ECOOP / Guidelines for Tutorial Proposals

A tutorial's basic purpose is to give a deeper or more covering insight into its area than a conventional lecture would do. That is why it extends over a half or a full day. This gives the speaker better possibilities to structure the tutorial in a proper manner.

The topic of a tutorial can come from a truly broad spectrum.
Any interesting theme from OOT is welcome, from surveys to experience reports or specialized research topics.
However, one should keep in mind that a tutorial can be expected to attract a reasonable number of participants (at least 6 participants).
This is most likely the case if the topic is new or relevant to a broad community.
Experience has shown that tutorials on a very basic level -- especially introductions to mainstream languages -- are out.
Surveys and advanced topics (including advanced topics on programming languages) are often much more successful.
ECOOP participants are usually quite experienced in some area of object-orientation and come to a tutorial in order to get insight into some new area.

If you think that you are highly experienced in a certain area of object-orientation and that others could benefit from sharing this experience with you, you should submit a proposal.

What should a proposal look like?

To make the evaluation process easier, please write your proposal according to the following scheme. Proposals adhering to this form will be truly preferred. We prefer to receive proposals by electronic mail.

Title

Select an expressive title that captures the contents of your tutorial well without being too long.
Remember that the title must be attractive and should make a reader curious.
In exceptional cases we may re-edit the title in order to make it consistent with other tutorial titles.

Speaker(s)

Give the full name and address of the tutorial speaker.
If there are multiple speakers, give this information for all of them but clearly specify who the contact person is.
Don't forget to specify the electronic mail address.

Abstract

Give a concise description of the contents and goals of your tutorial.
The abstract will be used for the Advance Program.
It should not be longer than 150 words.
If it is longer, be prepared to have it cut or re-edited.

Outline

This information will be used by the tutorial committee for reviewing the detailed tutorial contents.
The outline should be a table of contents of the tutorial, with a few keywords for each section, and with a rough estimate of the time spent on each.

Duration

Tutorials can be half-day or full-day.
Half-day tutorials are preferred. A half-day tutorial should last for 3.5 hours including a half an hour break.
A full-day tutorial should last for 7 hours including two half an hour and excluding the lunch break.

Level

The tutorial level can be introductory (requires almost no experience with object-orientation), intermediate (assumes knowledge of object-oriented concepts but little or no experience with the tutorial's subject), or advanced (assumes several years of practical experience with object-orientation and preferably also some experience with the tutorial's subject).

Required experience

Clearly state what knowledge you expect from your participants.
This information will be included in the Advance Program.
It should not be longer than 20 words.

Expected audience

Who should attend this tutorial?
How will the participants benefit from attending?

Speaker's profile

Describe your affiliation, interests and experience.
It should be clear from this text that you are the right person to give this tutorial.

Speaker's profile for the Advance Program

Provide a short version of the Speaker's profile to be included in the Advance Program.
It should not be longer than 40 words.

Tutorial resume

Has this tutorial been given before?
How many participants were there?
If available, please specify the ratings that the participants gave to your tutorial.

Equipment

Please specify the equipment you need, e.g., number of slide projectors, video projection facilities, computer tables, power plugs, paper boards, etc.
Note that we may not be able to provide computers for all the participants.

Presentations

If the tutorial has been given before, please include at least the first 5 pages of your handouts.
If the tutorial is new, it would still be useful to include a few sample slides that let the committee judge the expected quality of the presentation.

What should a tutorial look like?

If you never presented a tutorial before here are some suggestions that may help you in preparing your presentation.

When preparing the tutorial, keep your audience in mind.
People don't pay for a tutorial in order to hear things that they already know or that are irrelevant for their work.
So don't be vague, don't waste time with lengthy introductions, but speak to the point.
Don't try to impress the audience with the amount of your research, but convey practical knowledge and ideas that the participants will find useful for their own work.
Whenever possible, use examples and case studies and avoid lengthy abstract passages.
Also consider demonstrations on video or an overhead panel.
In order to get an audience as homogeneous as possible, clearly state which knowledge you expect from the participants in the tutorial description.

Slides and notes

You will have to prepare tutorial notes for the participants.
These handouts usually contain copies of the slides that you show.
Here are a few guidelines for preparing the slides and the handouts.
Use at least a 14 pt (or better an 18 pt) font on all of your slides.
A good slide should not just repeat everything you say but summarize your presentation.
Use short phrases and keywords instead of full sentences.
People cannot read as fast as you speak. Make heavy use of pictures and examples.
Consider also using the blackboard for short examples.
Use colors where they are helpful, but remember that they will not appear in the black and white handouts.
Don't put too much or too little material on a single slide.
A good rule of thumb is to spend 3 minutes per slide.
Don't include slides that you will skip in the presentation; people will find that annoying.
You will have to deliver the tutorial notes in camera-ready form (see the deadline below).
We request that you send them as hard copy, so consider the postage delay to meet the deadline.
To avoid wasting paper, copy two slides on a single page (reduced size). The printed area of such a page must not exceed 27 x 17cm (10.5 x 6.7 inch).
In addition to the slide copies, also consider providing full-text handouts (papers, summaries, bibliography, etc.). Participants will appreciate that.
The maximum length of the notes for a half-day tutorial should be 50 pages for slide copies and another 20 pages for full-text material. For full-day tutorials these numbers can be doubled.
Try to achieve good printing quality.
We will add an uniform cover page to all tutorial notes.

Presentation

The participants expect that your presentation will be much easier to understand than a book about the same subject.
Thus speak clearly and lively. Try to interact with your audience.
Encourage them to ask questions.
A presentation is much more lively if it also includes examples and demonstrations on the blackboard, on video or on an overhead panel.
Tutorials should be split into sessions of 1.5 hours each with a 0.5 hour coffee break in between.
Don't overrun your tutorial time. After the tutorial the participants will be asked to assess the tutorial with a questionnaire.
A good rating will help you when applying for other tutorials in the future.

Compensation

ECOOP is a non-profit conference that offers high-quality knowledge at a reasonable price. Therefore we cannot pay as much as commercial organizations. Nevertheless, giving a tutorial at ECOOP is attractive, since it brings you into contact with people of similar interests and is a good reference for your career track.

Honorarium

The honorarium will be €500 for a half-day tutorial and €850 for a full-day tutorial. Multiple speakers will decide how the honorarium is to be split.

Travel compensation

A travel compensation of up to €475 (or up to €750 for long distance trips) will be paid for every tutorial. The compensation will be based on Lufthansa economic air fares augmented by the amount to cover surface transportations between Airport and the conference site. The travel reimbursement will be allowed upon reception of the tickets, which will not be returned. Multiple speakers will have to decide to whom the forfeit reimbursement is to be allocated.

Hotel

Accommodation expenses will be covered up to two nights.

Conference

Tutorial speakers will have free registration for the first two days of the conference (Monday and Tuesday), which includes access to workshops and free lunches and coffee breaks.

Cancellation

Note that a tutorial that does not attract a minimum number of participants until the early registration deadline may be cancelled by the ECOOP 2003 organization. In this case, the speaker will be notified and no compensation will be due to the tutorial speaker. However, we shall still grant him or her a free registration to the event during Monday and Tuesday, excluding any refund of travel or lodging expenses.