To Gateway JUG Members and Supporters:

As anyone knows who has ever had involvement with a user group (or any group with speakers), one of the most challenging problems is recruiting speakers. We all want to learn more about this or that API or tool, but few people volunteer to present on the topics people are talking about.

Partly, it's a fear of public speaking. Partly, it's a fear that the talk may not be well received. Partly, it's knowing that the for a new 1.5 hour presentation you'll need to spend 5 - 8 hours of preparation. Surprisingly, many good developers believe they simply have nothing to contribute. They couldn't be more wrong.

-- The Gateway JUG Speaker Program --

The Gateway JUG isn't immune to the challenge of recruiting speakers. Therefore, to help you make the decision to get over the psychological hump and invest the time, we're creating a new Gateway JUG Speaker program.

Essentially, the program is a way for you to register as a speaker and be compensated when you present on a topic. Compensation is a simple formula to bestow a modest honorarium to people who step up to the plate. Final details are still being worked out and will be published online soon, but the basic formula is this: Speakers will receive a base honorarium amount plus additional compensation based on the number of attendees. The compensation structure will account for seasonal variations in attendance so speakers in "slow" months receive a higher base fee than speakers who present at "busy" months when getting attendance compensation is easier. We may also offer an extra incentive for meeting "Excellent Attendance" goals established for that month.

No, you won't be able to get a mortgage based on the amount we're paying, but we want to show our appreciation for the time you sacrifice to make us all smarter. The numbers are being worked out now, but the total amount paid will likely run between $100 and $250 per presentation. Note: Speakers who accumulate compensation beyond IRS 1099 reporting thresholds will be issued a 1099 at the end of the year.

We hope this program will draw out the best speakers who inspire the greatest turnout of Java developers.

-- Our Schedule --

We meet on the first Tuesday of the month at 6pm unless a holiday lands on the first Tuesday or is the Monday before the meeting. For instance, there will be no meeting in January 2008 because the New Years day is on the first Tuesday.

IMPORTANT: We want to fill our schedule with speakers from this program through the end of the year, perhaps starting as early as our June meeting. (Yes, I know it's only a couple weeks away!)

-- The Topics --

We're looking for lively speakers to present interesting Java topics our members can use in their own projects. As you know, we focus on the beginning to intermediate level Java developer, so most Standard Edition and Java Enterprise Edition topics are fair game. Advanced topics are okay, too unless they are so arcane as to be generally uninteresting. However, an exciting presentation can definitely help covering a tough topic. Here are some topic ideas, presented in no particular order:

- Hibernate / JPA / EJB3
- Spring 2.0
- Web UI Toolkits (e.g. Dojo, Yahoo UI, GWT)
- Java 6 / Java 7
- JavaServer Faces / Facelets
- JBoss Seam
- Agile / TDD
- Rich Client Development With Swing
- Business Process Management (e.g. JBPM)
- Rules Processing (e.g. Jess, Drools, etc.)
- Tools, especially Tool Comparisons
- Open Source App Servers (e.g. JBoss, Geronimo, Tomcat)
- Many, Many More ...

-- Sponsor Advantages --

This is an exceptional opportunity for our sponsors to showcase your consultants and sponsor a meeting at the same time. When a developer hears one of your staff talking about interesting development work using any of the many Java topic areas, that developer will be more receptive to joining your team. Of course, the more interesting topics we have, the higher the attendance and the better reach you'll have into the Java developer community.

Once the compensation numbers are established, we'll be discussing sharing the costs with our sponsors. We may have a special speaker sponsorship; i.e. "Tonight's Speaker Is Sponsored by CDI." Or, we may just fold speaker sponsorship into normal meeting sponsorship.

-- Sign Up Today --

If you'd like to register to be a Gateway JUG speaker, please e-mail me your contact information and topics about which you'd like to present. If you have special availability limitations, let me know that, too. For instance, if you'll be on holiday or out of town on a particular meeting date, we'll schedule you around those dates.

If you'd like to hear about a particular topic, please let me know that too and we'll try to get it into the schedule.

Thank you all for your support of the gateway JUG.