This Guide should help tutorial presenters prepare their tutorials and submit required tutorial materials. It is a supplement to the Tutorial Presenters Financial Policy Document, which describes the specific SC and tutorial presenters’ agreements and commitments. If you have additional questions that are not answered in this Guide or the Financial Policy, please contact the appropriate team.
Deadlines & Forms
Preparation Instructions
Travel Instructions
Help
Important Note
The Stage 4 “Tutorial Presentation Preparation” form will remain open after the October 15 deadline.
We will use this as the formal mechanism to track your updated presenter travel and tutorial presentation plans. However, you must still submit your pre-recorded videos by the deadline so that our virtual logistics team can properly curate and stage for our online platform.
Deadlines & Forms
Materials Deadlines
All deadlines are final. All materials (excluding W8 and W9 forms) must be submitted via the SC submissions website.
August 20, 2021: Program Materials
The Lead Presenter (LP) must confirm the tutorial’s final title, abstract, presenter information, infrastructure needs, etc. During this stage, the LP also confirms whether the tutorial presenters will provide a promotional video.
August 27, 2021: Honorarium, Support, Promotional Video, & Presenter Designation
The LP must finalize the tutorial’s presenter information, specifying honorarium distributions; individual travel expectations; travel support requests; how individual payments are to be received; individual SC Video Consent & Release forms; and in-person or online tutorial presentation designation (based on overall presenter travel). During this stage the LP must also provide a URL to any promotional videos.
Please Note: SC and ACM policy requires submission of the appropriate IRS Form W9 for U.S. participants, or the corresponding IRS Form W8 for non-resident aliens to SC Accounting by September 17, 2021.
October 15, 2021: Instructional Video
The LP must upload the tutorial’s pre-recorded video content. This content is mandatory for all online tutorials and optional for in-person tutorials.
October 29, 2021: Handouts
The LP must upload all tutorial handouts and materials. This content is mandatory for all tutorials and will be made available for electronic download. Failure to complete this step by the deadline may result in your tutorial (and any associated compensations) being withdrawn.
Forms
Preparation Instructions
Presentation Modes
By default, SC21 tutorials are to be delivered in-person, with presenters and assistants in attendance in St. Louis. However, SC21 also will support online tutorials for cases when presenters are unable to travel to the conference. A tutorial is either in-person or online (details below). There are no hybrid in-person/online tutorials. All tutorials have a fixed full- or half-day time scheduled on Sunday, November 14, 2021 or Monday, November 15, 2021 for interactive presenter/attendee engagement in-person or online, depending on the tutorial type.
In-Person Tutorials
For in-person tutorials, a majority of the presenters must be in-person. There must be sufficient in-person presenters and assistants to support in-person attendees as needed. While not a hard and fast rule, we expect at least three in-person presenters for full-day tutorials and two in-person presenters for half-day tutorials. One or two of an in-person tutorial’s presenters may present from a remote location into the physical conference room. Infrastructural and logistical arrangements for remote presentations must be arranged and managed by the tutorial organizers.
In-person tutorials will not be live-streamed and will not accommodate online attendees.
While not required, we encourage organizers of in-person tutorials to consider pre-recorded, on-demand videos for presentation and lecture components. This facilitates self-paced learning experiences, and the video artifacts can be accessible to a broader audience for whom in-person attendance is prohibitive. In this self-paced, “lab-style” mode, the in-person presenters and assistants still would be accessible to the attendees for the entire tutorial session for live, hands-on interaction and help. This modality does not preclude having some live, whole-group sessions, e.g. for Q&A.
Online Tutorials
For online tutorials, all participants engage remotely via the SC21 HUBB, which will provide an interactive experience that supports fully online presenters and attendees, presenter/attendee interaction, and integration of other remote collaboration technologies, including sli.do and Zoom.
An example of an SC21 HUBB tutorial session page.
For a tutorial’s sli.do and Zoom sessions, the tutorial’s lead presenter will be made a sli.do or Zoom co-host or co-moderator. This will give them elevated privileges so that they may screen share or create breakout rooms, polls, etc.
Online tutorial presenters must provide pre-recorded instructional videos. This will reduce the chances for technical or logistical issues during tutorial sessions.
For more details about the SC21 HUBB, see: Remote Participation FAQ
Tutorial Videos
Your tutorial videos must adhere to the following requirements:
- Video format: .mp4
- Resolution: 720p or 1080p, preferably 1080p
- Bitrate: between 4-8mbps
- Audio bitrate: between 160-256kbps
- Video file size: 1.5GB or less
Closed captions are strongly recommended but not mandatory for pre-recorded tutorial videos. Guides for preparing your videos, including tips for closed captions, can be found in the Video Recording Recommendations (.pptx).
While not mandatory, we encourage the use of the SC21 Templates:
- Title Slide Template (.pptx)
- Presentation Slide Template (.pptx)
- Zoom Background (.png)
Handouts
Handout materials should stand alone as much as possible, so that they are understandable without having to hearing your verbal explanations. It is particularly helpful if your materials include a bibliography of useful books, papers, and websites that supplement the material in your slides. If possible, provide an index of your slides at the end the can be uses as true reference material.
All handouts much conform to the following requirements:
- Presentation file format: Only PDF files are accepted – place one slide per page.
- Fonts: Use only common, non-proprietary fonts of at least 18-point size for the major points in the slides as special fonts may not be available on other computers, or may not translate well to PDF.
- Charts and graphics: Make charts and graphics as large and readable as possible, with a clear explanation of results, paying close attention to legends and labels to make sure they are actually readable both on a presentation screen and on attendees’ computers.
- File size: Keep your PDF file(s) to a reasonable size to facilitate electronic downloads – in particular, watch the size of illustrations.
- Other materials: You may submit a small amount of material in addition to your presentation slides, with the following conditions:
- A non-binary format, e.g. PDF, ASCII TEXT, is required.
- File(s) are labeled clearly and meaningfully.
- You have permission to use and to distribute the data or materials.
- The SC Video Consent & Release form also covers this material.
- Reasonable file size restrictions may be imposed.
- Submit a single package: You must package multiple files into a single tar, zip, or gzip file. If you provide only one file containing your slides, it may be uploaded as a PDF.
Breaks & Meals
On Sunday, November 14, 2021 and Monday, November 15, 2021 the following catered events will be provided for tutorial participants:
- 7–8:30 am: Breakfast (for presenters only)
- Please Note: Full-day and morning half-day tutorials begin at 8 am.
- 10–10:30 am: Morning break (for presenters, assistants, and attendees)
- Noon–1:30 pm: Lunch (for presenters, assistants, and attendees)
- Please Note: Afternoon half-day tutorials start at 1 pm and full-day tutorials resume at 1 pm unless otherwise noted by the tutorial presenters.
- 3–3:30 pm: Afternoon break (for presenters, assistants, and attendees)
Travel Instructions
This information is for in-person presenters requesting travel reimbursement from SC.
Reimbursement Eligibility
For in-person presenters, SC may provide reimbursement for transportation for as many as four tutorial presenters for a full-day tutorial and for as many as two tutorial presenters for a half-day tutorial. This eligibility is explicitly limited to presenters and is not available to assistants.
SC will reimburse the associated travel costs for airfare or the use of a personal vehicle up to $600 USD per presenter for travel originating within North America, and $1,000 USD for travel originating outside North America.
Travelers are expected to seek the lowest cost airfare for reasonable trip times and itineraries. If the traveler elects to drive a personal vehicle to the Conference, the SC conference may reimburse the lesser of actual mileage at $0.545/mile or coach airfare. In this circumstance, the approval of the Tutorials Chair must be obtained at least 21 days prior to travel. This method of travel requires the tutorial presenter to file a request for reimbursement that includes total mileage.
Airline Ticketing Process
Air tickets must be obtained at least 21 days prior to travel using Travel Leaders, the SC-contracted travel service. This service and timeline must be used unless a special exception has been arranged in advance with the Finance Chair. The Finance Chair will provide Travel Leaders with the traveler’s name and contact information, the SC account to be charged, and the person who will authorize the ticket. First-time Travel Leaders users should complete an online profile form. To obtain a ticket, the traveler submits desired dates and times of travel using one of these options:
- Travel request online form
- Toll Free: 800-701-5195 (Hours of Operation: M‐F 8:30 am–5:30 pm ET)
- Email Travel Leaders
Travel Leaders will provide choices to the traveler, verify the approval, purchase the e‐ticket, and send to the traveler. All tickets are non‐changeable and non‐refundable, so it is advised to be sure of plans prior to making a reservation. If a ticket is not used, the traveler must reimburse the conference for the cost of the ticket.
One day PRIOR to travel, the traveler should visit the airline website to confirm their flight and obtain a boarding pass. If an emergency arises during travel and/or assistance is needed for re-routing, the traveler may contact Travel Leaders (available 24 hours). If it is after normal business hours, please call the daytime numbers (240-387-4200 or 800-701-5195) and follow the prompt to connect to the after-hours agent.
Note that there is a $25 charge per after hours call, so please call only in an emergency.
Help
Tutorial Presenter FAQ
Updated November 3, 2021
Where can I find information about SC21’s on-site safety protocols?
Have the tutorial times changed they used to be 8:30 am–noon and 1:30–5 pm?
Yes. For SC21 we have added an extra half hour to the morning and afternoon sessions to accommodate for potential disruptions to online tutorials due to transitions or technological and logistical issues. This year, the morning session runs from 8 am–noon and the afternoon session from 1-5 pm (including breaks). Please use the additional time as prudently, respecting the following constraints:
- Full-day and half-day morning tutorials must begin at 8 am
- Half-day afternoon tutorials must begin at 1 pm
- By default, full-day tutorial afternoon sessions resume at 1 pm, but you may inform your attendees to return at 1:30 pm if this makes sense for you.
- Tutorials must break from 10-10:30 am in the morning and 3-3:30 pm in the afternoon.
Where will attendees find the forms to evaluate our tutorial?
For online tutorials, the sessions SC21 HUBB page will have a link to the evaluation form. For in-person tutorials, digital signs will have a QR code that leads to the session evaluation.
What happens if our presenters are unable to travel and we must transition to an online tutorial?
Please notify us explicitly via email AND update the Stage 4: Tutorial Presentation Preparation form with your presenters’ latest travel plans if your tutorial must switch from in-person to online. October 15, 2021 is the deadline for providing the mandatory event schedule and video pre-recordings for online tutorials. After this date, we will make our best efforts to accommodate transitions to online tutorials (considering timeliness, resource constraints, and other residual impacts) but can make no guarantees.
Will in-person tutorials be live-steamed for remote attendeees?
In-person tutorials will NOT be live streamed. All tutorials will meet during their designated time slots and will either be completely in-person or completely online. Some in-person tutorials may opt to provide tutorial videos for asynchronous viewing, but there will be no live remote access to the presenters during the session.
Are we able to update our videos after the Stage 4 deadline?
All mandatory pre-recorded videos for online tutorials (and optional ones for in-person tutorials) must be uploaded by the Stage 4 deadline. As time and resources allow, we may be able to update video files beyond this deadline, but such updates are not guaranteed.
Can we do an entirely live/real-time online tutorial?
We appreciate that technically and logistically it may be possible to deliver an online tutorial completely in real-time via zoom. However, on occasion individual presenter network connectivity can lead to prohibitively disruptive attendee experiences. Therefore, SC21 has decided that except as an unavoidable fallback, e.g., due to last minute travel plan changes, online tutorials must have pre-recorded videos for lecture and presentation components.
What will the SC21 HUBB remote participation platform be like?
Your tutorial session will become a Hubb event webpage. Your tutorial Hubb event page will have the schedule of your tutorial events, with accompanying links to appropriate pre-recorded videos, slides or other materials. Embedded in your event page will also be a sli.do widget for text-based Q&A, polls, etc. and a link to the tutorial’s zoom session.
For online tutorials, lecture and presentation components are pre-recorded. You will use zoom for your interactive components, including live discussions, breakout rooms, presenter or user screen sharing, etc. As presenters, you will prompt attendees as to where they are expected to be in the session, e.g. watching a particular video, doing a hands-on activity, engaging an interactive zoom session, etc.
What are some tips for how a full-day online tutorial can keep remote attendees engaged for the entire session?
We hope and expect that organizers will organize online tutorials to simulate the in-person experience as much as sensible. Just as the in-person experience would not be a full day of uninterrupted presentations, we do not expect the online experience simply to be eight hours of pre-recorded videos. We expect that organizers will integrate interactive sessions, for components live Q&A , demos, hands-on activities, etc.
How flexible is the tutorial session’s “event schedule”?
Since the pre-recorded video components allow for self-paced learning experiences, the event schedule provides a pace expectation, intermediate synchronization points and specified start times for interactive components. Consider adding a buffer for viewing pre-recorded videos (e.g. a 60 minute event for a 45-50 minute video).
I have a series of short “follow-along exercises”, e.g. a sequence of five short lecture/exercise. Do you recommend one long video followed by one long hands-on session or a series of short video/exercise sessions?
For something like this, we recommend one on-demand session long enough for the video and hands-on exercises, e.g. a 50 minute event with a 25 minute video broken up into explicit parts: view part 1, do part 1 exercise, view part 2, do part 2 exercise … As users watch the videos and completing the exercises, the live zoom session could be used for group or one-on-one engagements as constructive.
We may not be able to sign the Video Consent and Release Form we are required to sign. What should we do?
Each tutorial presenter must sign and submit the ACM’s Video Consent and Release Form. If you or your company has any issue with this requirement, please contact ACM Permissions.
Who qualifies for SC travel reimbursement?
As specified in the Tutorials Finance Policy, only presenters for in-person tutorials (i.e. not assistants) qualify for travel reimbursement. If a previously designated in-person tutorial is relegated to online, presenters of that tutorial no longer qualify for travel reimbursement.
Contact Us
- For matters specific to tutorials: Tutorials Committee
- For matters regarding the SC submissions website: Submissions Support
- For matters regarding tutorial materials: Proceedings Committee
- For matters regarding the SC21 HUBB: Virtual Logistics