COMPUTERS, FREEDOM, AND PRIVACY CONFERENCE CFP2008 Proposal SUBMISSIONS GUIDE

GeneralTutorialsPlenary SessionsBirds-of-a-Feather Sessions

All submissions must be made using the CFP2008 electronic submission system. You may choose to email your submission, in which case a destination address will be provided after you fill out contact and other basic information on the submission form. Submitters' contact information will be used only for contact about submissions and to send information about the CFP conference. Tutorial, and plenary submissions must be received by January 24, 2008. BOF proposals must be submitted by April 30, 2008.

If you have an idea for a session or other activity but do not have a complete session proposal, please use the "topic or activity" suggestion form. If you would like to nominate a speaker, please use the "speaker" suggestion form. The program committee will give preference to complete session proposals, but will consider these suggestions as well. We are particularly interested in suggestions for keynote speakers.

When providing information about proposed presenters, please do not send us each presenter's entire resume! Just let us know a few relevant details.

The program committee may accept parts of submissions without accepting the entire submission. For example, the program committee might combine multiple proposals, or take a session topic but fill it in with different speakers. Where submissions are combined with others, the submitter’s contribution will be acknowledged in the program.

CFP does not generally provide speaker honoraria. We will waive the conference registration fees for speakers from academic, non-profit, and government institutions (except for BOFs). In addition, travel funding may be available for some speakers through the CFP scholarship programs or on a case-by-case basis.


GeneralTutorialsPlenary SessionsBirds-of-a-Feather Sessions

We are particularly interested in half day tutorials (3 hours, including break) that provide a crash course in a topic of interest to CFP audiences. For example, tutorials on cyberspace law for non-lawyers and encryption for non-technical people have been popular in the past. We will also consider 1 and 1/2 hour tutorials and full day tutorials.

Tutorials may be presented by a single presenter or a team of presenters. Tutorials should be submitted by one of the proposed presenters. If you have an idea for a tutorial but are not proposing to present it, please submit it as a "topic or activity suggestion.”

> Example tutorial submission


GeneralTutorialsPlenary SessionsBirds-of-a-Feather Sessions

Plenary sessions are sessions held in the main ballroom that will be attended by almost all of the conference attendees (about 500 people). They generally take the form of a panel discussion or debate, but we enthusiastically encourage other formats including talk shows, games, moot courts, role plays, and other creative ideas. Plenary sessions are 1 to 2 hours, and should include at least 20 minutes for audience questions and discussion. When they take the form of a panel discussion, we recommend that the panel include 3 to 5 participants (including a moderator).

Plenary sessions should be organized by the submitter (with help from the program committee). The submitter may optionally also be one of the presenters, but that is not required. We prefer submissions in which all the proposed presenters have been confirmed by the submitter. However, we will also consider submissions in which not all the speakers are confirmed, especially if you list alternative speakers in case your top choices are not available. You might also list a type of person rather than name specific people (for example, an academic intellectual property lawyer, or a musician who distributes music on the Internet for free). However, it is helpful if you can list some possible names so that the program committee may be confident that you will be able to find the kind of people you describe.

If you have an idea for a plenary session but are not proposing to organize it, please submit it as a "topic or activity suggestion."

> Example plenary session submission


GeneralTutorialsPlenary SessionsBirds-of-a-Feather Sessions

BOFs are informal evening sessions, usually attended by anywhere from 10 to 50 conference participants. They may include presentations, group discussions, open meetings of organizations, or informal opportunities for people with a common interest to meet each other. BOFs are frequently used to as the jumping off point for ongoing collaborative activity on a given technical or policy issue. We encourage BOFs that will lead to future activity. BOF submitters should be prepared to organize the BOF they submit.

> Example BOF session submission