Dear Friends & Fellow Mozillians,
2016 has been a year of learning and growth for Mozilla Tech Speakers - and we’re planning and preparing for more growth in the upcoming year, thanks to all of you!
This note is the official announcement: We are opening the application form for the next Mozilla Tech Speakers training - Winter 2017! We will close the form at midnight PST on Friday, December 30, 2016. Please read all the directions carefully. Read them twice. We have changed some of the qualifications and the attendance commitments required for this program.
The Winter 2017 training is designed as a series of Masterclasses and Labs. Masterclasses are video presentations about public speaking from expert speakers and Labs are weekly group practice sessions that accompany the masterclasses, led by facilitators who are also experienced Mozilla Tech Speakers.
We will begin the next 6-week series in late January/early February of 2017. To get the full benefit of the experience, participants in the 2017 program should expect to commit at least 3-4 hours weekly during the six weeks of the program. This commitment includes active real-time participation in 6 scheduled group sessions (Labs), viewing of all the relevant Masterclasses associated with the 6-week program; and completing weekly assignments designed to stretch your skills as a presenter and move you closer to your personal speaking goals.
Important: We’ve made some changes to the application process. Every applicant is required to submit a video that shows them speaking about Firefox, Mozilla, or the open web from a technical perspective. This video doesn’t have to be long or fancy. It can be a 60-second pitch recorded on your mobile phone while sitting at the bus stop about why we should select your talk, or a simple description of who you are and why you are qualified to be a Tech Speaker. Or, you can share a link to a recorded talk you’ve already delivered. We want to know that you are OK speaking publicly, since that’s what this program is all about! If we can’t see you on video, we can’t admit you to the program.
The wufoo form may look familiar, but we’ve made a few changes. We do not require a letter of recommendation anymore. We require a video where we can see and hear you. Please submit only once. We will review your first submission only. If it is not complete or missing a working video, we will move on to the next application. We will close the form at midnight PST on Friday, December 30. All applications will be reviewed by a small team that includes contributors and Developer Relations staff.
By mid-January, we aim to notify all applicants whether they have been accepted or not. In the meantime, you can get a feel for the program by reading more details on the wiki, following @moztechspeakers on twitter, or taking a look at the Masterclasses from this past summer. You can find them here:
https://air.mozilla.org/search/?q=tech+speakers+masterclasses
Reminder: Mozilla Tech Speakers is a program for volunteers offered by the developer relations team, which is part of the new Emerging Technologies organization. Our focus is on technical evangelism: speaking about technical topics to technical audiences – developers, designers, and people who build for the web.
Look forward to working with you all for the health of the Internet as a global public resource.
Thanks for all your contributions. Got questions? Please post them here.
Best,
Havi
So many bits to flip, so little time… Thank you! I’m very glad it went smoothly for you!
