Changes

* Apply While this is the general chronology of running the conference, it never hurts to be a host; see also plan ahead. Before hosting proposals for the page next year are solicited, you can prepare some components of your proposal. Before your proposal is accepted, you can recruit volunteers to serve on [http://code4libcommittees.org/conference/hosting Conference Hosting] In particular, it helps to have at [http://code4libleast a few initial people who will form the nucleus of your Local Planning Committee (LPC).org code4lib.org] * When the call for next year's host goes out, '''prepare a proposal'''** '''TODO see successful proposals from prior years'''** '''Identify venues''' for both the conference and the hotel (if different). Get some cost estimates from each. Make sure the hotel will give you a room block.*** 2006/Corvallis: the campus provided the conference space at a low cost, and this made running the conference much more affordable. *** 2016/Portland: we held everything in a single hotel and we had to acquire 2x the amount of sponsorship than what appears to be normal.** '''Prepare a sample / generalized budgetcost estimates'''*** Remember, your institution is taking the risk of covering any costs not covered by registrations and sponsorships. To this point, I believe the conference has always ended up in the black, but there is always a chance it won't in a given year. Drafting a rough budget before submitting a proposal is critical.The primary factors are:*** Get data from previous years to estimate minimums and maximums, and fill in as much as you can ahead of time.Lodging (hotels) - see if hotels offer discounted room block quotes*** Speaking of sponsorshipVenues (conference, workshop, I believe we average around 20k per year in sponsorships to help run the conference and keep the registration low. Factor this into your budget.reception, other activities)*** Also, when you get cost estimates, don't forget to include food costs.Catering*** Wireless: If you are proposing to host the conference on a campus, check with your IT folks about any additional costs. If you are looking look at a hotel or other venue, make sure you talk to them about bandwidth and costs.*** Do you have organizational relationships which might ensure extra sponsorships? If so, factor in that this might reduce the registration cost. For instance, when we were at the Library of Congress in 2018, they were also [https://2018.code4lib.org/sponsors/ our largest sponsor].*** You can reference data from previous years to estimate minimums and maximums.

*** Since 2014 in NC, Code4lib has contracted with [https://www.concentra-cms.com CONCENTRA] to help manage and plan the conference. Their expertise is invaluable. You can ask them questions while preparing your proposal. CONCENTRA knows Code4Lib and our unique structure and well as how to plan various aspects of conferences (hotel room block, catering, bus to reception, etc.). Look for Jennifer Cummings in Slack or use their site's contact link.*** See if your institution has a conference planning services group or something similar - if it doesso, they can also be very helpful. They'll handle registration, budgeting, contracts, etc, and really make life easywill know more about campus spaces and costs (e.g. if there are free rooms to use for pre-conferences).* Get approved by the communityand start planning** Receive access to the Code4Lib Conference Drive folders with information from prior years** Construct a planning timeline (see templates in Drive)** Find a hotel, negotiate and sign a contract with them. CONCENTRA does this but this [[Sample RFI]]is still a useful reference; '''note the WiFi requirements'''* Invite * Put out a call for committee volunteers (on the community to join committeeslistserv, in Slack)* Have a timeline'''Put on an amazing conference!''' If you get this far, you have survived the worst part.*[[Useful information from 2012]]The final duties of LPC are putting out the call for next year's proposals and writing up reflections.

== Important Public Resources Location ==* Past calls for host sites: [http://code4lib.org/node/275 2010] - * [http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mailing-lists/code4lib/ Code4Lib listserv]* [http://groups.google.com/group/code4libcon Code4LibCon listserv]* Sponsorship info (public)* [http://code4lib.org/logo/ Logos]* [http://code4lib.org/content/template-code4lib-20xx Template for the conference page on the main Code4Lib website] - This page is only visible to those who have a code4lib.org account. Once a host has been selected, please copy the template to a new page for that conference year.* [[Code4Lib Conference Lessons Learned]]

Code4Lib has been hosted on university campuses and also located purely in hotels. Campus facilities tend to be more affordable, but housing can be scattered and challenging. Hotels are more expensive but cohesive. If your campus or town has a conference center, that is a logical starting point. Large hotels are also an option. In recent years, the conference has been smaller (a little over 200 attendees). If you are unsure how many attendees to plan for, look at [Conference_Financial_History_At_A_Glance] figures or ask in the code4libcon channel in Slack. In general, 200-400 attendees is a good range. A couple of isolated rooms for the conference but away from the main space are important for both the Community Support Squad to hold private discussions and to private a place of quiet respite for weary conference goers. == Important Private Resources = Workshops ===* Code4LibConWorkshops have been held before and after the conference. They are often referred to as "pre-conferences" or "post-conferences" in planning and publicity materials. There should be space to facilitate 10-hostsite listserv20 workshops. It is helpful if they can be located in the same building but not necessary.* Budgets from previous These can be class or meeting rooms but should have a projector and ideally a whiteboard. Electricity for every attendee is also important. === Reception === A nice reception venue can be appealing to many attendees. In the past, we have gone to museums, libraries, and more fun venues. If Philadelphia, we went to The Mütter Museum. In D.C., we went to the Library of Congress. In Michigan, we went to a "fowling" (football bowling) place. A nice reception at a separate location is not stricly necessary. It might be possible to do catering at the conference venue in the evening, for instance. === Transportation === Consider how folks coming into town will get to their lodging. Is the airport far? Are there free shuttles? Is it possible to get there via a major railway? If lodging and the venue are separate, how will attendees get to the conference venue? Are there shuttles? If we need to purchase a bus, how much will it cost? Most years, we need to pay for a bus to the reception venue, as it tends to be in a different location.* Sponsorship info === Local Appeal === Successful proposals in the past tend to include local spots that folks will be interested in: cultural institutions, tourist attractions, book stores, libraries, restaurants, and night life. The Social Activities committee plans around these venues. It is nice to have a nighttime location where Game Night can be held (privatewhich might be one of the workshop rooms). There is nothing wrong with doing a conference in a location we've been to before, or in a location that is close to last year's location. In the past, Code4Lib tended to bounce between the East coast, West coast, and Midwest but that is not a requirement and should not dissuade any location from submitting a proposal.

=== Hotels ===* You will likely Planning (LPC) - primary committee, should have to convince delegates on most others, makes major decisions* Website - creates and updates the conference hotel of the conference size website using a template and past room uptake as part of negotiating your contract. They may want data provided by other committees* Sponsorship - acquires sponsorships to contact past reduce costs* Keynote - solicits suggestions from community and communicates with keynote candidates* Pre-conference hotels to get more info about actual uptake.- plans workshops* 2014 Program -plans posters and conference talks* Scholarship - Raleigh Downtown Sheratonsolicits diversity scholarship applications and selects candidates* IMHO, Community Support Squad (CSS) - enforces the two things that really need to be addressed each year are connectivity and food Community [https://github.com/code4lib/code- everything else generally manages itself in terms of facilities.-conduct Code of Conduct]* Regarding conference hotel, you'll want to make sure that there are blocks of rooms available T- not usually too bad an issue in larger towns, but in some college or smaller towns, hotel rooms may be limited.Shirt - solicit T-Shirt designs* prepare Social Activities - plans social events at the hotel conference such as Board Game Night* Streaming - runs the livestream* Host Voting - solicit proposals for deluge via web when announcement is made about hotel registration availablenext year* Accessibility - consult on physical and digital accessibility, e. We overwhelmed g. of venues and the Seattle hotel in 2012conference websites

TODO: get actual room uptake numbers into a chart here. (NB totals are only useful in You will also need on-site volunteers during the conference for tasks like MCing the context of how many attendees there wereconference, timing talks, and running microphones for audience questions.)

=== Wireless ===* make sure VPN Code4Lib is alloweddemocratic; most committees faced with multiple options (keynote, pre-conference, program, t-shirt, host voting) host community votes to determine some or all of their choices.

TODO: put actual concurrent connections and bandwidth usage data numbers in Some committees are quite small, even a chart heresingle person. Note when problems were occurring to give context Each year may have some unique committees not present in the list above. For more information on any particular committee, look in their Drive folder or on whether these numbers were sufficient of insufficientthe wiki.

Aspiration Tech (an org doing unconference facilitation) has developed a [http://facilitation.aspirationtech.org/index.php?title=Logistics:Wireless_Best_Practices great list for assessing and negotiating event wifi].= Planning ==

=== Policies Budgeting ===A record of [[Conference_Policies]] of all kinds!

=== Keynotes Wireless ===# Contact speakers in advance to get a speaker bio, plus to ask if they need anything, arrange airport pickup, etc

=== Email Boilerplates / templates ===* [[ConferenceOrientationEmail|Quick orientation email for newer It is good if the venue allows VPN traffic as many folks]] - Send out at least use a week in advance before conferencework VPN...* [[FreenodeIrcConnection|Freenode IRC connection]]** Historically, conference attendees have had trouble maintaining persistent connections to the #code4lib IRC channel. We'd always assumed we were overwhelming the conference facilityIt's Internet connection, but we were actually running into Freenode's IP-based connection limits. Freenode is supportive of the IRC-as-backchannel model, however, and they're happy to work with organizers to raise the connection limit.** Contact the conference facility in advance and see also nice if you can find out what your ''public IP address range'' will be during the conference. (If it starts with 10.*commonly used ports, 192.168.*like 22 for ssh/git, or 172.16.*, ask again -- those are "private" IP ranges used for connection sharingusable.)** Once you have the IP address or range, send Aspiration Tech (an email to org doing unconference facilitation) has developed a [mailtohttp:ilines@freenode//facilitation.net ilines@freenodeaspirationtech.net] containing a request to raise the connection limitorg/index. Include conference info, IP range(s), and the expected number of connections. For examplephp?title=Logistics:** I received an automated reply with a ticket number almost instantly, but didn't hear back after that. I sent a quick followup early on the morning of the 22nd, Wireless_Best_Practices great list for assessing and received a response (from a human) letting me know that it had been taken care of. (Follow-up, one year later: Same experience. Immediate automated reply, but with a need to follow up with Freenode staff in the #freenode channel to get the ticket resolved.)** Additional support is available from the helpful volunteer Freenode staff in the #freenode channelnegotiating event wifi].

=== Code of Conduct === LPC may be consulted by the CSS if a Code of Conduct violation occurs. These have sometimes necessitated someone being removed from the conference or an announcement being made from the stage. ===Keynotes=== 

 # power Power - everyone would like to plug in their laptop (and possibly their phone)

===Photography===

* Consider Code4Lib uses different colored lanyards to articulate personal photography preferences.** Portland/2015 had color-coded lanyards: *** Green = it's ok to take my picture*** Yellow = please ask before taking my picture*** Red = don't take my picture

==Suggested Timeline = Live Blogging ===Consider doing live blogging for 2014. You will have two people so they can switch off during each section of day. === Ask Anything===* Add to volunteer page to have a moderator or do a general call out* Need mics for people to line up at (image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393838640/ ) ===Book Raffle===See details here: https://wiki.code4lib.org/BookRaffle

* (image: http://wwwTODO there are more current timelines available or this section is just not needed.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393619144/ with people for context: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4393623802/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4384550127/ ), better if there's a table

=== Flipcharts ===Flipcharts can be useful, but it's important to decide what to put on the wiki/website and what to put on a flipchart:images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwartzray/4392998501/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/47860563@N05/4388430079/ === Hospitality Suite ===# having a few people with room keys, any of whom might need to be available to open up or close down the room at the beginning or end of the evening# making sure the mess left for cleaning staff is an appropriate mess# making sure the noise made near other hotel guests is an appropriate noise# having someone act as a point person to gather a gratuity for the housekeeping staff maintaining the suite == Suggested Timeline ==* See [[C4L2010planning]] for an example * See [https://docs.google.com/a/ncsu.edu/document/d/1Ci_aeXlUOW_1XZ9isvwXfyt-FFyO7zsBxesenbFvCPI/edit Code4Lib 2014 planning schedule] planning schedule] for example, including dates for responsibilities for each volunteer committee. Note that we established schedule at the outset by counting weeks backwards from the desired conference dates.

*[[Category: Code4Lib2010Code4Lib Conference Lessons Learned]](from 2014)*[[Category: Code4Lib2011Useful information from 2012]]*[[Categoryhttps: Code4Lib2012]//medium.com/@louisrosenfeld/how-to-organize-a-conference-567fb50ccdbd How To Organize a Conference]- Some excellent thoughts on conferences in general.[[Category: Code4Lib2013]]