SIGCSE 2008

Submission Deadline: September 7, 2007

Contents of this page

• What is a Workshop?
• Hands-on Lab-Based Workshops
• How Should the Proposal be Formatted?
• How Do I Submit My Proposal?

Important Dates

• September 7:  Proposal Submission deadline
• October 29:  Presenter Notification
• November 3:  Online Title, Author and Abstract Modifications due
• February 15:  Software distributions due (for hands-on labs only)

What is a Workshop?

Workshops provide an in-depth review of a topic of interest and should be immediately useful in the classroom.  To this end, workshop presenters should provide participants with handouts outlining the workshop material.  We plan to support a limited number of workshops involving hands-on computer use by participants. All SIGCSE 2008 workshops will be half-day workshops (3 hours).

Workshop Proposals undergo review but not blind review.  Proposals are evaluated for relevance, anticipated interest, quality, and availability of appropriate facilities.  You may want to review the list of SIGCSE 2007 workshops (1-10, 11-25, and 26-35) prior to submitting a proposal.

SIGCSE will reimburse presenters for handouts (up to 50 pages per participant at 5 cents per page) and will provide one night free lodging per workshop (not per presenter) at the conference hotel.

Hands-on Lab-based Workshops

All hands-on workshops at SIGCSE 2008 will use participants' laptop computers at the main conference site. The Symposium Committee will help presenters distribute workshop software to participants prior to the Symposium, e.g., by providing attendee e-mail addresses for software distribution. Although distribution is the presenters' responsibility, we also require a finalized copy of all software to be distributed due by the "software distributions" deadline shown at the top of the page. (Having a copy of your software allows us to accommodate emergency situations at the conference and to ensure adequate preparation time for participants.) More details on this process will be available in early 2008.

Proposers of hands-on workshops should indicate which of the following formats they wish for their workshop:

Laptop Required. Participants should bring a laptop computer to participate in this workshop.

Laptop Recommended. It is recommended, but not required, that participants bring a laptop computer to this workshop.

How Should the Proposal be Formatted?

Workshop proposals consist of two documents: the full workshop proposal and a workshop abstract. The full proposal is used for the review process only. The abstract is the description that appears in the Symposium program and proceedings. The format of these documents should be as follows.

1. Full Workshop Proposal Format (limited to 2 pages)

1. Workshop Title
2. Presenters
   • Contact Person:
     • name
     • department
     • college, university, or other affiliation
     • address
     • telephone number
     • fax number
     • e-mail address
   • Other presenters: one entry for each other presenter
     • name
     • department
     • college, university, or other affiliation
     • e-mail address
3. Abstract (Description of the Workshop): Describe your workshop in at most 100 words. This should match verbatim the abstract described below.
4. Intended audience: For whom is this workshop intended?
5. Presenter(s) background/biography: Provide a brief biography addressing the presenter(s) qualifications for leading the proposed workshop.
6. Materials provided: Describe any handouts, software or other materials that will be provided to attendees.
7. Audio/Visual and Computer requirements: Indicate your A/V requirements, such as wireless access, wired access, extra power outlets, microphone, digital projector, overhead projector, flipcharts and pens, whiteboards, etc. For hands-on workshops, indicate Laptop Recommended or Laptop Required (see "Hands-on Lab-based Workshops" above) and which OSs are supported (Linux, Mac, Windows). Describe any special requirements for attendees' computers.
8. Space and Enrollment restrictions: Indicate any special restrictions on the number of participants or the configuration of the room (extra wall space to post flip chart work, clear floor space for robots, etc.). All workshops will be capped at 30 participants unless you specify a different limit here.
9. Other critical information: other notes that will help to evaluate your proposal according to the evaluation criteria described above.

• Workshop Proposal Example (Word)
• Workshop Proposal Example (PDF)

2. Workshop Proposal Abstract (limited to 1 page)

• Workshop Abstract Example (Word)
• Workshop Abstract Example (PDF)

NEW IN 2008: The up to 100-word abstract description must also be submitted in plain text.

(Abstracts of accepted workshops can be edited in response to reviews for the camera-ready submission.)

How Do I Submit My Proposal?

Electronic Submissions:

Step 1: Write your proposal and abstract documents using the formats specified above.

Step 2: Convert each document into Adobe PDF format. Refer to our Creating Adobe PDF Documents page for assistance.

Step 3: Submit both .pdf documents and the 100-word text abstract description using the online Workshop Submission Form. Please do not wait until the last minute to submit your documents because that is when everyone else will be connecting to our server!

Step 4: Make note of the workshop ID number and password assigned to your submission. You will receive an e-mail message confirmation.

Step 5: After receiving confirmation, go to the Author Verification Form to review your submission for accuracy. Send e-mail to Steve Wolfman (wolf@cs.ubc.ca) if there are any problems. Warning! Several authors have reported problems viewing their PDF files using Internet Explorer. If you experience similar problems, it is best to download the file and use Acrobat Reader directly.

Deadline: All electronic submissions must be received by September 7, 2007.

Questions? Please contact: