XML 2007 Last-Call Deadline

The XML 2007 talk sub­mis­sion dead­line is loom­ing; there’s only one this year (and it’s this Fri­day, August 31st!), so if you miss it, you miss out. I’m one of the review­ers. If you want a high grade if I’m assigned your paper to review, read these hints on writ­ing good abstracts first. 

Since the talk sub­mis­sions are blind-reviewed, the only thing I have to go on is the qual­ity of the abstract. Here’s the check-list I go through.

• Is the abstract long enough? Abstracts that are too short don’t give enough inform­a­tion for me to judge the qual­ity prop­erly. Remem­ber, I don’t know who you are when I read the abstract.
• Does the abstract say why the sub­ject is import­ant, as well as what the talk will cov­er? Both of these are neces­sary to let people know why they should both­er going to the talk.
• Are tech­nic­al terms and acronyms used cor­rectly? If these are wrong, I will tend to assume you don’t know what you’re talk­ing about and grade appropriately.
• Is the gram­mar and spelling cor­rect? I appre­ci­ate a well-craf­ted, gram­mat­ic­ally cor­rect abstract and will tend to assume someone who can write a good abstract can also write a good talk.
• Who’s the expec­ted audi­ence? The abstract should make it clear who is expec­ted to bene­fit most from hear­ing the talk, wheth­er that’s novice or expert, tech­ie or manager.
• Does this look like a product pitch? If so, it’s prob­ably not suitable.