User talk:Dpatton

FOSS4G2007_Workshop_Submissions

• FOSS4G 2007 has a "workshops day" on Monday September 24th, that will have half-day (3 hour) workshops.
• FOSS4G 2007 will have 90-minute workshops that take place during the conference, September 25-27.

Second version of a possible method to review workshop submissions

• workshop committee establishes a list of 'review criteria'
• the only criteria used when workshop committee members review workshop submissions are the 'review criteria'
• each committee member uses one of these two approaches to 'scoring' the workshop submissions
  1. score each criteria, and total the scores
     1. some criteria may be assigned a 'multiplier', if they should have more or less "weight" than the rest of the criteria
     2. the range of scores used is 0 through 5:
        • 0 = does not meet the criteria at all
        • 1 = barely meets the criteria
        • 3 = average
        • 5 = meets the criteria exactly
     3. the workshop submission is reviewed, and each criteria is assigned a score from 0 through 5
     4. if any multipliers are to be used, apply them to the scores
     5. get the total score for the workshop submission
     6. if there are any workshops that received a 0 on any of the criteria, note them for discussion, because they may not be a good fit for the conference
  2. assign a single score
     1. the range of scores used is 0 through 5:
        • 0 = does not meet any of the criteria
        • 1 = barely meets some of the criteria, and doesn't meet some of the criteria
        • 3 = average
        • 5 = meets or exceeds all of the criteria
     2. the workshop submission is reviewed, and is assigned a score from 0 through 5
     3. if there are any workshops that received a 0 score, note them for discussion, because they are not a good fit for the conference
• one committee member receives the scores from all the committee members
• if some committee members used the "score each criteria, and total the scores" approach, normalize their scores to a range of 0 - 5
• sum the committee members scores to produce a 'total score' for each workshop submission
• produce a 'ranked list' of the workshop submissions, based on their 'total score'
• during the discussions of the 'ranked lists', "committee points" may be added or subtracted from the total scores in order to adjust a workshop's position on the 'ranked list' (e.g. to move an 'important workshop' that is in the middle part of the list higher up, so that it is above the cutoff for the number of available workshop slots)

Factors that limit the number of Workshops

1. technical limitations
   1. the entire Victoria Conference Center is booked for the conference
      • on Monday, all rooms will be available for use for the half-day workshops
      • Tuesday through Thursday 90-minute workshops will run concurrent with presentations
      • for the 90-minute workshops, it would be preferred to have them run in rooms that remain setup throughout the conference
      • the smallest room size is 24 feet by 15 feet, with a suggested maximum classroom seating size of 18
      • some rooms can be used 'full size', or can be divided with a 'hard wall' to make two classrooms
      • with all rooms used 'full size', there are 9 possible classrooms
      • with all rooms used 'divided' there are 12 possible classrooms
   2. number of PCs
      • the review and selection of the workshop submissions is being done before the number of available PCs is finalized
      • seating two people per PC, with 10 PCs, means a minimum workshop size of 20 people, which can be accommodated in all rooms, with the possible exception of the two or three smallest rooms
2. number of workshop slots
   1. half-day workshops
      1. if we assume a minimum of 60 PCs, and 10 PCs per workshop, there can be 6 concurrent workshops
      2. morning + afternoon means a total of 12 workshops
      3. if more PCs are available, the size of workshops could be larger, and/or there could be more workshops
   2. 90-minute workshops
      1. if we assume a minimum of 60 PCs, and two people per PC, that allows for 120 people at a time in the 90-minute workshops
      2. the size of the rooms available to setup for the 90-minute workshops may limit the maximum capacity for 90-minute workshops
      3. the FOSS4G Program allows for 1-2 workshops to run concurrent with the presentations
      4. the number 90-minute workshops is limited by the number of slots available
      5. there are eight 90-minute time slots in the conference program
      6. assuming running two concurrent 90-minute workshops means a maximum of sixteen 90-minute workshops

first version of a possible method to review workshop submissions

Half-Day workshops

1. based on the limiting factors, start with an assumption of 12 slots for half-day workshops
2. review the list of submissions for half-day workshops, and remove any that are not appropriate for the conference
3. if the number of submissions remaining is less than 12, panic!
4. if the number of submissions is only slightly higher than 12, see if the limiting factors can be adjusted to accommodate all the submissions
5. if the number of submissions is substantially higher than 12
   1. 'score' the workshop submissions
      1. assign each submission a starting 'score' of zero
      2. -3 for any submissions presented at FOSS4G 2006
      3. -2 for any submissions that were presented at FOSS4G conferences prior to 2006
      4. -1 if the workshop can be presented in a 90-minute format
      5. +1 if the workshop presenter is known for good presentations
      6. +1 if the workshop topic is expected to be of high interest
      7. +1 if the workshop topic is particularly relevant to conference themes
      8. +1 if the workshop topic is new/different/unique
      9. each workshop committee member must assign each submission either +1 or -1 'committee member points'
   2. produce a 'ranked list' of the workshop submissions
   3. workshop committee reviews the 'ranked list', and may assign additional + or - 'committee points' to workshops

90-minute workshops

1. based on the limiting factors, start with an assumption of 16 slots for 90-minute workshops
2. review the list of submissions for 90-minute workshops, and remove any that are not appropriate for the conference
3. add to the 90-minute list any half-day workshops that can be presented in a 90-minute format
4. if the number of submissions remaining is less than 16, panic!
5. if the number of submissions is only slightly higher than 16, see if the limiting factors can be adjusted to accommodate all the submissions
6. if the number of submissions is substantially higher than 16
   1. 'score' the workshop submissions
      1. assign each submission a starting 'score' of zero
      2. -3 for any submissions presented at FOSS4G 2006
      3. -2 for any submissions that were presented at FOSS4G conferences prior to 2006
      4. -1 if the workshop can be presented in a half-day format
      5. +1 if the workshop presenter is known for good presentations
      6. +1 if the workshop topic is expected to be of high interest
      7. +1 if the workshop topic is particularly relevant to conference themes
      8. +1 if the workshop topic is new/different/unique
      9. each workshop committee member must assign each submission either +1 or -1 'committee member points'
   2. produce a 'ranked list' of the workshop submissions
   3. workshop committee reviews the 'ranked list', and may assign additional + or - 'committee points' to workshops

Final Steps

1. 'flag' any workshops that appear on both the half-day and 90-minute 'ranked lists'
2. workshop committee provides the conference organizing committee with the 'ranked lists'