In response to the floods that ravaged Nashville, Tenn., the Agile2010 conference has been relocated to the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotel in Orlando, Florida. The conference dates will remain the same; scheduled for Aug. 9 – 13 (http://agile2010.agilealliance.org).

With the uncertainty of when the Nashville facilities could be restored we decided to relocate the Agile2010 conference. For details and answers to questions please click here.

I wanted to provide an update on the schedule for the next few weeks. The program committee, stage producers and reviewers are currently reviewing the 900+ proposals. I know that many of you are wondering when you will hear whether or not your session has been accepted. Here is the schedule for the completion of the program:

• March 3rd – March 26th – Review Submissions and Choose Sessions
• March 29th – April 11th Notifications will be sent to all submitters. The sessions that have been selected the speakers must confirm that they will present the session at the conference when notified.
• April 12th – Program Session Selection completed
• Week of April 26 – Program Content will be scheduled with specific times and rooms
• May 3 – Program Published to web-site

If you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to let me know.

That’s right the submission system will be closing this coming Friday, February 26th. There is still time to get your session proposed and reviewed for presentation at this year’s conference. The deadline will not be extended, please do not delay.

Note: Friday is also the last day to be able to edit your submissions based on feedback from comments and reviews.

I have received a number of emails and seen various comments, like the following:

• I don’t want to get stuck doing only a short talk, which doesn’t comp speakers enough
• 60/90 minute speaker compensation policy does not align incentives with desired behaviors

The following is the analysis we did with regard to the various sessions, the length of the session, etc.

60 Minute Session

• $250 Honorarium
• Thursday Night Hotel Stay – $169
• Conference Fee Waived – $1699 (I split the difference between Super Early Bird and General Registration)

The total value of presenting this session is $2118.

90 Minute Session

• $250 Honorarium
• 4 Hotel Nights – $676
• Conference Fee Waived – $1699 (I split the difference between Super Early Bird and General Registration)

The total value of presenting this session is $2625.

Conclusions

The difference between the 2 comps is just a little over $500 which is the addition of 3 hotel nights. In almost all of my discussions people seem to discount the conference fee and only focus on the hotel nights and say that the compensation does not provide the right incentive. In fact some of the discussion we had indicated that the 60 minute session was too highly compensated. It’s too late to change it for this year, I would be interested in getting people’s feedback for next year.

The deadline for submitting proposals to the Agile 2010 conference has been extended until February 26th, 2010. All submissions received before that date will be read and receive feedback from the review committee for that stage, and submitters will have the chance to update their proposals based on that feedback. However, it is to your advantage to submit before the last minute this year. Stage Producers may begin selecting proposals for inclusion in the conference starting February 19th, so you are encouraged to submit before the 19th.