Submitting Microconference Discussion Topics

PLEASE NOTE: The microconference topic submission system has been changed and is no longer Summit.  If you previously had admin rights on Summit, we have tried to import those rights to the new system, so when you authenticate with an Open ID you should have the proper permissions.  Please email contact@lists.linuxplumbersconf.org if you have issues and we will correct it as soon as possible.

LPC is largely composed of a series of microconferences, which are mini-conferences centered around a specific topic like Boot & Core OS, PCI, Virtualization, etc. The specific content of each microconference is community driven, so now that we have a list of approved microconferences we have opened up submissions for sub-topics. The final content of each microconference will be determined by the microconference leads based on these submissions.

The submissions site is fairly intuitive; some documentation is included below. Please pay special attention to items in bold. Note: We are currently using a self-signed cert on the submissions site, so your browser may warn you that the certificate is not trusted. We are working to fix this.

Using Open ID

The proposals site accepts logins from any Open ID. Common sites are listed in a pull-down box, including Launchpad, so if you have previously created a Launchpad account, you can use it to log into the new system. To use an existing Open ID, click on the service, for example, Launchpad, then enter your user ID in the box provided underneath the list of sites, in this example, “Launchpad username”, and the page will form the correct URL in the OpenID field, as shown in the image below:

Screen Shot 2013-07-10 at 11.26.44 AM

If your Open ID is from a site not listed, manually type in a URL in the box next to “OpenID”.  If you don’t have an OpenID account, you can create one using using the link on the Login page.

Submitting a Microconference Discussion Topic

  1. Go to the Microconference Topic Proposals page and log in with an OpenID as described above.
  2. Click on Submit a Proposal.
  3. By default, the proposal will show you as the sole speaker; click on “Add another speaker to your proposal” to enter additional presenters.
  4. Fill in the dialog boxes provided – the fields should be self-explanatory.  Once you have filled in all the required fields (indicated with a red asterisk), click “Create” at the bottom of the screen to create your session.
  5. That’s it!  If you want to review or change your proposal, you can always go back to the Proposals page and click the “My Proposals” link on the right hand side of the page.  Everything is editable, including which microconference you targeted, so if you make a mistake you can update it at any time.  Submitters have the ability to destroy their proposals, which will remove it completely from the system.  Do not destroy a submission unless you mean it, and do not destroy a proposal once it has been Accepted by the microconference chair.  Instead, contact the lead and explain the situation.

There is a link on the Proposals page that can be used to upload slides; these can be added at any time and are not required in the initial proposal.

The leader for each microconference is responsible for approving your proposal and scheduling it as part of the microconference time block.  If you have issues with scheduling or concerns specific to your microconference, please do not contact the Linux Plumbers planning committee unless you have first contacted your microconference lead.  If you don’t know who your lead is, please refer to the Wiki for your microconference, linked from the topics Wiki at http://wiki.linuxplumbersconf.org/2013:topics.  Each Microconference Wiki should list a Contact.

Microconference Leads: Accepting, Rejecting, and Scheduling Sub-Topics

If you are leading a microconference, it is your responsibility to accept proposals for your microconference and schedule them into the time block allocated.   Please log into the webpage as described above.  We have imported as many credentials as possible from the Summit site, but if you have issues, please send your login information to contact@lists.linuxplumbersconf.org and we will fix your account as soon as possible.

If your admin privileges are correct, when you login you will see an additional set of options under “Administer” in the right hand column.  To approve or reject a proposal for your microconference:

  1. Make sure you are logged into the site.
  2. Click on the “Proposals” link under “Administer”.
  3. As an admin, you are a trusted entity, and will see *every* proposal for the conference. Please only modify proposals submitted to the microconference you are administering.  Click on the title of the proposal you wish to accept or reject.
  4. At the top of the page for the specific proposal, there is an Admin bar with a pull-down menu that lets you Accept  and Reject proposals.
  5. Once a proposal has been confirmed, it will become part of the microconference and will show up on the schedule page with the microconference details.  If you do not need to assign specific times to the proposal within the microconference, you are done.
  6. If you do wish to schedule the talks individually, bring up the proposal you wish to schedule (by going to the Proposals page and clicking on the title of the proposal), then enter the start time for the sub-topic. The time is an offset from the start of the microconference, which means that admins are able to internally schedule the content of their microconference before the committee has assigned a day and time.  Actual microconference time slots and days will be assigned closer to the conference date as the committee sorts through the dependencies, so please send a note to contact@lists.linuxplumbersconf.org if you have known conflicts. Note that you cannot enter an “end” time – just schedule the next talk in the sequence.
  7. Admins have the ability to “destroy” any proposal in the system.  Please, exercise caution if you elect to do this, and please contact the submitter prior to deleting their request.

Microconference Leads: Editing Microconferences

Microconference admins can also edit the information about the microconference tracks themselves.  There are two fields of interest to microconference admins: the Description and the Microconference Leaders.  The LPC planning committee has provided an initial description for each microconference based the Wiki proposals, but this can be changed at any time.  MC leads are encouraged to fill out the Microconference Leaders information for their track to indicate who will be facilitating the microconference.

To edit Microconference Track information:

  1. Make sure you are logged into the site as described above.
  2. Under the “Administer” heading in the right-hand column, select “Tracks”.
  3. Find the microconference you wish to edit, and click the “Edit” button underneath the description.
  4. Modify the Description by changing the information in the dialog box.
  5. To add a microconference leader, scroll all the way down and click on “Add a MC Leader to your Track”.  You can remove MC leaders by clicking on the red X next to the name. Note that session leaders need to complete a profile in the system before they can be added as a MC leader.  When you attempt to add someone, the website will give you instructions on how they can create a profile.
  6. Click the “Update” button once you’re done.

If you have an extended Microconference (called MC for the purposes of this discussion) it will show up in the schedule as two separate MicroConferences, called MC I and MC II.  To move a talk from MC I to MC II:

  1. Make sure you are logged into the site as described above.
  2. Go to the list of proposals and select the proposal you want to move
  3. Just above the speaker information, there’s an “Edit Proposal” link: click on it
  4. Under “About this Presentation”, you’ll see a Track item which is a radio button.  Currently MC I should be selected (They’re listed alphabetically, so MC II should be directly under MC I).
  5. Click the MC II radio button.
  6. Click the “Update” button at the bottom once you’re done.

There are also Admin fields for scheduling the Microconference itself, assigning a duration, and selecting rooms.  Microconference leads should NOT edit this information – these items need to be filled in by a member of the LPC Planning Committee.