As we continue counting down the days to BlackBerry Live 2013, we’ve enjoyed providing you a picture of what to expect at the conference. In the meantime, we’ve also been hard at work on planning the conference breakout sessions. These sessions will be a great opportunity to engage directly with BlackBerry experts and to gain valuable insights especially tailored to your industry or expertise.

Today, we’re thrilled to highlight the official BlackBerry Live Session Catalog Preview to help you get started with your planning. This year, we’ve redesigned the Session Catalog to make the session planning process for attendees as easy as possible: users can search for specific sessions by track, audience, subject matter, or key word. With sessions ranging from Managing BlackBerry 10 Devices to Understanding BlackBerry Balance to Understanding Secure Work Space for iOS and Android Devices, there’s something for everyone looking to learn more about incorporating the BlackBerry 10 platform into their business’ mobile strategy.

We’ve also organized the BlackBerry Live Sessions into several tracks based on the IT vertical or industry attendees are working in. Here are a few of the tracks that will be available:

• BlackBerry Products and Deployments: For IT Administrators managing the Blackberry Solution, messaging systems, and telecom systems
• BlackBerry In Action – Case Studies & Solutions for Your Organization and Industry: For Business Leaders, IT Architects and Senior IT Managers
• BlackBerry Jam Americas – App Development: For Consumer and Enterprise Mobile App Developers
• BlackBerry & Beyond: Trends Shaping the Future of Mobile: For BlackBerry Channel Partner Audience, including carriers, wireless operators, carrier affiliates, dealers, national retailers, distributors and IT resellers

Whether you prefer the structure of a session track or the flexibility of designing your own schedule, take a look at what’s available on the session catalog preview. More sessions will be added regularly, so check back frequently!

In the meantime, we’ve also provided some tips to help convince your boss to let you attend BlackBerry Live 2013, and are offering an Early Bird Rate, which ends tomorrow (March 22!)

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Did you attend last year’s conference? What was the most helpful breakout session you attended?

Access to speakers, who are at the top of their fields and experts in mobility, is one of the main reasons people come to BlackBerry World™. And this year we again have a great lineup of spokespeople from Research In Motion® (RIM®), industry analysts, partners and customers talking about all things BlackBerry®.

Of course, the biggest buzz will be around the General Session. As thousands of people stream into seats in that hall, it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement around what’s new and what’s coming!

This year, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins makes his debut as the keynote speaker for the General Session, scheduled for Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 at 9 AM. Mr. Heins has been behind the scenes at the conference for the many years he’s been a part of RIM, but I think everyone is very excited to hear him articulate the vision he has for RIM as we lead up to the release of BlackBerry® 10. Everyone has read the news or followed the speculation, but there’s nothing like hearing what’s coming directly from the CEO himself!

Alan Panezic, Vice President of Enterprise Product Management and Marketing, will follow Mr. Heins in the General Session. If you want to hear how BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion is the evolution of the much-trusted BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, Mr. Panezic is the person to tell the story. He’ll cover why organizations supporting a wide variety of devices will welcome RIM’s approach to multi-device management.

I also find some of the best-attended sessions at BlackBerry World are the ones led by industry analysts. The show has attracted some outstanding people this year, representing a real cross-section of expertise in mobility. Some of these speakers will present solo and others will be part of lively panels. Be on the lookout for these headliners: Josh Martin of Strategy Analytics, Jeff Orr from ABI Research, Philippe Winthrop from EMF, Jack Gold from J Gold Associates, Nick McGuire and Will Stofega from IDC, Tim Sheppard and Chris Jones from Canalys, Carl Howe and Eugene Signiorini from the Yankee Group, and Michael Gartenberg from Gartner.

The sessions cover a lot of ground and will feature an army of RIM experts to talk about the latest products and innovations. But there are also several guest speakers who are our partners and key customers, and these sessions will be great to zero in on specific topics that interest you as well as obtain different perspectives on these topics. Be on the lookout for these sessions as you browse the sessions catalog.

All this know-how in one place — and all you have to do to access it is register now for BlackBerry World 2012!

Which speakers or sessions are you looking forward to and why? Tell us in the comments.

Sessions are one of main reasons BlackBerry World™ attracts so many attendees. People who’ve been to this conference before tell me they learn so much more by hearing BlackBerry® product news first-hand and directly engaging with the experts. I want to give you an inside look at some of the outstanding sessions we have in store for you this year – so you can register before the conference fills up!

You can already review and search all of the posted BlackBerry World 2012 sessions, but the sessions that stand out for me focus on some of the really hot topics.

If you’re interested in the future direction of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server – and managing BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets and non-BlackBerry devices along with your deployment of BlackBerry smartphones – you’ll want to attend the sessions on BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion. There are good overviews like Introduction to BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, as well as more in-depth sessions like Support iOS and Android Devices with the New BlackBerry Universal Device Service.

BlackBerry is universally popular and continues to help change the way people work. The Sociable Organization: Social Networking and its Impact on Enterprise Collaboration looks at the influence of consumer social media on enterprise collaboration and how BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry smartphones can help businesses collaborate more effectively. The BlackBerry Office: Replace Laptops and Desk Phones for Your Mobile Workforce shows how unified communications technologies like BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System, which puts your corporate desk phone and its functionality on your BlackBerry smartphone, can help to increase freedom, productivity and security, while reducing costs.

Of course, everyone is anticipating the arrival of the hot new BlackBerry® 10 OS – including all of us here at RIM! Many sessions this year touch on the opportunities this new platform will offer. At BlackBerry World, you can get a head start on your development plans by attending Everything You Need to Know about Creating a BlackBerry 10 App.

Lastly, the BlackBerry World team is a big fan of sharing know-how so you get the most from your BlackBerry products and devices. The 10 Best Features of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (You May Not Know About) is crammed full of tips to help ensure that you’re using the features available from this technology to help save you time and simplify deployment. And since BlackBerry App World has a dizzying array of choices, The Best BlackBerry Business Apps for 2012 highlights the choice apps for employees looking for productivity-enhancing tools.

These sessions are only open to BlackBerry World attendees and don’t get repeated throughout the year. Make sure you register now so you don’t miss your chance to access BlackBerry insights you can’t get anywhere else!

What sessions are you looking forward to attending? Let us know in the comments!