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#conf-proposals2016-01-22
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meow03:01:59

so I'm thinking about maybe doing a talk about social media for devs

meow03:01:56

looking at Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Slack, HN, etc

shaun-mahood16:01:52

@meow: Anything Clojure specific in there? I feel like that might be an area that's been covered a lot in other contexts, but I've also never seen a talk on the topic that I was really interested in either, so it might be something that needs your gentle touch simple_smile

meow16:01:46

@shaun-mahood: gentle touch, eh? you ... must ... be ... joking

meow16:01:06

bull in a china shop is more like it

shaun-mahood16:01:15

China staying in one piece is overrated

meow16:01:49

Seriously though, what Clojure-specific stuff would I need to cover to make it appealing?

meow16:01:24

Braid is being developed in cljs but I don't want to play favorites.

shaun-mahood16:01:35

I know one thing I need some push on is finally getting a blog going - maybe blogging and social media in Clojure?

shaun-mahood16:01:52

How's this for an abstract: Do you have to write reports as part of your job? Are you having trouble finding a way to get your management to buy in to Clojure in the workplace? I was able to impress my non-technical management with the power and speed of Clojure by replacing our "industry standard" reporting tools and delivering more useful and powerful reports. We'll be looking at the specific benefits of Clojure for business reporting, as well as ways to retrieve, manipulate, and present data using the amazing tools available to us.

meow16:01:29

good idea to include blogging - can I ask why you feel you need one

meow16:01:49

and have you considered Medium

shaun-mahood16:01:31

Yeah, thought about Medium - but I don't want to use it for some reason. My contrary nature just prevents me from using anything that is controlled by others for something like that.

meow16:01:49

I like your abstract

shaun-mahood16:01:43

Main reasons I feel like I need a blog - I want to develop a bit of a presence on the internet, have an outlet that forces me to put my thoughts into text, I want to start contributing to the general knowledge of the community instead of just consuming

shaun-mahood16:01:00

I've also read a few people who have said that starting a blog has helped them make connections or land better jobs, and although I don't want to change jobs any time soon it would be nice to point potential employers to it and show what I know if I ever need to change jobs

shaun-mahood16:01:15

Oh that looks interesting, hadn't seen it before.

meow16:01:27

do you want a wide audience - that's what you would get with Medium - though I understand how you feel about it and I feel the same way

shaun-mahood16:01:14

Nah don't care about the wide audience, actually. Even just being able to send people a link as a response to a question would be great

meow16:01:42

have you looked at Perun

shaun-mahood16:01:53

One other thing that might be interesting for a talk is why and how to overcome the reluctance to self-market

meow16:01:28

good point - I'll make a mental note of that

meow16:01:18

I want to deconstruct your abstract because you did some things really, really well

meow16:01:34

wish @alexmiller would join us

meow16:01:53

hello, Alex

meow16:01:29

discussing speaking proposals for clojure/west

meow16:01:51

would love your input if you want, or if you could invite someone else that can work with us on developing good presentations so that the conj is awesome

Alex Miller (Clojure team)16:01:13

Sure, is there a specific question?

meow16:01:28

I still need to come up with a subject and write a proposal and the deadline looms large

meow16:01:40

see previous discussion for background

meow16:01:02

So, Shaun, in your abstract you helped your target audience self-identify by asking questions - a great technique, then quickly established yourself as someone who has done it successfully, then ended with the promise of specific benefits and take-away techniques. Awesome imnsho. simple_smile

Alex Miller (Clojure team)16:01:53

so..... is there a specific question? :)

shaun-mahood16:01:02

Thanks for the positive feedback! I swear I've spent more time thinking about this talk than thinking about work for the past few weeks

meow16:01:14

@alexmiller: what do you think of my idea of a presentation on social media for devs: facebook, twitter, slack, blogging, etc for community building and career development, or some such thing

Alex Miller (Clojure team)16:01:34

unless you wrote an AI to do it for you in Clojure

meow16:01:36

what about Braid - the chat app being developed in cljs and datomic

Alex Miller (Clojure team)16:01:52

sure, that's worth proposing

meow16:01:14

better than my polygon mesh generation library?

Alex Miller (Clojure team)16:01:34

yes, probably a wider audience, although both are worth proposing

meow16:01:19

well, I'm really sidetracked by working on Braid and plan to release Braid Alpha on April 15 so if that has appeal I'd rather go that direction

meow16:01:58

@alexmiller: you've helped me focus and that's what I really needed so tyvm - that's all I really had unless you or anyone else from the conf planning committee wants to hang out here

Alex Miller (Clojure team)16:01:33

generally, if you are focusing on something right now, that's probably the best thing to propose a talk on :)

shaun-mahood18:01:13

Ok, proposal submitted. Thanks for the help @meow and @jonahbenton, your advice and comments really helped me figure out what I wanted to do!

Alex Miller (Clojure team)18:01:59

hey look, a talk proposal in my inbox :)

meow19:01:40

excellent!

shaun-mahood19:01:37

Awesome, thanks Alex