About the Conference

This is a guide to explain what the conference is, why you might want to attend, and what happens at the conference itself. We hope that this guide will help you in your decision to attend the conference and to become a regular attendee at SIGUCCS conferences each year.

What is this conference all about?

SIGUCCS is the Special Interest Group (SIG) within ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) that is intended for those who work in University and College Computing Services (UCCS). Thus the name SIGUCCS. While most of the special interest groups within ACM are for people involved in computer science, this SIG is one for those in the service area of computing. The fall user services conference is intended for professionals who are involved in end-user computing support and allows them to gather, discuss and learn about supporting and delivering services to the educational community.

What kind of staff typically attend?

Some of the areas that are represented among attendees include:

• User Services Consultants
• Help Desk Professionals
• Instructional Technologists
• Lab Supervisors
• Information Technology
• Librarians
• I.T.Managers and Directors
• Media Specialists
• Programmers
• Systems Administrators
• Technical Staff
• Technical Writers
• Trainers
• Web Designers and Developers

What can I expect from the conference?

Take a look at the technical sessions, and you can see that there are presentations that cover every area in computing services.

To get a sense of the breadth of people who attend the conference in a given year, look at our attendees list of colleges, universities and other institutions. When registration is over, you will see staff from small colleges and large universities, attendees from most of the US states and a few dozen international travelers. There are CIOs and entry level Help Desk staff. This is really the conference for everyone who does computing services at a University (and even a few attendees from high schools and other non-profit institutions.)

What is the significance of the theme, Charting Bold Courses: New Worlds in User Services?

Explorers and settlers first entered Providence through the beautiful Narragansett Bay named for the Native American tribe they encountered here. Here, at the head of the Bay, Roger Williams, a small group of settlers and the Narragansett Indian Tribe forged a colony founded on ideals of religious tolerance and freedom from persecution. It was the courage and the vision of the settlers who dared voyage beyond familiar shores, combined with the knowledge and experience of the Narragansetts, that created a solid foundation for Rhode Island, aptly nicknamed the Ocean State.
With the introduction of new technologies and technological ideas and the demand for new services, Colleges and Universities are being challenged to think beyond their shores. Those of us in User Services often push off into uncharted waters in an effort to explore more fully the ideas and technologies on the horizon, to forge new partnerships, and to discover new worlds of opportunities for growth and development. These demanding and exciting voyages are the topic for this conference: their risks, their rewards, and the people and tools that help us on our way.

How can I participate in the conference, besides attending?

There are two ways to participate in the conference, as a volunteer or as a presenter. It is never too late to volunteer to work before or at the conference. Sign up to be a volunteer and read about the volunteer opportunities on our volunteering web page. The deadline for presenting has passed for the fall.

Why is there a hospitality suite?

According to the Portland conference organizers, "The hospitality room is a place to dance, learn silly party tricks, and be merry. You have been working hard all year, you deserve some fun! And, of course, you get to meet more people, eat some snacks and then find out what REALLY works and what doesn't. Plus it's a chance to swap user stories and talk about work with people who have a new perspective but at the same time really understand what it is you do."

What meals should I expect the conference to provide, and what will I have to deal with on my own?

On the tutorial day, Wednesday, you will need to provide breakfast and lunch. If you are attending a morning tutorial, there will be light breakfast-like food at the break, and coffee of course. If you are attending an afternoon tutorial, you will get an afternoon snack. The first official food event of the conference is the sweatshirt reception (so named because you can wear your college sweatshirt to the event) where heavy hors d'oeuvres are served, which will be held Wednesday night.

Once the conference starts, breakfast will be served Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings, lunch will be served Thursday and Friday, and the Gala event on Friday will include dinner. And, of course, we will have food at the breaks both in the morning and afternoon. So, you will need to fend for yourself for dinner on Thursday night and lunch on Saturday after the conference.

What are the different types of sessions at the conference?

There are technical sessions, poster sessions, keynotes, and Birds of a Feather sessions (in addition to break times and other events where you can learn a lot just by talking to the other attendees). Technical sessions are the main events of the program. A technical session can be a paper presented by a single person or a few or a panel from different places talking about similar issues. The poster session is a time for a bunch of people from different schools, with different ideas to share, to talk one on one or in small groups with those who are interested in learning more about their topic. Usually, the presenter will have posters that explain the basics of what they want to cover, hence the name "poster session". The keynote presenters are leaders in higher education who can give you some sense of the big picture or other well known speakers on technology or higher education. And, Birds of a Feather sessions (as in Birds of a Feather flock together), or BOFs, are opportunities for you to come up with your own topics to talk about, and get together with others at the conference who are dealing with the same issues. This is also a way for the conference organizers to make sure that current issues get covered in the conference, since speakers and poster presenters have already submitted topics in May, and new issues will arise between May and November.