Pick Me for SXSW 2008!

As SXSW 2007 was winding down, Frank and I were discussing the possibility of presentating at next years conference. We even talked to a number of panelists to get some insight into the process (special thank you to Jonathon Snook for the extended chat at the Iron Cactus!).

Once we got back home, we gave a number of presentations to various groups around the office to share the wealth of information we got from attending. This was also a good primer for us to see if we could give a presentation to larger groups as well as being the first time we had presented together.

We *think* we came up with a good topic to have a panel on and were able to get the submission in before the door closed (just barely).

Here’s the pitch we sent Hugh (the conference organizer):

Developers are From Mars and the Business is From Venus

During project development, the lines of business and web developers can often have differences of opinions due to the different ways these groups approach projects. Tensions can end up occurring amongst team members as unreasonable demands are made by the lines of business and developers provide excessive time frames & costs.

Find out how to iron out the differences between these two groups and see what career opportunities lie ahead in hybrid positions.

Frank Sandrin and John Biehler are both Web Analysts from one of North America’s largest auto insurers, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. They share their thoughts on how to bridge the gap between these two worlds and also provide some insight on what the future holds for job positions that federate the groups.

The panel details are somewhat abbreviated in the panel picker so this will hopefully give you a little more information.

If you are planning on attending (or even think you want to attend), I’d love it if you visited the SXSW Panel Picker (direct link to our panel) and voted for Frank and I (it’s in Frank’s name) as there are more panel submissions (683!) than available session slots (120) so every vote counts!

This year, anyone can vote too, not just alumni or registrants. You do have to register to vote but it just takes a minute.

The Panel Picker is currently getting hammered so try again if you have any trouble connecting.