Invitation to Speakers

The Wireless Communications Alliance invites proposals for presentations at its monthly meetings. Topics of interest can cover a wide range of wireless communications subjects. Talks may focus on technical, applications, or market issues. A good starting point for determining what subject areas might be of interest are the titles of previous presentations. Please peruse the past meetings to look for subjects that you would be comfortable speaking about.

Product sales pitches are not desired. Discussions of a technology or application topic can include information on how your company's products tie into the presentation theme. More detailed suggestions and guidelines are provided below.

The advantages of giving a presentation are many. They include personal recognition, increased awareness of your company, and membership in the distinguished and elite group of past speakers memorialized on the WCA Web page. If you are interested in being a speaker at a WCA meeting, please submit a presentation proposal to David Trollman, VP of Programs at programs@wca.org.

Suggestions for WCA Presentations

Presentations at WCA meetings that receive the most favorable comments have the following characteristics:

1. They discuss an interesting aspect in some wireless area.
2. They provide information not generally known to most of the audience.
3. Most presentations are moderately technically oriented, normally at the system or application level. However, some presentations have focused on business, marketing, and regulatory issues.
4. For talks about a specific company's product, the speaker should avoid giving a sales pitch. It is fine to include general information about the company and its market niche, preferably later in the presentation.

Areas of interest may include:
• Overview of the market opportunity or problem being addressed.
• Methods currently in use.
• Objectives of the product/application development.
• Alternative technologies or approaches considered.
• Why your company choose the one it did.
• Challenges faced.
• Anecdotes.
• Current status.
• Partnering or subcontracting opportunities (If applicable)
• Lessons learned.

Note: Some areas above may be sensitive. No material of a proprietary nature should be discussed.

Presentation Guidelines

1. Most meetings consist of two presentations, announcements, and attendee self-introductions followed by informal networking.

2. The time-target for each presentation is 35 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions.

3. Please send an abstract of the presentation as soon as possible. We can use it for any discussions about content. A final abstract is needed about 3 weeks ahead of the meeting to insert into the notice. It should not exceed 100 words to keep the meeting notice to one page.

4. Please send a biography about a week ahead of time for use in the introduction.

5. Viewgraph presentations, even if basic, help to focus attention. A transparency projector and a clip-on mike is available. Arrangements should be made in advance for other audio/visual equipment needs.

6. People appreciate handouts but they are optional. If making copies of the entire presentation is a burden, copies of a few key slides or of a published article are possibilities.

7. We would like an electronic copy of presentation material, preferably in Microsoft PowerPoint format, in order to post on the WCA Web Site, as a community resource, and for those WCA members who were unable to attend a specific meeting because of business conflicts. In order for WCA to post your presentation, the speaker must supply WCA with a signed Content Release Form.

8. WCA is an association of professionals in the wireless industry. As such, derogatory or insensitive comments regarding race, religion, or national origin are not to be made.