First inaugural Bats of a Feather

We’re trying something new at MQTC this year and if it goes well it may become a regular event.  Let us know what you think by voting and participating in the contest.  It’s conceived as a cross between the Birds of a Feather sessions from IMPACT and the slightly more subversive events that take place at Def Con.  We’re calling it Bats of a Feather and prizes will be awarded.

Update 9/14/2015 Prizes announced!

Ever wanted a Pebble Steel watch?  Your own quadcopter?  How about a Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane?  Grab the mic and tell your MQ horror story and you may go home with one of these.  Save a bit of room in your suitcase!

Registered topics (so far):

• MQ Lost my message (redux) – Glen Brumbaugh
• Crazy high CPU usage on Z/OS after MQ clients updated to 7.5 – Linda Foley
• Look, you can see the DR datacenter from here – AJ Aronoff

Don’t let Glen run off with the top prize uncontested! Tweet your topic title with hashtag #MQTCBATS to register, comment here with a topic, or email me.

What’s the big idea?

You get a microphone and 3 minutes to tell your worst (best?) MQ horror story.  The audience votes on the stories and prizes awarded for the winners.  A total of 30 minutes will be set aside for speakers.  We keep going until the 30 minutes is up or we run out of speakers, whichever comes first.

Bring your A-Game because some of the stories told informally at past conferences are outrageous.  With premium prizes up for grabs, there’s no telling what insanity will come out of the woodwork.

How it works

• Show up at the event Tuesday night in the Vendor Pavillion.
• When the event begins, get in the on-deck circle, grab the mic when it’s free.
• After the talks conclude, the audience votes to pick the winners.

Prizes:

• The winner will receive a Pebble Steel Watch.
• Second place will receive a Blade Nano Quadcopter.
• Third place will receive a PowerUp 3.0 Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane.

Rules:

• NO ACTUAL COMPANY OR PERSONAL NAMES, BRANDS, OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION IS PERMITTED! 
  You are required to change the names to protect the guilty (and keep us all out of court).
• Talks will begin no earlier than 18:10 and end by 18:45.  We will keep going until we run out of speakers or time, whichever comes first.
• You must be in the room to be eligible, and “on deck” ready to go when the mic frees up.
• You get 3 minutes and will be timed.  If you go over, the next speaker might be tempted to tackle you and take the mic because you will be cutting into their time.
• Feel free to propose as many topics as you like on Twitter, but during the event it’s one topic per person.
• Eligibility has been expanded to include vendors.  T.Rob, Roger and Roger’s family are ineligible to receive prizes.