Submit a session to DataWeekender CU5 and plant a tree

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In this post I want to encourage potential speakers to submit a session to DataWeekender CU5 and plant a tree. Before call for speakers ends sixdays after this post is published.

Because Every time you submit a session to DataWeekender CU5 a tree gets planted through tree-nation thanks to an automated process that has been put in place. You can click the view the DataWeekender forest on the tree-nation site by clicking on the link or on the below image.

We have been doing this for some time now and we want to plant as many trees as we can. Plus, tree-nation are currently running a month-long campaign called #AllInForEarthDay. Where they aim to plant two million trees by April 22.

So please help support our efforts by submitting a session to DataWeekender CU5. Plus, if selected you get to speak on Saturday May 14 virtually.

How to submit a session to DataWeekender CU5

You can submit a session for this free community event it by following this link to the sessionize call for speakers page. Call for speakers ends on April 14 11:59PM Central European Summer Time (CEST).

More women speakers at DataWeekender CU5

Before I go provide any further details about DataWeekender CU5 I want to highlight something else important.

Because personally I would like to see more women speakers submit potential sessions for this DataWeekender. Those of you who have done session selections with me for various events over the years know how much I encourage this.

We are very proud of the gender balance we have had at our past events, and it is one of the reasons why we created our diversity policy some time ago.

With this in mind we encourage all women to submit potential sessions. In addition, feel free to encourage any woman speakers you know to submit sessions as well.

DataWeekender CU5 details

DataWeekender CU5 will take place on Saturday May 14. You can register to attend the conference by clicking on the DataWeekender CU5 logo below or by following this link to the DataWeekender CU5 event on Meetup.

DataWeekender is a free online conference for the Microsoft Data Platform community. Which opens the door for everybody worldwide to speak and attend from their own home. It is organized by six volunteers within the Microsoft Data Platform community in their own free time.

It was the first online Microsoft Data Platform event to appear in 2020 after COVID-19 became more widespread. To make up for cancelled or postponed events around Europe.

Because we are so proud of what we achieved in the past we are going do it for a fifth time. Just like the before we have put a special stamp on it by naming it CU5. As a homage to Cumulative Updates.

In reality, we have some changes this time around. Including the updated logo as above. However, our core values relating to inclusiveness and diversity will remain the same.

Another key point to note is that a while ago we updated our Code of Conduct and put in place updated procedures surrounding it. Which will be reviewed on a regular basis.

Other DataWeekender CU5 session points

If you want to find out more about session formats and types of sessions I invite you to read my other post called ‘Call for speakers for CU5 is now open‘.

I will quickly highlight some key points about DataWeekender CU5 in a numbered list below. That way if you have any questions about any of them you can easily refer to a number.

1. Up until now we were intending to have same session formats as before. However, we are now looking to host panel sessions about topics of interest.
   If you want to host a panel session, please submit a session and select ‘Panel‘ as the session format. To clarify, you can choose the topic of the panel session.
2. We welcome any sessions relating to the Microsoft Data Platform. We get a lot of sessions relating to SQL Server and Power BI which are of course welcomed. However, we have yet to see any sessions relating to other services such as Azure Database for PostgreSQL or Azure Database for MySQL.
3. Speakers with little or no experience are welcome as always. If you are selected to present, you can find a mentor to help you on the Speaking Mentors site.
4. If required, we will host practice sessions for speakers before the event. So that you can check that everything is working as expected before the day.
5. To show our commitment to sustainability we plant a tree every time you submit a session to DataWeekender CU5. We want to plant as many trees as possible and we want your help with this effort.
6. We welcome diverse sessions related to the Microsoft Data Platform. Especially those that tend not to fit in certain boxes.
7. You can use your own slide templates, or no slides at all if you fancy a challenge. I know of one speaker who has done this during DataWeekender before.
8. A couple of us are really keen to have a session relating to the new DP-500 Microsoft exam. Which I covered in my ‘Data Toboggan and the DP-500 exam connection‘ post.

Final words about submitting a session to DataWeekender CU5

I hope this post encourages potential speakers to submit a session to DataWeekender CU5 and plant a tree. Because we believe that it is a great initiative, and we hope other events will follow suit.

Of course, if you have any comments or queries about this post feel free to reach out to me.