Carl Wieman's Keynote Slides

The slides from Carl Wieman's SIGCSE keynote talk are now available on the SIGCSE 2010 Web site.

• http://www.sigcse.org/sigcse2010/attendees/

Saturday at SIGCSE 2010

Saturday, the final day for SGICSE 2010. View the full program for Saturday online: http://db.grinnell.edu/sigcse/sigcse2010/Program/programAtAGlance.asp?dateRequested=Saturday

In addition, on Saturday, On-site registration is open from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM.

There are workshops this afternoon. Check with the folks at the registration booth about availability.

Friday, March 12th at SIGCSE

SIGCSE 2010 - Day1! View the full program for Friday online:

http://db.grinnell.edu/sigcse/sigcse2010/Program/programAtAGlance.asp?dateRequested=Friday

In addition, on Thursday, On-site registration is open from 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.

There are workshops this evening, and I have heard that there is still space in some of the workshops. Please visit the registration booth if you are interested in registering for a workshop.

Get Involved in SIGCSE on Twitter!

Twitter is abuzz with the #sigcse tag. You can tweet right from your session and interact with other attendees in real time.

You can always read our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/search?q=-RT%20sigcse

Or you can use a rich client, I recommend TweetDeck.

What happens when the SIGCSE Webmaster gets stuck in Detroit?

Short answer, I realize that my body is still on Seattle time (9pm). I decided to take a walk around lovely terminal A, and snap some pictures.

If you like the interior of empty airports, you can view the pictures on picasaweb.

There were a few other SIGCSE attendees on my plan, but don't worry. We will be departing detroit at 8:30 am and joining you for lunch on Thursday.

Thursday, March 11 at SIGCSE 2010

This update is coming to you from 27,000 feet above the great state of Wisconsin. And passing over at 27,000 feet seems to be the closest that I am going to get to Milwaukee tonight. There seems to be a bit of fog at MKE. I hope that everyone else had less disruption in their travels, and I hope to catch up with you tomorrow (unless the fog miraculously lifts in the next 20 minutes, and we make it tonight).

Anyway, your Thursday SIGCSE update!

The SIGCSE program gets into full swing on Thursday, and the full program for Thursday can be found here:

http://db.grinnell.edu/sigcse/sigcse2010/Program/programAtAGlance.asp?dateRequested=Thursday

In addition, on Thursday, On-site registration is open from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM.

Also on Thursday night - the SIGCSE reception will be held from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM in the Hilton's Crystal Ballroom (the Hyatt also has a crystal ballroom, but that is not where the party is located). You can get from the Hyatt to the Hilton through heated walkway, through the convention center. So no need to bundle up too much.

From 27,000 feet, this is your Webmaster, signing off.

Wednesday, March 10th at SIGCSE

Hi Everyone. SIGCSE officially kicks of in the morning with the pre-symposium events.

The pre-symposium events can be found here: http://www.sigcse.org/sigcse2010/attendees/pre_symposium_events.php

And the full program for Wednesday can be found here:
http://db.grinnell.edu/sigcse/sigcse2010/Program/programAtAGlance.asp?dateRequested=Wednesday

In addition, on Wednesday, On-site registration is open from 3:00 PM to 9:30 PM.

To everyone still traveling, safe travels and we'll see you when you arrive.

Customize your SIGCSE Program

Did you know that you can create a customized program, just for you? You can!

Visit the online symposium program, or go directly to the customization page. This allows you to print out a schedule that contains only the sessions that you are interested in attending. Not sure which session you want to attend in a given time slot, no problem! You can select multiple sessions now and decide what to attend later. And with this page, there is no commitment. You're not reserving a seat, and you're not excluding yourself from any sessions. This is simple a convenience feature.

Happy customizing!

Prepare to Travel

For those of you traveling to SIGCSE 2010 by plane, we just want to make sure that you are up to date on the latest air traveler information. If you are arriving in the United States, you will need to re-screen before through security, so the same restrictions apply.

Before heading to the airport, make sure that all of your liquids are packed correctly. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allows you to cary on liquids in 3 fluid ounce containers (or less) in a 1 quart resealable plastic bag, with a limit of 1 bag per traveler. For more information on the 3-1-1 liquid guidelines, visit http://www.tsa.gov/311/index.shtm.

If you are going to be bringing a laptop or other electronics with you, they must also be packed appropriately. Your laptop should be easily accessible. When going through security, you will need to place your laptop in one of the plastic bins for inspection in the X-ray scanner. There are also TSA approved, laptop friendly bags. For full details on the laptop bag procedures, visit: http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/simplifying_laptop_bag_procedures.shtm.

In order to speed up your security screening, the TSA recommends that you pack in an organized manner. The TSA has some guidelines for organized packing: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/screening_experience.shtm.

And, perhaps most importantly, you cannot fly without proper identification. A full list of approved travel identification documents is available here: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/acceptable_documents.shtm.

For most domestic flights, you must be checked in and at the departure gate at least 30 minutes before departure. Arriving at the airport 1 1/2 to 2 hours before your scheduled departure is recommended for domestic flights. And arriving at the airport 3 hours early for international flights is advised.

Most airlines offer online checkin as a convenient way to avoid long lines at the ticket counter. Online checkin is usually available 24 hours before the schedule departure time of your first travel segment. At checkin time (or even now), you may be able to select your seat assignment. I always check SeatGuru (http://www.seatguru.com/) before selecting my seats. The information on this Web site can help you avoid an uncomfortable flight. Some airlines also hold back "preferred" coach seats for high status frequent fliers. At online checkin time, these seats may move into the general pool and be available to you. If you check in exactly 24 hours before your flight, you may get a better seat!

Please double check with the TSA or your airline for any last minute travel advisories or changes to your travel plans.

See you at SIGCSE!

Top 10 Things That Go Wrong at a Conference

We on the committee are all imagining the things that could go horribly wrong at the conference. (Most recently: forgot to put together a list of changes to the program after it went to print. Thank goodness for revision history on the program DB! Else: CHAOS, MADNESS!)

But my time now is all on nitty-gritty organizational disasters. What goes wrong for you personally at conferences? Leave them in the comments, and let's get a top 10.

My contribution: forgetting my power cord!

Cheers,

Steve

P.S. There's a mall connected by skywalks to the Hyatt that has a store that sells power adapters for mobile phones. I bet you could find a laptop cord there, too!

Why can't Workshop #1 be next to #2 which is next to #3?

As the symposium approaches, we thought we'd give you a little peek into the sordid underbelly of making the event work. At the same time, I can apologize for perpetuating my SIGCSE pet peeve: workshops scattered in irrational patterns.

Can't good symposium leadership put Workshop #1 next to #2 next to #3?

I've now been Workshops Coordinator, Program Chair, and Symposium Chair three years running, and not a one of those years has had the workshops lined up properly.

So, what's the deal? Early-binding, late-binding, and resource allocation.

The early-binding is the workshop numbers. Unfortunately, those are published rather early in the process. This year, that was even before we had finalized the prices for A/V equipment and for power. So, allocation of workshops to rooms was purely on the basis of rough room size and our guesses about which workshops would be popular. Even the exact number of seats in each room is only now being settled as we choose the balance of theatre- and classroom-style seating. The process was complicated even more when we determined that we wouldn't have wireless in the Hilton meeting rooms, forcing us to shuffle some Wednesday workshops into newly
reserved convention centre space.

The late-binding is the actual association of workshops to rooms. Sure, we published room numbers for the workshops, but because those room numbers don't go into the proceedings, we had some grace to make adjustments on the basis of all those other factors listed above plus
early registration numbers! (Many thanks to our Publications Chair Dave Musicant for gracing us with that grace by virtue of his sleepless nights this very weekend!)

Our grace ends this weekend as the publication deadline for the program looms. At that point, the workshop-room assignments will be quite literally bound.

So, we moved some workshops around to save money on provision of power to seats and use of A/V equipment and to put apparently popular workshops into larger rooms.

(The ultra-popular workshops right now, by the way, are two cell phone related offerings, Workshops #6 on iPhones and #22 on Android. You're too late for #22; it's full!)

Now we're almost done, and the mapping from numbers to rooms is a mess.

So as you wander aimlessly about searching for your workshop, please excuse us for the dubious UI, and let your mind drift to other things. Like the way all your favourite papers are running against each other in the same session. That's entirely the PCs' fault. ;^)

See you in a month and a half!

Cheers,

Steve

Local Attractions during SIGCSE

We've just posted a list of location attractions in Milwaukee, just in case you need something besides the SIGCSE Symposium to occupy your time!

View the list at

http://sigcse.org/sigcse2010/attendees/local_attractions.php