There are many reasons that a person decides to get involved in their professional or trade organization (like Quest). However, content that is relevant to one's particular area of interest is certainly a leading reason. Over the past few years, Quest has worked to continually improve the content that our attendees are receiving through Quest programs, communications and conferences. We strive to provide quality content and measure our results through your survey feedback. This coming year at Collaborate13, we are expanding the content that we are going to offer and that means we need your help! We need more faces/new faces presenting and sharing their knowledge and best practices so that we can maintain the quality of the content while we expand the quantity.

Why present at COLLABORATE 13?

Deciding why you would like to present at a conference varies person to person...we all have different motivating factors. Yes, it takes time and effort to prepare a presentation, but I have rarely, if ever, heard a customer say that they regretted presenting. The truth is that it is a rewarding proposition. Besides the general good feeling presenters get when sharing, here are some of the reasons that I have heard previous Quest conference presenters share when talking about the reasons they decided to present an educational session:

1. One's professional development: Gain experience and confidence in presenting in a professional setting of your peers. The process of teaching only reinforces your learning. If you already have this experience/skill mastered, you might encourage another member of your team to present for their professional development. 

2. Build your professional network: This may be one of the best ways to expand your professional network as you will gain exposure to a large number of other community members that share your interest in a particular topic.

3. Build your personal brand: Build your personal brand as an IT professional by demonstrating your thought leadership, innovation, etc. in your area of expertise. This helps to get your name out into the community. Use this to add relevant experiences and skills to your resume as well.

4. Build your company’s brand: Build your company’s brand in this space as an innovator/best practice leader. This helps get your company’s name out into the community and can assist you in attracting quality people to your company.

5. Give back to the community by sharing your knowledge and experience. You can probably think of several people that have shared their experience or knowledge that helped you along your way. Use this opportunity to pay it forward to others that could use your knowledge/your best practice.

The deadline to submit your abstract(s) is this Friday, October 12. There is not a lot of time remaining, but the good news is that there is not that much information needed to complete a presentation submission. All you will need to submit a presentation for consideration, in addition to some basic contact information and session tagging, is:
1. a session title 
2. a 750 character or less session abstract (this is about 3-4 sentences) 
3. two objectives of the session that you are proposing

To learn more about the types of sessions we are looking for, go to COLLABORATE's education page under the Events tab above. There you will find the track descriptions and where to start your submission.

Happy presenting!

Jon