Hot Topics for Tech Talks?

HCIGuy asks: "A few of us are working within a local school of engineering and technology to set up a seminar series unique to the area. We envision a sequence of monthly seminars that focus on bleeding edge technology, presented by vendors' engineers, and attended by students, faculty, and industry folk. No marketing hype allowed; we want only the facts. We obviously want this to be of high interest to everyone, so we're asking for input on what topics would be of sky-high fascination right now. What would it be? We're leaning toward wireless for our first program, but all comments gratefully received. What topic would make you rush out and drive across town to hear it? We have only an hour and a half to commit to this, so the material has to be narrowly focused. We plan on holding up to six per school year, and we don't intend to hold over subjects from one time to the next."

Comments

Sales Engineers or Nerdier Only

[xanthan]

If you can only get a sales rep, don't bother. Most are trained towards talking with decision maker types and focus on business value. You'll want a sales engineer or someone techier.

One good way to approach this is to invite local CTO's to come speak. Start by contacting the marketing group at a company -- they have the power to arrange for speaking engagements that the strong techs can speak at. Frame it as a way to get local students/engineers familiar with the company and for a chance to have the CTO to get a look at what recent grads are doing. Companies, during any market climate, are always looking for extraordinary talent and welcome opportunities to peek inside the local university. Note that if you do get someone with hiring power to show up, make it clear that unless okayed in advance, don't drop a 100 resumes on the person.

Another source to look at is the school's graduate program. Talk to the faculty about researchers that are comfortable with presenting and have some interesting research going on. You're bound to have a grad student or PhD candidate that would love to talk about what they do and you're certain to get a truly technical talk from someone who can answer real questions.