Committee Contact Information
If you need to contact a member of the conference staff, please email [email protected].
If there is an emergency, please contact a DEFNA board member (Stacey Haysler or Craig Bruce) at (415) 295-2728, Lacey Williams Henschel at (512) 677-7851, or Jeff Triplett at (785) 813-1840. If your physical safety or the physical safety of others is at risk, please dial 911.
Important Numbers
Conference staff will be happy to help participants contact venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance.
- University of Pennsylvania Division of Public Safety: (215) 898-8611
- University of Pennsylvania Division of Public Safety - Special Services: (215) 573-3333 (Emergencies), and (215) 898-7297 (General Information)
- Penn Women's Center: (215) 898-8611
- Penn Medicine: (215) 662-4000
Schedule
The full conference schedule is here. The spreadsheet of the schedule of volunteers is here, if you need a reminder of which shift you volunteered for!
Sunday, July 17: Tutorials
- 8:00 am: Breakfast, 8th floor
- 9:00 am: Tutorials in Classrooms F-45, F-50, and F-55
- 12:30 pm: Lunch on the 8th floor
- 1:30 pm: Tutorials in Classrooms F-45 and F-50
- 1:30 pm: Swag bag stuffing in the MBA Lounge and Cafe
- 5:15 pm: Orientation in Classroom F-55
Monday, July 18: Talks Day 1
- 8:00 am: Breakfast on the 8th floor
- 9:00 am: Keynote in Auditorium G-06
- 10:30 am: Talks in Auditorium G-06 and Classroom F-95
- 12:00 pm: Lightning talks in Auditorium G-06
- 12:00 pm: Lunch on the 8th floor
- 1:30 pm: Talks in Auditorium G-06 and Classroom F-95
- 6:00 pm: Opening reception at North Bowl Lounge and Lanes. More information here.
Tuesday, July 19: Talks Day 2
- 8:00 am: Breakfast on the 8th floor
- 9:30 am: Keynote in Auditorium G-06
- 11:00 am: Talks in Auditorium G-06 and Classroom F-95
- 12:00 pm: Lightning talks in Auditorium G-06
- 12:00 pm: Lunch on the 8th floor
- 1:30 pm: Talks in Auditorium G-06 and Classroom F-95
Wednesday, July 20: Talks Day 3
- 8:00 am: Breakfast on the 8th floor
- 10:00 am: Keynote in Auditorium G-06
- 11:30 am: Talks in Auditorium G-06 and Classroom F-95
- 12:00 pm: Lightning talks in Auditorium G-06
- 12:00 pm: Lunch on the 9th floor
- 1:30 pm: Talks in Auditorium G-06 and Classroom F-95
Thursday, July 21: Sprints Day 1
- 9:00 am - 5:00 pm: Sprints in Classrooms F-45, F-50, and F-55
Friday, July 22: Sprints Day 2
- 9:00 am - 5:00 pm: Sprints in Classrooms F-45, F-50, and F-55
Rooms
- Speaker Green Room: F-55
- Quiet Room: F-36 on Monday-Friday (F-55 on Sunday afternoon)
- Nursing/Lactation Room: The data center is private and lockable, but is only accessible by Wharton employees. Please send people who would like a private nursing room to the registration desk so they can get access.
In case of a sudden cancellation
If a speaker is unable to go on (due to a medical, personal, or any other issue), reassure them that it is okay. When something comes up and a speaker cannot proceed with their talk, it's common for them to feel as if they are letting the community down. This is not the case!
Session Runner: Contact a member of the conference staff as soon as possible when you discover that a speaker will be unable to go on.
Session Chair: Once you've confirmed that a speaker is unable to go on, consider the following options:
- Extended Q&A with the preceding speaker (with their permission, of course)
- Announcement that, due to unforeseen circumstances, this talk has been cancelled, with encouragement for everyone to either attend the other talk or take part in the "hallway track"
Make sure that a member of the conference staff knows what happened as soon as possible so they can reach out to the speaker.
Session Chairs
If a speaker violates the Code of Conduct
If a presenter says something, or has a slide in their talk, that violates the Code of Conduct, contact the conference staff as soon as you can. If it's not that big of a deal, let us know, but don't stop the talk. If their talk is completely outside the realm of acceptable behavior, interrupt the speaker, discontinue the talk, and contact conference staff immediately.
Presentations or similar events should not be stopped for one-time gaffes or minor problems, although a member of conference staff should speak to the presenter afterward (which means that session chairs should notify conference staff if these gaffes occur). If you are not sure if a talk needs to be stopped, step out of the talk, call conference staff, and ask us to come review the talk ASAP. (415) 295-2728 will reach a DEFNA board member at all times.
Session chairs should take immediate action to politely and calmly stop any presentation or event that repeatedly or seriously violates the anti-harassment policy.
For example, simply say "I'm sorry, this presentation cannot be continued at the present time" with no further explanation. If you have to stop a presentation or event for this reason, contact conference staff as soon as possible to let them know.
An example of a minor violation that does not warrant stopping the talk: A single slide that makes an inappropriate joke at the expense of a marginalized group. You should contact conference staff after the session so we can review with the speaker, but there is no need to stop the talk.
An example of a major violation that warrants stopping the talk: Most slides use sexual or racist imagery; and/or the speaker continually and repeatedly makes derogatory remarks or jokes at the expense of a marginalized group. "I'm sorry, but we won't be able to continue this talk at this time" is a useful script in this situation.
Before your sessions
- Be in the speaker green room at least 15 minutes before your session.
- Grab spare water bottles to bring with you. (There will be spare water in the podium.)
- Grab the warning signs for 15, 10, and 5 minutes.
- Walk down to your talk room. Double check that you have a schedule, and 15/10/5/stop signs.
Know your speaker
- Read the talk description.
- Verify the pronunciation of your speaker's name.
- Speak to them beforehand and ask them if there's anything they'd like you to mention in their bio. For example, their open-source projects, the company they work for, and anything else that will make the audience excited to hear them speak. Remember that most of the audience likely has no idea who the speaker is, and just picked the talk because the topic was more compelling than the other track.
- Ask your speaker if they plan to take questions, and let them know it's okay not to take questions.
Keep track of time
- Know the times your speaker's talk begins and ends, and remind them before they start speaking.
- Ask them beforehand whether they would like to leave time for questions, and if so how long (generally five minutes).
- Make sure you have the 15, 10, and 5-minute warning signs, and flash them to the speaker when they have that number of minutes remaining. Make sure they know that "5" means five minutes until they wrap up for questions, not that the session is almost over. It's also okay to use your hands to count minutes 10 and 5; some speakers prefer hand signals to paper signs.
Begin the applause
- When your speaker says "thank you," be ready to start the applause if the silence hangs a moment too long. It's surprising how quickly the whole room will follow you. Kind of like a super-power. Remember to do this both at the end of the talk and after the last question.
Ask the first question
- Possibly your most important responsibility is to pay close attention and come up with one or two questions during the talk. Then, when Q&A begins, immediately stand up and ask the first question unless you see someone else already headed for the microphone. This helps the audience by giving them time to think of questions, breaks the ice by saving everyone else from "going first," and keeps your speaker relaxed. Standing on stage to an audience of silence can be unnerving.
- For a great back-story on this, check out this posting by Russell Keith-Magee: http://cecinestpasun.com/entries/i-can-haz-question-or-five/
Q&A
Q&A options for speakers
- Q&A, “no Q&A” and “in-person Q&A after the talk” are valid options.
- Another option for you to consider is to hand out index cards during the talk. Then you ask the speaker all the questions. This way you can personally vet the questions and weed out humblebrag/non-questions (there are often a lot of these in Q&As unfortunately).
- Volunteer to introduce Q&A
Script session chairs can use while introducing Q&A
- Thank you {speaker}! We've got a few minutes for questions now, so come to the microphone if you've got one. I would ask that you use this time only for questions directed at the speaker, though; please save your comments for after the recorded portion of the talk.
- Before we open up the Q&A, we want to remind the audience to keep your questions short, on-topic, and respectful. If they're not, the speaker and the Q&A moderator may cut you off or decline to answer your question.
- A similar script could be given to speakers to help them frame the Q&A
Scripts session chairs can use to deal with unhelpful questions
- I’m very sorry to interrupt, but in the interest of fairness, please ask only one question at a time.
- I'm very sorry to interrupt, but at this point we're looking for questions only. Please save comments and feedback for later.
- I’m sorry, but in the interest of time I need to move on to the next person
Session Runners
Before each talk
- Plan to be in the speaker green room at least 15 minutes before your session.
- Make sure you know the location of the room your speaker is speaking in.
- Meet your speaker.
- Test their laptop if they request your help.
- Prompt them to upload their slides to Speakerdeck or another service so they can share their slides with the audience after the conference.
- Ask if your speaker has any special requirements; laptop audio, physical demos, etc. If so: check with the A/V crew to make sure their requests are met.
- Leave for your talk 5 minutes before it is scheduled to begin, and bring a bottle of water for the speaker with you.
In the talk room
- Introduce your speaker to the session chair.
- Help the previous speaker disconnect their laptop, and plug in your speaker's laptop.
- Double check that the speaker has water.
- Help move people milling around from the previous talk; suggest they continue discussions in the hallway.
- Return to the green room 15 minutes before your next talk starts.
Code of Conduct
Part of your job as a volunteer is to help us make sure everyone is following the Code of Conduct. Your biggest job in that regard is to let us know when you see someone violating the Code of Conduct, or when someone tells you that they’ve experienced harassment. To that end, we’ve created some guidelines that will make this part of your job easier.
Violations of the Code of Conduct
- If someone comes to you about a violation of the Code of Conduct, contact a member of the Code of Conduct staff: Jeff Triplett at (785) 813-1840, Stacey Haysler at (415) 937-1852, or Lacey Williams Henschel at (512) 677-7851; or contact a DEFNA board member at (415) 295-2728.
- Let the person who’s reported to you know that you have contacted us.
- Offer to stay with that person until they are connected with a member of the conference staff. If they would like to contact a friend, hotel security, law enforcement, or anyone else, offer to help them do that.
- Do not make any public statements about the behavior of individual people during or after the conference. This includes commenting on social media. Respect the reporter's privacy by not sharing unnecessary details with others, especially individuals who were not involved with the situation or non-staff members.
You should not attempt to investigate a Code of Conduct violation, or attempt to resolve the issue.
Thank you
We couldn't do this without your help! Thank you for giving of your time to make DjangoCon US a success.