Program Chair Guidelines

Thank you for taking on the role of Event Program Chair for our co-located events. We are thrilled to have you on board and want to provide you with additional details and support to ensure your success as a co-located events program chair/co-chair.  Please read this page in its entirety, as there is key information to support the schedule build process. 

By participating as a co-chair, you agree to the CNCF Program Committee and Events Volunteer Guidelines.

• Program Committee Review Period: 4 December – 13 December
• Draft Schedule Building Period (CNCF Team): 13-14 December
• Event Chair Schedule Approval Deadline: Tuesday 19 December
• Speaker Notifications: Monday 8 January
• Schedule Announced: Wednesday 10 January
• Event Date: Tuesday 19 March

As an Event Program Chair / Co-chair, your responsibilities include:

• Possessing deep technical knowledge related to the co-located event’s content.
• Representing the interests of the community’s learning objectives, such as new technology and training topics.
• Completing the Call for Proposals (CFP) review process in Sessionize and adhering to all associated deadlines.
• Collaborating with fellow co-chair to finalize the schedule based on input from the program committee.
• Acting as the main point of contact with the CNCF Event Lead.
• Conducting all work asynchronously, with the option of scheduling meetings if necessary to finalize the schedule.
• Being the “voice” of the program committee by addressing any questions or concerns to the Event Lead.
• Handling inquiries from other committee members.
• Hosting and emceeing the event onsite. ACTION: Please confirm if you will be presenting the open or closing, or if you both plan to present together for each.
• Submitting the schedule draft to CNCF Staff for review before publishing.

During the schedule approval window, Event Program Chairs are responsible for:

• Review the schedule draft in the decision sheet.
• Organizing talks strategically to ensure a high-quality experience for attendees.
• Directing any schedule build process questions to your CNCF Event/Content Lead.
• Approving the schedule draft (with program chair adjustments) by Tuesday, 19 Dec

DO SPeakeR Recieve Complimentary registration?

Yes, all accepeted CNCF-hosted co-located events speakers recieve complimentary all-access registration.

Do we need to hold time for the “Keynotes” referenced in the schedule template?

Yes, the time for potential keynotes will need to be held for Diamond Sponsors until sponsor sales close in early September.  Note: Your schedule draft has these marked.

Can we change the accepted session type if we think a talk would be better as another type?

Yes, however, please limit changes to 1 or 2 sessions per co-located event. You can make this change in column D of your decision sheet.

WhaT IF I ENCOUNTER A SESSION WITH THE INCORRECT AMOUNT OF SPEAKERS FOR THE FORMAT SELECTED?

If you encounter a session with an incorrect number of speakers and decide to accept their session, your event lead will contact the session owner and inform them that their session type has a specific limit on the allowable number of speakers and request they adjust to the correct number allowed for their format.

Can we update the timing on the schedule template?

No, It’s imperative that session timings remain consistent throughout all co-located events. Attendees of CNCF-hosted co-located events have the liberty to navigate between different session offerings. To maximize attendee engagement in your co-located event’s sessions, synchronization of timing is paramount, much like the organization of tracks at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. We’ve identified areas of flexibility within your schedule, such as the option to replace a cluster of lightning talks with a dedicated session.

Diversity & Inclusion

• Within your decision doc you will find the following:
  • On the decision tab session, column A will be highlighted in purple to indicate gender-diverse speakers
  • After reviewing your initial selection draft, kindly get in touch with your event lead. They can assist you in generating a diversity sheet for your accepted sessions.

CNCF Content Guidelines

• Gender Diversity: At least 10% of speakers on your event schedule must identify as women or with another gender identity. These talks will be marked in column A and denoted with the color purple.
• Company Representation and Company Limits: We encourage a diverse mix of company representation, with a particular focus on end-users. For full-day, one-track events, single organizations should not be placed on the schedule more than twice. This helps maintain a balanced and varied program and prevents any single company from being overrepresented in our events.
• Speaker Limits: To encourage a diverse mix of speakers, individual speakers are limited to presenting just one session or lightning talk, and are allowed to take part in a maximum of one panel.

Diversity & Inclusion

• Within your decision doc you will find the following:
  • On the decision tab session, column A will be highlighted in purple to indicate gender-diverse speakers.
  • After reviewing your initial selection draft, kindly get in touch with your event lead. They can assist you in generating a diversity sheet for your accepted sessions.

CNCF Content Guidelines

• Gender Diversity: At least 10% of speakers on your event schedule must identify as women or with another gender identity. These talks will be marked in column A and denoted with the color purple.
• Company Representation and Company Limits: We encourage a diverse mix of company representation, with a particular focus on end-users. For full-day, one-track events, single organizations should not be placed on the schedule more than twice. This helps maintain a balanced and varied program and prevents any single company from being overrepresented in our events.
• Speaker Limits: To encourage a diverse mix of speakers, individual speakers are limited to presenting just one session or lightning talk, and are allowed to take part in a maximum of one panel.

Volunteers who help with the planning, organization, or production of a CNCF event are often seen as representatives of the CNCF community or CNCF project that the event relates to, and their actions can meaningfully impact participants’ experience and perception of the event.  Therefore, and in the interest of fostering an open, positive, and welcoming environment for our community, it’s important that all event volunteers hold themselves to a high standard of professional conduct as described below.

These guidelines apply to a volunteer’s conduct and statements that relate to or could have an impact on any CNCF event that the volunteer helps plan, organize, select speakers for, or otherwise serve as a volunteer for.  These guidelines apply to relevant conduct occurring before, during, and after the event, both within community spaces and outside such spaces (including statements from personal social media accounts), and to both virtual and physical events. In addition to these guidelines, event volunteers must also comply with The Linux Foundation Event Code of Conduct and the CNCF Code of Conduct.

Be professional and courteous

Event volunteers will:

• Conduct themselves in a professional manner suitable for a workplace environment;
• Treat other event participants (including speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, attendees, volunteers, and staff) with courtesy and kindness; and
• In their event-related communications, express their opinions in a courteous and respectful manner, even when disagreeing with others, and refrain from using obscenities, insults, rude or derisive language, excessive profanity, or other unprofessional language, images, or content.

Express feedback constructively, not destructively

The manner in which event volunteers communicate can have a large impact personally and professionally on others in the community. Event volunteers should strive to provide feedback or criticism relating to the event or any person or organization’s participation in the event in a constructive manner that supports others in learning, growing, and improving (e.g., offering suggestions for improvement).  Event volunteers should avoid providing feedback in a destructive or demeaning manner (e.g., insulting or publicly shaming someone for their mistakes).

Be considerate when choosing communication channels

Event volunteers should be considerate in choosing channels for communicating feedback.  Positive or neutral feedback may be communicated in any channel or medium.  In contrast, criticism about any individual event participant, staff member, or volunteer should be communicated in one or more private channels (rather than publicly) to avoid causing unnecessary embarrassment.  Criticism about an event that is not about specific individuals may be expressed privately or publicly, so long as it is expressed in a respectful, considerate, and professional manner.

Changes to These Guidelines and Consequences for Noncompliance 

The event organizers may update these guidelines from time to time, and will notify volunteers by email and via the CNCF Slack channels designated for event volunteers.  However, any changes to these guidelines will not apply retroactively.  If the Linux Foundation Events team determines that a volunteer has violated these guidelines or The Linux Foundation Event Code of Conduct, it may result in the volunteer’s immediate suspension or removal from any event-related volunteer positions they hold, including participation in event-related committees. If these guidelines are updated and a volunteer does not wish to agree, their participation in the event-related volunteer position will cease until such time as they do agree.

CNCF Program Committee + Event Volunteer Guidelines