Demo Submission Information

ACM Policy : Prior Publication and Simultaneous Submissions

Under no circumstances shall a paper (or substantially the same paper) be simultaneously submitted to two or more publications, or to a second publication while still under review elsewhere, without a letter of notification to the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) or Program Chair (PC) of each affected publication. Failure to adhere to this policy is cause for rejection of the manuscript. Repeated violations may lead to a ban on future submissions at the discretion of the EiC or PC.”

The ACM website has the full policy.

Author Guidelines: Demos

Demos provide a way to showcase an educational tool or project in a live setting. Not designed to be sales pitches, demonstrations are a way for the community to see the relevance, potential, and innovation of the tool and allow time for discussion with its creator.

For SIGCSE TS 2021, Demos will be a maximum of 20 minutes each, with at least 10-15 minutes allocated for answering questions. The Demo format is significantly different this year with Demos held in a regular session at a fixed time slot, rather than during coffee breaks where the longer time slot was used to accommodate audience members arriving at different times. These changes have been introduced to accommodate the virtual setting of the symposium to the best extent possible.

Single-Anonymous Review Process

Initial submissions to the Demos track are reviewed with the single-anonymous review process, where the submissions are not anonymized but reviewers are anonymous to each other and to the authors. During the discussion of a submission in EasyChair, reviewers can refer to each other by their reviewer number on that submission’s review.

How Should The Proposal Be Formatted?

Demo proposals are submitted in PDF format. The full proposal contains an abstract and a body that describes your Demo (as detailed below). The full proposal is used for the review process only. If the proposal is accepted, the title and authors appear in the printed program and the title, authors, and abstract appear in the online program and proceedings. The format for the proposal is described in the following section.

Demo Proposal Format and Contents

• Proposer: Include name(s), affiliation, email address, and website address. You should expect most correspondence related to the conference to arrive via email. Please check your spam filter if you haven’t received an expected notification because the auto-responses generated by the conference software are sometimes blocked.

• Title: A descriptive title for the Demo.

• Abstract: A description of the Demo. The same abstract will also need to be submitted via a text box on the submission page. Please be sure that your description is accurate and that both submitted copies (here in the Demo Proposal, and in the submission text box) are exactly the same. Please recall that the abstract is the only part of the proposal to appear in program and proceedings and should thus be self-contained.

• Significance and Relevance of the Topic: Please include information about any trends in relation to the tool/project and possibly describe (or cite) evidence to that effect. Your objective here is to explain why the tool/project is significant. Explain why the tool/project is important for the Computing Education Community and what the expected benefits by using it with regard to learning computing topics are. Ideally also explain ideas for courses/topics where the tool/project is beneficial and provide evidence, if possible.

• Expected Audience: Briefly describe the nature and size of the expected audience. This information will help gauge the level of interest SIGCSE Technical Symposium attendees will have in the Demo.

• Other Presenter(s): Although correspondence will be with the proposer above, it will be the discussion leader(s) who will be mentioned in Symposium literature. Please list any additional such names (besides the proposer) and affiliations here. Be certain that you have their commitments to attend the Symposium. All presenters must register for the SIGCSE Technical Symposium and be present for the Demo session online.

• Expertise of Presenter(s): Give a summary of the qualifications of the presenter(s) as it relates to the tool/project being proposed.

• Agenda for the Demo: Timing details would be helpful here. Explain what the attendees can expect. Be sure to budget a realistic amount of time for questions from attendees. Describe how you will interact with and engage attendees.

• Virtual requirements: Indicate any specific requirements you may have since your Demo is going to be virtual. Note that not all requirements might be met by the conferencing software used. At the time of acceptance more information about the conferencing software’s capabilities will be available.

Tips for Creating an Effective Demo

• Interactivity with the audience!

• While proposed agendas may change, you should be as detailed in your agenda as possible. Illustrate the specific activities you have in mind to the best of your ability.

• Make sure that you are explicit about what you want to get out of the Demo experience. As described above, Demos are meant for you (the presenter) to get exposure for your tool or to generate discussion. However, it is helpful for your reviewers to understand if you are looking to find users, vet future research directions, etc.

Demo Proposal Abstract

The abstract is the description of the Demo that will appear on the conference web pages. The description is limited to and must match verbatim the abstract section of the Demo Proposal. The Demo abstract must be submitted in plain text. The abstract for an accepted proposal may contain a URL with more information. (Abstracts of accepted Demos can be edited in response to reviews.)

Virtual Demos

Since the conference will be virtual, each Demo will be presented live via a virtual platform. The 20 minute Demo would start with a 5-10 minute presentation followed by 10-15 minutes of Q&A and additional demoing based on questions from the attendees.

General Requirements

Independent of your presentation, you will have to provide a pre-recorded video with an overview of the Demo of at most 5 minutes length. The video must be provided before the symposium starts (exact date TBA) and will be referenced from the online program in order to give attendees the chance to get acquainted with the Demo beforehand. It may also widen the potential audience for your Demo. Note that this is an additional requirement in comparison to Demos at previous symposiums due to the addition of virtual offerings at the symposium.

Sample Proposal

• Sample proposal (PDF)

• Sample proposal (Word)

How Do I Submit My Demo?

Submissions use the English language. If you desire editing services, consider the following from the ACM.

ACM has partnered with International Science Editing (ISE) to provide language editing services to ACM authors. ISE offers a comprehensive range of services for authors including standard and premium English language editing, as well as illustration and translation services. Editing services are at author expense and do not guarantee publication of a manuscript.

• Prepare your Demo submission using the format specified above.

• Recall that you will also need to copy-and-paste or type your text abstract description into a text box in the submission form. Be sure that the same text appears in the submission and in the abstract text box in the submission form.

• Be sure to choose the appropriate topic areas when submitting. Your choices help in assigning appropriate reviewers to your submission, and assist the reviewers in evaluating the paper from an appropriate perspective.

The opening of submissions will be announced through the SIGCSE mailing list, social media, and the front page of this website.

Follow the SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Twitter and SIGCSE on Facebook.

By SIGCSE policy, at least one contributor is required to register, attend, and present a demo. Our full policy (to be posted) has more information.

Questions

If you have questions about anything discussed above, please contact:

Demos and Lightning Talks Team

Email: demos@sigcse2021.org

• Jennifer Campbell
  University of Toronto
• Carsten Kleiner
  University of Applied Sciences & Arts Hannover

Presenting at SIGCSE TS 2021

Important Dates

• January 22 - Submit video presentation through submission form emailed to corresponding authors

How will I be presenting my work? (Demos)

Presenters are asked to prerecord “teaser” presentation demo no longer than 5 minutes that will be made available to attendees roughly two weeks before the Technical Symposium begins on Pathable. Attendees will have the opportunity to access all available content during the weeks leading up to the Symposium and will have access for a year following the end of the Symposium.

Demo presentations will take place live during the Technical Session blocks throughout the week. The live demo should not assume prior viewing of the “teaser” video. Depending on the content of the video, presenters should customize the live demo based on feedback from the audience. As usual, presenters need to reserve time for Q&A.

More information on scheduling will be made available later in January.

How do I submit my video presentation?

A link to the submission form will be sent to the corresponding authors identified in EasyChair. If you did not receive the email by January 8th or if you have any questions, please email videosubmission@sigcse2021.org.

What rights do I keep to my video?

We are not asking for any rights release on your videos. They remain your work to do with as you please. We only ask, as a courtesy, that you do not post them publicly until one week after the end of the Technical Symposium (March 27, 2021).

Why do you need the presentation so soon (January 22)?

Our goal is to make the prerecorded content of the Technical Symposium available a few weeks before the Symposium starts so that attendees can view materials when convenient to them and so they can better build their schedule for the week of the Symposium. In order to meet that goal, we need to preprocess all the videos as soon as possible to ensure they are ready for the Symposium for reasons including, but not limited to:

• Closed-captioning for all videos (authors do not need to do this on their own - our production company is providing this service)
• Checking format to ensure videos can play properly in Pathable
• Validating the length of videos matches the requirements

Update: We have moved the due date from January 15 to January 22 for all presenters to provide more time for those who wish submit to ITiCSE (https://iticse.acm.org/for-authors/) or who have more than one video submission they need to make. However, we would very much appreciate videos to be sent in as soon as possible so that we can ensure we have enough time to process all the submissions.

Presentation Guidelines

Video presentations must follow these technical guidelines:

• MP4 format encoding
• 1920x1080 (i.e. HD resolution) - If this is not possible for you, please at least record in a 16:9 ratio size
• 30 frames per second (approximately) is preferred to keep file size more reasonable

Please follow the SIGACCESS Guidelines to create a presentation that all attendees can enjoy and learn from. Below, we summarize these guidelines and add a few more:

• Choose a high contrast color scheme that supports color blind readers
• Use more than color coding to communicate information
• Keep text brief
• Keep graphics simple and verbally describe images, animations, videos
• Avoid using a pointer
• Caption videos (NOTE: we will provide a closed-captioning service for you, but there may be points that you want to highlight)
• Speak clearly, use a microphone, face the audience, and use common, understandable terms
• Post your slides early and provide a link them them on the slides (NOTE: we will provide space in Pathable for your slides, but feel free to post them on your own webspace as well)
• Share your contact information

Best Practices for Recording / Remote Presentations

Here are some best practices to consider as you record your video and prepare for your live session:

• Find a quiet room with as little background noise as possible.
• Make sure you are professionally dressed.
• Sit in the center of the camera shot to ensure proper camera framing.
• Make sure your face is well lit by sitting in a room with plenty of light. If you can’t find a well-lit room, place a small lamp in front of you but out of the camera view.
• Do not sit in front of a window. This will cause the camera to adjust for the light, making your face look very dark. Similarly, avoid other light sources behind you.
• Adjust the camera to be level with your eyes. This will produce the best camera angle. If using a laptop, you may need to put your laptop on an elevated surface in order to get the camera level with your eyes.
• Always be aware of what is in the camera shot. Make sure there is nothing sitting in the background that you wouldn’t want viewers to see.
• Use headphones or earbuds to listen to the audio. This helps with the sound quality and ensures you will always be able to hear clearly.
• Keep your microphone muted during the call unless you are speaking.
• When speaking and not wearing a headset or earbuds, keep your speaker volume at the lowest setting while still being able to hear. This helps get rid of echoes coming back through your microphone.
• Use a cabled internet connection when possible. Most connection issues are due to a bad wireless connection.
• Do a test call beforehand to make sure your microphone, speakers and webcam are all working properly.

How do I record my presentation?

An excellent writeup on recording presentations authored by David Ayman Shamma from the SIGCHI community can be found here: https://medium.com/sigchi/a-remote-video-presentation-guide-93957c63aa7a

Using Zoom:

The simplest option is to use Zoom, as it will automatically create the proper file format for you and most of the SIGCSE community is already familiar with the tool.

• Start a meeting with just you as the only participant
• Open your slides and start screen sharing as you normally would in a standard Zoom meeting
• Click “Record” on the main Zoom toolbar at the bottom of the window and select “Record on this Computer”
• Give your presentation, following the best practices for video recordings
• When you are done, stop recording, then stop sharing and end the meeting
• Zoom will automatically convert the video to an .mp4 file format
• Rename the file as instructed and submit via the form emailed to authors from EasyChair

Using OBS:

If you would like to have more control over the presentation, including things such as:

• Smoother transitions between your camera full screen and slides
• Multiple audio/video sources
• Graphic borders around your camera
• Sharing multiple windows at the same time

you may want to try the open source Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) at http://obsproject.com, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. OBS does require more configuration and setting up than Zoom, but offers a lot of flexibility and options for free. Note that OBS records .mkv files by default. To convert to .mp4, use the “Remux Recordings” option in the File menu.

Using Powerpoint/Keynote:

If you would prefer to not be on camera at all, it is possible to use the “Record Slide Show” option in Powerpoint or Keynote to record a screencast of just your slides.

Converting to .mp4:

If the tool you use does not natively create a .mp4 file for you, you can transcode it for free using Handbrake, found at https://handbrake.fr/. Choose “Fast 1080p30 preset” to generate the proper file format and size.

Closed-Captioning:

Please note that the Technical Symposium is providing a closed-captioning service for all prerecorded videos and live sessions at no cost to you. We are doing this to ensure a standard experience across all aspects of the Symposium.