text: One of the coolest things about Security B-Sides, in my opinion, is the effort that goes into giving industry newbies a hand up. The BSides Las Vegas Proving Ground Speaker Development Program is a powerful example of that. And the organizers need your help.
  They are asking the InfoSec Community to step up and get more involved by mentoring a new speaker. What follows is the official call to action. Please read and heed.
  We at BSidesLV are again asking the InfoSec community to step-up and get more involved. One of the ways you can do this, is by mentoring a new speaker.
  Our "Proving Ground" tracks' main acceptance criteria is being a first time national conference speaker and as we all know how hard it can be to find your voice, or even to just translate data into talking points that won't lose your audience, we are looking to pair each of the Proving Ground candidates up with a mid to high profile mentor, with a solid track record of conference speaking, who will work with them from CFP to podium.
  The process works like this: When the Proving Ground CFP goes out, potential speakers will be asked for an abstract for a 20 minute talk that they would like help preparing for presentation. Once they have made it past our CFP review team, they will be passed on to the Mentor List, where the potential mentors will be able to choose who they want to work with, based on area(s) of expertise and experience.