in order they can feel there is something in motion. 

The July 2008 publication brings lot of information, you can read the complete newsletter navigating to the link. But I would like to stand up two points:

• Ineta is looking for volunteers. There are different positions to be covered, if you feel like just send an email to the volunteer coordinator Tomislav Bronzin (tomislav.bronzin@ineta-europe.org).   
• Ineta Europe gets social. Ineta has just started a new social initiative to share and communicate with the Ineta community: http://community.ineta-europe.org.

We all know the community requirements change as the community evolves, therefore it's necessary INETA can evolve together. It's great to see how step by step this is the case.

This weekend I received a very nice notice, I've been nominated to be the new Ineta Country Leader for Spain.

My predecessor Miguel Jiménez did a hard job and I hope to be able to continue doing good things for the Spanish Ineta community.

I know this will be a difficult task, the .NET groups in Spain have a lot of activity and ideas, but I will do my best to give them the support they deserve.

I'm desiring to get my hands on the work.