{%block title%}Event Services{%endblock%}
{%block content%}
<h1>Event services</h1>
-
<p>
As part of our work on the annual PostgreSQL Conference Europe, we have
real-world experience on how to set up and run events. We have built a web
build an event around PostgreSQL. We regret we're unable to assist with events
organised solely by a single PostgreSQL commercial organisation.
</p>
-
<p>
For legal reasons any events that we provide support for must publicly
acknowledge our support (typically on their website), and must be considered to
be "organised by PostgreSQL Europe".
</p>
-
<p>
We have many ways to help. First one is with our event webapp. It can deal
with:
</p>
<ul>
- <li>registrations,</li>
- <li>sponsor registration, and benefit management,</li>
- <li>sessions (proposals, votes),</li>
- <li>schedule,</li>
- <li>payments (sponsors and attendees, discount code, batch payments are
+ <li>registrations,</li>
+ <li>sponsor registration, and benefit management,</li>
+ <li>sessions (proposals, votes),</li>
+ <li>schedule,</li>
+ <li>payments (sponsors and attendees, discount code, batch payments are
available), and invoices,</li>
- <li>feedback,</li>
- <li>reporting and statistics.</li>
+ <li>feedback,</li>
+ <li>reporting and statistics.</li>
</ul>
-
<p>
Due to their legal nature, our partnership contracts must be used. They've been
hand written in Plain English and reviewed by a lawyer. A few edits will be
needed to put the event's name, days, location, and state sponsor costs and
benefits. All changes must be agreed to by the PostgreSQL Europe Board.
</p>
-
-<p>
-PostgreSQL Europe requires that the organization complies with these rules:
-</p>
+<p>PostgreSQL Europe requires that the organization complies with these rules:</p>
<ul>
- <li>the organization should supply a working budget
- <ul>
- <li>we expect the event to break even, or make a modest profit,</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li>the talk committee should be fully disclosed on its website,</li>
- <li>no company should have 50% or more members on the talk committee,</li>
- <li>all members on the talk committee have an equal vote,</li>
- <li>the organisation must not sign any legal agreements or similar paperwork
- with the exception of delivery receipts from couriers etc.
- <ul>
- <li>any such paperwork must be signed by an authorised officer of
- PostgreSQL Europe.</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
+ <li>the organization should supply a working budget
+ <ul>
+ <li>we expect the event to break even, or make a modest profit,</li>
+ <li>the registration fee should be at least equal to the DDR
+ charged by the venue.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ <li>the talk committee should be fully disclosed on its website,</li>
+ <li>no company should have 50% or more members on the talk committee,</li>
+ <li>all members on the talk committee have an equal vote,</li>
+ <li>the <a href="/events/services/cfp_guidelines/">Selection Committee Guidelines</a>
+ should be followed,</li>
+ <li>the organisation must not sign any legal agreements or similar paperwork with the
+ exception of delivery receipts from couriers etc.
+ <ul>
+ <li>any such paperwork must be signed by an authorised officer of
+ PostgreSQL Europe.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
</ul>
-
-{%endblock%}
+{%endblock%}
\ No newline at end of file
--- /dev/null
+{%extends "nav_events.html"%}
+{%block title%}Event Services{%endblock%}
+{%block content%}
+<h1>Selection Committee Guidelines</h1>
+<p>
+This document contains guidelines for PostgreSQL Europe Conference CfP/Talk
+Selection Committees.
+</p>
+<h2>Responsibilities of the Talk Selection Committee</h2>
+<p>
+The CfP/talk selection committee (hereafter refered to as "The Committee") is
+responsible for curating a balanced, interesting and informative program of
+talks that will be appreciated by the conference's target audience.
+</p>
+<p>A balanced program will comprise of:</p>
+<ul>
+ <li>Talks on a range of topics.</li>
+ <li>Talks suitable for different experience/expertise levels.</li>
+ <li>Talks suitable for various types of PostgreSQL user.<br />
+ For example: DBA, application developer, sysadmin, Postgres hacker,
+ project manager, student.</li>
+ <li>Talks from both new and established speakers (where possible).</li>
+ <li>A diverse group of speakers that represents as many people as possible in
+ the PostgreSQL community.<br />
+ For example: people of different genders and ethnic origins, people with
+ disabilities, people from other under-represented groups.</li>
+ <li>No more than one or two talks per speaker.</li>
+ <li>Not too many talks from any single organisation.</li>
+</ul>
+<h2>Forming the talk selection committee</h2>
+<p>
+The conference organisers will appoint a chairperson for the committee.
+This person (hereafter referred to as "The Chair") will be responsible for
+the day to day running of the committee, and for the administrative tasks
+relating to talk selection and creation of the program. The Chair may or may
+not have a full voting role on the committee.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Chair and/or the conference organisers will select the remaining members
+of the talk selection committee.
+</p>
+<p>
+In order to get a balanced review of the submissions and in order to get a
+range of views, it is important to select a committee with a variety of
+backgrounds, interests, roles, experience levels etc.
+</p>
+<p>
+It can be useful to launch an informal "call for participants" for the talk
+selection committee.
+</p>
+<p>
+The committee <b>must</b> follow the rules set out in the
+<a href="https://www.postgresql.org/about/policies/conferences/">Guidelines
+for Community Conference Recognition</a> which states in particular that the
+talk selection committee MUST NOT consist of 50% or more members from a single
+company or group of companies under the same ultimate ownership or management.
+</p>
+<h2>Communications</h2>
+<p>The committee can choose whichever method of communication works best for them.</p>
+<p>
+A method that has been found to work well is a group chat in Telegram or a
+similar service for day-to-day discussions, combined with voice or video
+calls during the selection phase. This is just a suggestion; you may choose
+any method that suits the group.
+</p>
+<h2>Roadmap</h2>
+<p>
+The Chair should ensure that the committee is aware of the important
+milestones and deadlines. In particular:
+</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>CfP opening date.</li>
+ <li>CfP closing date/deadline.</li>
+ <li>Voting deadline.</li>
+ <li>Talk/program selection calls/meetings.</li>
+ <li>Date by which speakers will be informed.</li>
+ <li>Schedule publication date.</li>
+</ol>
+<h2>During the Call for Papers</h2>
+<p>
+It is essential to ensure that there are sufficient submissions, including
+sufficient diversity of talks and speakers, to be able to select a balanced program.
+</p>
+<p>
+The CfP must therefore be published widely, especially within groups of people
+who feel under-represented in the PostgreSQL community. Experience has shown
+that it will be necessary to do considerable outreach work, encouraging people
+who are hesitant, but who are interested and who have something to offer the
+event, to submit talks.
+</p>
+<p>
+<b>This is the responsibility of the entire organisation team</b>, but The Chair
+has an important role to play. This work must start <b>before</b> the CfP closes.
+</p>
+<h2>Voting</h2>
+<p>
+The Chair must ensure that all members of the committee have access to the
+talk voting system, and must share the link to the system with the committee
+before the end of the voting process.
+</p>
+<p>
+Voting can start on or before the CfP deadline. Voting will be at
+https://www.postgresql.eu/events/admin/conference-short-name/talkvote/
+</p>
+<h3>Voting guidelines for committee members</h3>
+<ul>
+ <li>Plan to spend a few minutes per abstract.</li>
+ <li>Set aside time to review in batches of 5-10 abstracts.</li>
+ <li>
+ Abstain from voting on your own submissions, submissions from colleagues,
+ or any other submission where you feel you can not offer an unbiased
+ opinion (use the "abstain" option in the drop down list).
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ Select a rating for each talk from 1 (lowest - "this has absolutely no
+ place on the program") to 9 (highest - "this is a must-have talk for this
+ conference!").
+ </li>
+ <li>Use the whole range of values 1 to 9.</li>
+ <li>
+ Request feedback from previous years' committees to find out what does or
+ does not work well for this conference.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ Commercial talks are more appropriate for the sponsor track and should
+ generally not be rated highly.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ Talks that are likely to be of interest to a very small audience should
+ generally not be rated highly.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ Include a short comment (even just a couple of words can he helpful) for each
+ submission explaining why you voted a particular way. This is useful during
+ the selection phase, for example if two talks have the same rating. It also
+ helps to provide feedback if requested by a speaker whose talk is not selected.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ Where there are multiple talks on a topic, or multiple talks from a speaker,
+ vote on each of the submissions individually. De-duplication will take place
+ during the selection phase.
+ </li>
+</ul>
+<h2>Selecting Talks</h2>
+<p>
+Once the individual voting has taken place, the committee will decide collectively,
+usually during a (virtual) meeting, which talks to select or reject.
+</p>
+<p>Committee members must be made aware of information such as:</p>
+<ul>
+ <li>The total number of talks required.</li>
+ <li>The different tracks.</li>
+ <li>The number of rooms available.</li>
+ <li>The capacity of each room.</li>
+ <li>The slots available each day.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>
+To assist the selection process, the submissions will usually be sorted by
+average rating and talks will (generally) be selected from amongst the highest
+rated submissions.
+</p>
+<p>
+Note that the ratings are to be used as a guide only - the committee should
+choose the talks they think will give the best overall program for the event.
+</p>
+<p>
+The process can take place in different ways, but a common way is to select
+a cut-off point and create a shortlist of submissions that scored over this
+cut-off point.
+</p>
+<p>
+The shortlisted talks will be discussed by the committee, who will decide
+which to accept/reject/accept as a reserve talk.
+</p>
+<p>
+Be sure to keep in mind the desire for a balanced program (as discussed above)
+when selecting talks:
+</p>
+<ul>
+ <li>
+ Prefer no more than one talk per speaker (potentially two for a multi-day,
+ multi-track event).
+ </li>
+ <li>Avoid multiple talks that are very similar.</li>
+ <li>Ensure there are talks on a range of topics.</li>
+ <li>Select talks aimed at a variety of different types of PostgreSQL user.</li>
+ <li>Ensure that there are talks suitable for different experience/expertise levels.</li>
+ <li>Check that there is a mix of new and established speakers.</li>
+ <li>Ensure that there is a good gender balance within the selected speakers</li>
+ <li>
+ Ensure that different groups within the PostgreSQL community are represented
+ by the selected speakers.
+ </li>
+ <li>Limit the number of talks per organisation.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>
+<b>Talks that are definitely wanted may be accepted at this point</b> without
+waiting for the deadline for informing speakers.
+</p>
+<p>
+<b>Talks that are definitely not wanted can be rejected at this point</b>
+without waiting for the deadline for informing speakers.
+</p>
+<p>The sooner acceptance emails are sent to selected speakers, the better.</p>
+<p>
+If a selected speaker is no longer able to present their talk, the committee
+must choose and accept another talk to take its place.
+</p>
+<h3>Reserve talks</h3>
+<p>A number of talks should be selected to go on a reserve list.</p>
+<p>
+A reserve talk may or may not be moved onto the schedule to replace a talk that
+a confirmed speaker is no longer able to present. This could happen at any time
+between the schedule being published and the day(s) of the conference itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+It is important to choose sufficient reserve talks to allow you to keep the
+balanced nature of the schedule that you have created. This means selecting
+reserve talks from a variety of speakers and on a range of topics.
+</p>
+<p>
+You want to keep the number of talks per speaker to 1 or 2 as far as possible,
+even when speakers have to withdraw. This means that you want to have some
+speakers on the reserve list who <b>do not</b> already have confirmed talks
+on the schedule.
+</p>
+<p>
+Unfortunately, however, reserve speakers can not always get travel
+authorisation unless their talk is actually on the schedule. This means that
+it is important to know whether or not a reserve speaker plans to actually be
+at the conference and whether or not their talk will be prepared and ready
+to go at the last minute.
+</p>
+<p>
+To allow for last-minute replacements (just before and/or during the actual
+conference), it is useful to include some talks from confirmed speakers who
+you know will definitely be at the event, even though this may mean that a
+speaker ends up giving more than 1 or 2 talks. It is still important to confirm
+whether or not their reserve talk will be prepared and ready to present at the
+last minute.
+</p>
+<h2>Compiling the Program</h2>
+<p>
+Once the talks have been selected and the speakers have confirmed that they
+can present their talks, the schedule itself can be created.
+</p>
+<p>Use the scheduling tool in the system to create a schedule.</p>
+<p>This involves:</p>
+<ul>
+ <li>which room each talk should go in (if multi-track).</li>
+ <li>Checking that talks have been assigned the correct track.</li>
+ <li>Deciding on the order of the talks.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Consider things such as:</p>
+<ul>
+ <li>Do not schedule two talks on the same topic at the same time.</li>
+ <li>Think about scheduling "lighter" talks just after the lunch break.</li>
+</ul>
+<h2>Final checklist</h2>
+<ul>
+ <li>Is each selected talk confirmed by the speaker?</li>
+ <li>Does every selected and confirmed talk have a track?</li>
+ <li>Does every selected and confirmed talk have a room?</li>
+ <li>Does every selected and confirmed talk have a date/time?</li>
+ <li>Is each reserve list talk confirmed by the speaker?</li>
+ <li>Is the schedule created, saved and published?</li>
+</ul>
+<h2> Suggested Talk Selection Committee Checklist</h2>
+<p>
+Note that this is not exhaustive, and is just presented as an idea of the type of
+information that should be readily available to the committee for a given event.
+</p>
+<ul>
+ <li>Milestones/Deadlines
+ <ul>
+ <li>Date CfP Opens</li>
+ <li>Date CfP Closes</li>
+ <li>Deadline for Voting</li>
+ <li>Talk Selection Call/Meeting(s)</li>
+ <li>Speaker Notification Deadline</li>
+ <li>Schedule Publication Date</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ <li>Tracks (examples)
+ <ul>
+ <li>DBA</li>
+ <li>Application Developer</li>
+ <li>Postgres Internals</li>
+ <li>Community</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ <li>Rooms: Name and Capacity</li>
+ <li>Schedule Slots/Times</li>
+</ul>
+{%endblock%}
\ No newline at end of file
projects / pgeu-web.git / commitdiff