Call for Speakers

Business Analysis Conference London 2012

CALL FOR SPEAKERS
Deadline for Submissions extended to 9 March

Introduction

The Business Analysis Conference Europe 2012 will be held on 24-26 September 2012 at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, London, UK . The conference is organised by IRM UK and the organising committee which includes representatives from the UK Chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis® (IIBA®) and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Presentation proposals

Proposals are now being accepted from potential speakers.. The committee is looking for speakers who can provide information, insights and experiences on topics related to business analysis. Do you have a subject you wish to discuss with an informed audience? Is there a member of your team who has some interesting experiences to share? Could you or anyone in your team offer a presentation that would contribute to the conference?

The subject tracks for the conference are:

These tracks are described in further detail below. In your submission, you should state the subject track you think your proposed presentation would suit and why.

We are looking for a range of session styles, including standard and keynote presentation sessions, interactive workshops and informative tutorials. We aim to offer a good balance across all the tracks of styles, topics, experiences and case study examples. Standard presentations sessions should last for 50 minutes and keynotes for 40 minutes. Tutorials and workshops will run on the first day of the Conference and should last for 3 hours.

If you feel you can offer a presentation that would align with one or more of the subject tracks then please click here for speaker guidelines, which will help you prepare a successful abstract, and click here to submit your proposal. If you have any questions about submissions, please direct them to Jeremy Hall (jeremy.hall@irmuk.co.uk)

Deadline for Submissions extended to 9 March.

All conference presenters will be given free entry to the entire conference. Presentations will be selected by the organising committee in March 2012. To ensure that we have the best possible conference, the committee will be organising discussions with selected presenters (either face to face or via tele-conference) to walk through and review potential sessions. This will provide presenters with feedback and an opportunity to consider how the presentation will be positioned within the relevant subject track.

The BA Conference Europe

The BA Conference Europe is organised by business analysis specialists representing two key organisations: The UK Chapter of IIBA® and BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. The conference is now in its fourth year and continues to play a significant part in raising the profile and developing the professionalism of business analysis in the UK and Europe. The conference offers unparalleled opportunities for networking and discussion of business analysis issues.

In 2011 the focus was on how business analysis skills can be applied across the entire business change lifecycle with particular emphasis on aspects such as creativity and innovation, and the application of relevant techniques. In 2012, the focus will be on excellence in business analysis practice and how business analysis relates to other roles essential to business improvement.

The subject tracks

Track 1: BA and Beyond

This track is aimed at business analysts who wish to extend their knowledge and awareness of related disciplines.

Like any other role, Business Analysts do not work in isolation. They need to work closely alongside, and in partnership with, specialists in other related disciplines from both business and solution delivery perspectives. The BA and Beyond track in the 2012 BA conference is looking for presentations which explore the relationship between Business Analysts and these other relevant roles, both in terms of working with these disciplines and the value BAs can bring to them and anything BA’s can learn from these disciplines.

Main themes/topics:

Examples of relevant disciplines include:

  • business management and leadership at all levels
  • project and programme management
  • Portfolio management
  • business and solution architecture
  • change management
  • service management
  • service design
  • quality and testing
  • solution development
  • outsource provision

Any submission to present in this track should ideally reflect practical experience of working within a related discipline and how the collaboration with business analysis has delivered, or has the potential to deliver, business benefit.

Track 2: The Consultant BA

This track is aimed at experienced business analysts who may be in a senior role and wish to extend their knowledge and skills. The track will cover topics in three key areas: professional techniques, personal behaviours and business acumen.

Main themes/topics:

1. Professional techniques – the techniques and approaches particularly relevant to more experienced business analysts. For example:

  • Business modelling
  • Strategic analysis
  • Business process re-design and change
  • Benefits management
  • Risk management
  • Portfolio analysis
  • Modelling businesses and architectures
  • Defining and promoting analysis services
  • Research (including white/green paper definition)     

2. Personal behaviours – the characteristics and attributes required of business analysts when working with a wide range of
    stakeholders, particularly those at a senior level and where there is a need to “sell”. For example:

  • Stakeholder relationship management
  • Leadership
  • Influencing and negotiation
  • Mentoring and coaching
  • Creative problem solving
  • Presentation and communication
  • Consultative selling

3. Business acumen – the commercial knowledge and awareness required to work successfully within the business change
    environment. For example:

  • Market analysis and positioning, including competitor and analogous industry analysis
  • Regulatory and legal compliance
  • Business finance, including business case evaluation and definition
  • Commercial awareness
  • Organisational culture
  • Business operating models
  • Knowledge management

Track 3: BA Fundamentals

This track is aimed at business analysts who wish to develop their knowledge and skills with regard to some of the key aspects of business analysis.

Main themes/topics:

1. The BA career – how to develop your career in the business analysis discipline.

  • The role of the BA
  • Skills and competencies required of BAs
  • Developing skills and competencies
  • BA career development

2. BA techniques – the key techniques that should be developed in order to practice business analysis effectively.

  • Investigation techniques
  • Business process modelling
  • Information and data modelling
  • Requirements elicitation
  • Requirements analysis
  • Requirements management
  • Documentation styles

Track 4: BA in Projects

Business Analysts spend most of their time working within projects and programmes. This track will explore the positive contributions made by business analysis to the success of projects and programmes. The track will provide a platform for Business Analysts to show-case the positive contribution that they make to projects and programmes. We would like to focus on how to maximise opportunities whilst overcoming common challenges. We are particularly keen to hear from practitioners who can share their real-life experiences.

Main themes/topics:

The Business Analyst role & how it varies

  • How the BA role is perceived by others
  • Waterfall vs. Agile
  • Business Analysts: Business Change / IT / Business?
  • Core responsibilities / deliverables
  • The value added by business analysis
  • Where in the project lifecycle does the BA sit?

The Business Analyst working with others:

  • Building effective stakeholder relationships
  • Defining the BA / Product Owner boundaries
  • Working with the project team: project manager, developers, testers, sponsor, subject matter experts etc

Overcoming pitfalls to successful project delivery, including (but not limited to)

  • Gaining acceptance of the time required for effective analysis activities & quality deliverables
  • A BA is more than just a scribe or a requirements gatherer!
  • Dealing with limited stakeholder availability
  • Navigating a political landscape
  • Starting analysis as early as possible in projects
  • Raising the BA profile / gaining management recognition
  • Template junkies

Different ways of working

  • Third party suppliers & consultants
  • In-house / Onshore / Nearshore / Offshore
  • The geographically dispersed team
  • Agile / Waterfall

Sponsorship

There are sponsorship opportunities available at the conference. If you wish to discuss these further, please contact Shane Mcglynn at shane@irmuk.co.uk.

Speaker Guidelines for the Business Analysis Conference Europe 2012

These guidelines set out the requirements for speakers at the Business Analysis Conference Europe 2012. Please read them carefully before you make your submission. Presentation proposals must be submitted by 2 March 2012.

Presentation styles

We are looking for the following presentation styles:

a) 50 minute presentations

b) 40 minute keynote presentations

c) 3 hour pre-conference workshops or tutorials

Submissions

We expect to receive a large number of submissions for this conference and to take a wide range of factors into account in making selections, in particular the need to provide a balanced programme. A shortlist of the most promising abstracts is sent to a programme committee for review before a final decision is made.

Please submit your abstract directly on our website using the submission form. You may submit more than one abstract. Your abstract should be a minimum of 120 words, should adhere strictly to the limit of 150 words, and should describe clearly the presentation content. Please include up to five bullet points at the end to summarise your key messages. You will also be required to submit a short biography of up to 150 words.

Bear in mind that your abstract needs to be sufficiently polished for inclusion in the conference brochure and must achieve the following objectives:

  • Provide enough information for us to evaluate your submission relative to others. To aid the evaluation, you can include additional relevant information in section 3C of the submission form.
  • Be attractive to conference attendees and help them to select the sessions most valuable to them, given their interests and the level of maturity of their BA experience.

Your biography will also be included in the conference website.

Based on previous conference feedback and programme assessments, here are some tips to help you maximise your chances of being selected.

DO:

  • Be specific and concrete about what you will be presenting and how the audience will benefit from it. Use the bullet points to highlight the key ‘takeaway' messages.
  • Demonstrate real-world achievements, showing examples of business analysis work/experience if possible and describing relevant outcomes.
  • Aim to stretch the audience with fresh insights and ideas.
  • Ensure that your presentation is really relevant to this conference and the defined subject tracks.

AVOID:

  • Using the presentation as a means of selling your products, services or organisation. This is not well-received by conference audiences.
  • Exceeding the word count limit.
  • Trying to cover too much ground in the time available.
  • Putting forward unsubstantiated theories or opinions.
  • Using vague abstractions and jargon.

If you have presented recently at another conference on similar subject matter, we suggest that you use section 3C of the submission form to indicate how this presentation is different from the earlier presentation.

If you are not sure whether your presentation is suitable, please contact Jeremy Hall (jeremy.hall@irmuk.co.uk) to discuss your ideas before making your submission.

Please note that abstracts which are longer than the specified length may be shortlisted, but will be edited down by us to fit the brochure and presented back to you for approval.

You will be notified whether your submission has been accepted by May 2012.

Click here to submit your proposal.