Call for Mentors is FULL.

Proving Ground Speaker Development Program Call For Mentors Is FULL. Thank you to all that applied. Keep us in mind for next year!

It’s that time again! Time for the InfoSec community to mentor a new speaker. Our “Proving Ground” tracks’ main acceptance criteria is being a first time national conference speaker and as we all know how hard it can be to find your voice, or even to just translate data into talking points that won’t lose your audience, we are looking to pair each Proving Ground candidate up with a mentor. Someone with a solid track record of conference speaking, who will work with them from CFP to podium.

The process works like this: When the Proving Ground CFP goes out, potential speakers will be asked for an abstract for a 20 minute talk that they would like help preparing for presentation. Once they have made it past our CFP review team, they will be passed on to the Mentor List, where the potential mentors will be able to choose which talks they want to help with, based on area(s) of expertise and experience. The mentor will then work with their Proving Ground candidate, answering questions and otherwise collaborating by email as needed. The mentor will assist with translating data into talking points and assuring their talk will be understood. Not just by their peers in their area of interest, but by the majority of the people listening in the audience. Once the candidate’s slide deck is ready, the Mentor will coach them through their full presentation, working on timing, inflection and body language. The day of the presentation, the mentor will attend their candidate’s talk, to boost morale and assist with Q&A, if needed.

Each accepted mentor and candidate will be provided with:

All speaker amenities at BSidesLV
Breakfast and lunch, both days
A BSidesLV Mentorship Program t-shirt
A badge that will identify them as a part of the Proving Ground program
An extra conference badge for a friend

Acceptance into the program is contingent upon being available to attend BSidesLV during your candidate’s talk, so please do not apply if you might have scheduled conflicts during Black Hat.

We hope that by providing this service, we will have the chance to “Pay it forward” to the new generation of Information Security researchers. Let us give them a chance to find their public speaking voice in a welcoming, encouraging, collaborative environment.

If you feel the mentorship program is something you would be interested in contributing to, you have the time and patience to commit to it, and you know you will be in Las Vegas for “Security Summer Camp” this August, please email provingground.bsideslv@gmail.com with “BSidesLV 2015 Mentors ROCK!” as the subject line.

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