From the very beginning in 2006, NEXT has been a community-driven event. We always received invaluable input from the NEXT community, helping us to put together a programme that is attractive for participants who invest their precious time and money.

For the last couple of years, we used to issue a Call for Participation, asking for proposals regarding speakers and topics. Now we are going one step further. This year, everyone interested in the NEXT Conference can also vote on each and every proposal, thus giving us a better idea on whom and what you want to see on stage.

How to propose

Basically, you have the options to propose a topic or a speaker. You can either propose yourself as a speaker or someone else you'd like to hear. In both cases, you must also specify a topic. It is perfectly in order to enter multiple proposals, e.g. for a single speaker there could be multiple topics, and for a single topic there could be multiple speakers. But you have to enter separate proposals for each combination of speaker and topic. Learn more.

How to vote

It's easy: Alongside every proposal there's a button called "Love". Just click it, and your vote is counted. The allowed number of votes per voter and per proposal is of course limited, but you can vote for as much proposals as you want, as long as they are different. Please use the search function to find interesting stuff that's buried deep in the voting system. Vote now!

The next conference 2010 adds a whole new conference track, dedicated to the exploding mobile app store ecosystem. next apps @ next10 will explore the new market opportunities that are emerging for developers, content creators, service providers, and other market players. The new conference track will focus on what BusinessWeek calls the App Economy. next10 takes place on May 11 & 12 at STATION-Berlin.

The next apps track is designed to give a complete understanding of how to thrive on this exploding market. Following the success of Apple, other vendors like Google (Android), Nokia (Ovi), Microsoft (Windows Phone 7), RIM (Blackberry), and Palm (Palm Pre) have launched applications stores. Operators like AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Telefónica, Sprint, and Vodafone have formed an alliance to build an open platform that delivers applications to all mobile phone users.

With the current explosion of new applications, it is expected that the market for mobile applications will be as big as the Internet, peaking at 10 million apps in 2020. The excitement around mobile applications is going to have a major impact on our economy, and our way of life.

next10 therefore issues a second Call for Participation, this time aimed at players in the app economy such as developers, content creators, mobile operators, investors, executives, entrepreneurs, and others. Share your your ideas, innovations, success stories, case studies, and lessons learned with the next community!

Sponsored Sessions

A limited number of speaking opportunities are also available through conference sponsorship. Contact Martin Recke at m.recke@nextconf.eu.

Session Formats

You may submit to speak in a 30 minute slot, participate in a discussion panel or demo your app in a short (3 minute) pitch format. The 30 minute conference sessions can be a single speaker, co-presentation, or a panel.

What to Submit

We want to hear about interesting work from entrepreneurs, developers, designers, marketers, business strategists, and other market players. Presentations of a commercial nature, or promoting a particular product or platform, are given lower priority. Proposals may be inspirational, practical, or both, but should derive from the speaker's first-hand knowledge and experience. Specificity is also helpful; topics like "How To Be Successful with Apps" are generally too broad to be useful for the audience, whereas a topic like "Simplifying Analytics for Marketeers - a Showcase" has a clear benefit.

More Tips for Submitting a Proposal

By submitting your proposal, you agree to our speakers policy.

Unsure about the Dos and Don'ts? You might want to read Jennifer Pahlka's piece on how to write a successful speaking proposal.

Important Dates

You can submit your proposal now. This Call for Participation will be open at least until March 12, 2010.

You were outside shoveling snow and missed out on applying for next10? Don't panic! As Hamburg is wintered too, we fully understand you. Due to that we're extending our Call for Participation. New deadline day is Friday, February 12th.

Please note, that it might take some time though until you will be informed about your submission. We are working with the first come, first serve principle. This means that any proposals that have been submitted just in time will be in advantage towards late comers.

Our Advisory Board is already reviewing and evaluating suggestions busily. The next meeting is set for February 19th. So make use of the time that's left until deadline day and hand in your proposals. We're looking forward to confirming the next set of speakers soon.