CALL FOR PAPERS

May 2-6, 2004 - Los Angeles/Century City, California, USA

After reviewing the requirements below, please submit your proposal here.

Presentation proposals are now being accepted for the 16th Annual DAMA International Symposium + 8th Annual Wilshire Meta-Data Conference scheduled for May 2-6, 2004 at the Century Plaza Hotel and Spa, in Los Angeles/Century City (adjacent to Beverly Hills), California.

This conference is increasingly recognized as the foremost data management educational conference in the world. Almost 1000 IT professionals over 20 countries attended the meeting in 2003. For reference, previous events can be reviewed at www.wilshireconferences.com.

Presentations are invited across the entire range of data management fields of interest. As a guide, key educational themes and topics for 2004 are listed below.

Submission Requirements Include:

Presentation Title, 150-word executive summary and 5-6 bullet points describing the content of the presentation. This is the portion of your submission which will be used to describe your presentation in the final conference brochure and web site, so please write it with this in mind. Additional information describing any other important information or additional explanation of the presentation that you think will assist the conference committee to judge your proposal properly, or which may influence your ability to make the presentation (eg. schedule restrictions, etc.) Indicate the intellectual level of the presentation ie. Introductory, Intermediate, Advanced Indicate what audience the presentation is suitable for eg. Data professionals, Business People, DBAs, CIOs, etc.

Speaker Information, including speaker biography (150 word maximum)

Audiovisual requirements of the speaker

Complete contact information of proposed speaker(s). Include PR contact if applicable.

Acknowledgement and acceptance of the Speaker Presentation Requirements and Conditions (see below).

Critical Dates

September 26, 2003 - Deadline for Presentation Proposals to be submitted

November 14, 2003 - Target date for notifying Speakers as to whether their proposal has been accepted or not.

March 19, 2003 - Deadline for Final Speaker Presentations to be received by Wilshire Conferences (in PowerPoint file format).

Presentation Guidelines

1. Presentations may be proposed in the following categories:

Conference Sessions (1 hour duration)
Evening Sessions: Night School & Special Interest Groups (1 hour duration)
Panel Sessions (15 minute presentation per speaker, plus discussion)
Workshops (3 hours - see terms below)
Tutorials (6 hours - see terms below)

2. Please take note of all the requirements and follow the presentation guidelines carefully. There is a great deal of competition for speaking opportunities at this conference and based on historical trends, we will be able to accept less than one in every 6 presentation proposals. Therefore, incomplete or poorly constructed proposals tend to be quickly eliminated from consideration. If you are unsure of your proposal, feel free to email us with questions so we can guide you before you make an official submission.

3. Presentations from corporate practitioners that reflect real-world experience and hands-on implementation will receive priority consideration.

4. Special note on panel presentations: The conference committee will construct a number of panels, generally comprising short (15-minute) talks, followed by a moderated discussion. In some cases no prepared talks will be given, but panelists will respond to questions from the moderator. The topics and speakers for these sessions are selected by the conference committee, based on perceived audience interests. Because of the high demand for the available speaking opportunities at this conference, a speaker who nominates themselves as willing to participate in a panel increases their chances of being selected to participate.

. Vendor organizations may to submit proposals for any presentation category, but please understand that vendor presentations are viewed very cautiously, in light of past experience with sales pitches and commercialism. Therefore, very few speaking slots are ultimately offered to vendor organizations (vendors interested in promoting their products may purchase exhibit space, product presentation times, or other sponsorships. Please contact Rick Froton, Director of Sales, 603-305-0660.)

6. Product presentations and/or demonstrations during conference sessions are not appropriate (Please note point # 3 in Presentation Conditions below).

7a) Night School sessions are one hour long and conducted on the first two evenings of the event. They are lecture format (similar to regular conference sessions) and typically cover the fundamental concepts of new subject areas and new ideas. They typically assume the audience has no prior experience in the subject matter being presented.

7b) Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are one hour long and conducted in the early mornings and evenings. The typical format is a facilitated session, comprising a 5-10 minute overview talk by the speaker, followed by audience discussion. SIGs can be for any level of audience experience.

8. A short-list of back-up speakers will be prepared from the original presentation submissions. Back-up speakers will be used to fill any last-minute speaker cancellations. If you are selected as a back-up, you have the option of registering for the conference at a reduced registration fee, and if eventually called upon to speak then you will receive a refund of your registration fee.

9. For further guidelines, see "How to Improve the Chances of Your Proposal Being Selected"

VERY IMPORTANT!

Speaker Presentation Conditions, Requirements & Benefits

1. All speakers must agree to provide their presentation to Wilshire Conferences in a standard electronic form (PowerPoint is required), no later than March 19, 2004. This is necessary to prepare the event CD and documentation. Speakers who are delinquent in meeting this deadline risk being replaced on the program.

2. By submitting a proposal, the speaker agrees to the standard copyright and reproduction terms of this event. These terms provide that copyright in original presentation material remains with the speaker, however Wilshire Conferences is granted the right to record, reproduce and distribute each presentation in all forms of printed and electronic conference materials, including, but not limited to, the conference CD-ROM, printed attendee notes, the conference web site, and audio and/or video recordings (digital and/or analog), without royalties or fees payable to speaker. Sorry, there are no exceptions to these requirements.

3. All sessions will be rated by the audience for commercial content. Any speaker who is judged by the audience to have made an inappropriate sales pitch for his/her own company, book, product or service during a conference session risks having their presentation interrupted and/or halted, and will not be invited to participate at future conferences.

4. By submitting a proposal, speaker agrees that he/she has permission from his/her company to make the presentation under the terms outlined in this Call for Papers. If you do not have approval at the time you make the proposal, you must indicate this clearly.

5. All accepted speakers receive complimentary attendance to the entire conference.

6. All Conference Session, Panel, Night School and SIG speakers are responsible for their own travel and living expenses.

7. Workshop and Tutorial speakers receive a fee ($750 for half-day workshop speakers, $1500 for full-day tutorial speakers) plus a expense reimbursement in accordance with the standard conference policies (which may be viewed here). An expense budget will be established and confirmed with the speaker prior to final acceptance.

All questions regarding the Call for Papers may be sent to speaker@wilshireconferences.com.

Thank you!

Tony Shaw, Meta-Data Program Chairman
Wilshire Conferences
www.wilshireconferences.com

Davida Berger, Conference Manager
DAMA International
www.dama.org

Conference Sponsorship, Exhibit and Demonstration Opportunities are available. Please contact Rick Froton at 603-305-0660 or rick@wilshireconferences.com

Guide to Possible Topic Areas

 DAMA International Symposium
  
      Modeling - Data, Process, Object, Logical and Physical 
      Data Integration 
      Six Sigma (as it relates to data management/data projects) 
      Use Cases and Requirements Analysis 
      Agile Development 
      Architectures - Enterprise, Data, Information and Federated 
      Data Warehousing, Data Marts, Decision Support 
      Business Rules and Business Rule Engines 
      Data Quality and Information Stewardship 
      Data Management's Role in ERP and Packages 
      Global Data Management 
      Customer Relationship Management 
      Knowledge Management 
      Data Management Best Practices - Case Studies and Success Stories 
      Implementing Data Administration Functions 
      Applying the Zachman Framework 
      Data Requirements of Privacy and Legislative Compliance 
      Measuring Business and Financial Value of Data Assets 
      Data Naming Standards 
      Marketing and Selling DM 
      Future Trends and New Developments in Data Management 

 Wilshire Meta-Data Conference 

      Technical and Management Issues in Meta Data 
      Repository Implementation and Project Management 
      Meta Data Best Practices 
      Meta Data Standards 
      Active Meta Data 
      Directories and Directory Management 
      Identity Management 
      Unstructured Data & Content Management 
      Business Semantics 
      Taxonomies & Ontologies 
      Web Services & Service-Oriented Architecture 
      Grid Services 
      The Semantic Web 
      Search Techniques and Technologies 
      Data Management for E-Business 
      Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) 
      Message-Based Integration 
      XML for Data/Meta Data Management 
      Working with XML Schemas, Namespaces, etc. 
      Business Intelligence 
      Real-time Analytics 
      Business Performance Measurement (BPM) Analytics 

Database Administrator's Track   

      Database Design 
      Physical Modeling 
      New Database Technology 
      Performance Management 
      Storage 
      Capacity Planning 
      Security