Finalize hotel room rate and obtain hotel booking link
A/V
Gather quotes for A/V. Include cost of projectors, microphones, and recording for 2 rooms across 3 days.
Gather quotes for live captioning
Budget
Start thinking about budget, especially budget for new activities
Website and Graphics
Gather quotes for new website design and implementation
7-8 Months Out
Organizers
Former chairs help onboard new chairs
Recruit team members, especially leads for Program, Opportunity Grants, Sponsors, Communucation
Schedule initial meetings with team leads and former chairs
Logistics
Start thinking about overall deadlines for call for proposals, opportunity grants, etc.
Budget
Finalize budget
Finalize ticket prices
Tickets
Create conference tickets in Ti.to or other ticketing software
Set questions for name, company, dietary restrictions, t-shirt sizes, etc.
Create "invisible" ticket types for organizers, speakers, opportunity grant receipients, sponsors
Create "visible" ticket types for:
Patron
Corporate
Corporate Early Bird
Individual
Individual Early Bird
Discounted (limit one per purchase)
Morning tutorial
Afternoon tutorial
Sprint Day 1
Sprint Day 2
Donation
Create ticket refund policy and ensure it's posted prominently
Sponsors
Put together sponsorship prospectus. If possible, use new logos
A/V
Finalize selection of A/V vendor
DEFNA finalizes contracts with A/V vendor
Budget permitting, finalize selection of live captioning vendor
Website and Graphics
Finalize vendor selection
Start working with vendor to develop:
Logo
Website design
Sticker design
Patch design
Bag design
T-shirt design
Other swag ideas (speaker gifts, for example)
Work on website copy
6 Months Out
Organizers
Hold initial organizer meetings
Communicate deadlines, overall conference plan
Onboard new organizers and make sure they have proper access to Trello, Slack, etc.
Program
Finalize Call for Proposals copy in Papercall or other CFP software
Finalize deadlines:
Call for Proposals open
Call for Proposals close
Reviewing papers begins
Reviewing papers ends
Final talk selection
Initial acceptances
How long do speakers have to accept their slot?
Second wave of acceptances
Final notices (including rejections)
Open Call for Proposals
Opportunity Grants
Finalize form for applying for opportunity grants
Finalize deadlines:
Grant application opens
Grant application closes
Reviewing begins
Reviewing ends
Allocation for speakers
Allocation for non-speakers
Final notifications
Tickets
Make sure opportunity grant and speaker tickets have been created, and give those teams the ticket codes
Sponsors
Continue to recruit sponsors
Website and Graphics
Finalize website copy
Communication
Start regularly scheduling tweets and Facebook posts to promote things like ticket sales, hotel bookings, sponsorship opportunities, the Call for Proposals being open, the Opportunity Grant application being open
Inclusion and Accessibility
Make sure venue accessibility information is on the website
Make sure Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are on the website
Make sure Code of Conduct is on the website and is up to date
Start researching emergency information that is local to the host city
Nearest hospital
Local police
Rape crisis center
5 Months Out
Organizers
Continue to hold regular organizer meetings
Make sure to work with each other across teams to communicate needs, ask for help, etc.
Program
Start recruiting reviewers
Recruit diverse applicants
Contact community groups and other conferences to encourage their members to submit
Recruit speakers on desired topics
Prepare list of topics you'd like to make sure the conference covers
Get a head start on reviewing talks
Opportunity Grants
Recruit diverse applicants
Promote application to community groups and other conferences
Get a head start on reviewing applications
Tickets
Monitor ticket sales.
As we run out of early-bird tickets, update website.
Sponsors
Continue to recruit sponsors
Work with communication team for sponsor blog posts and social media posts
Communication
Plan blog posts for this months. Possible topics include:
Call for Proposals
Opportunity Grant application
Call for reviewers
Call for sponsors
Inclusion and Accessibility
Research international travel requirements
Work with communication team to communicate travel requirements
Prepare child care application
Communicate child care application on website, on social media
4 Months Out
Program
Review talks and tutorials
"Kittendome" to select final talks and tutorials. Set aside some talks for waitlist.
Run list of speakers by the DSF Code of Conduct Committee
Get speaker ticket code
Send out initial round of acceptance letters
Communicate accepted speakers to Opportunity Grants team to coordinate grant
Send out second wave of acceptance letters, based on initial results
Send out final notifications
Prepare final schedule
Opportunity Grants
Review applicants
Get list of accepted speakers
Allocate for accepted speakers first. Coordinate with program team to send out opportunity grant information with speaker acceptance.
Once speakers are finalized, allocate non-speaker funds
Get opportunity grant ticket code
Send out acceptance emails
Send out final notifications, including rejections
Tickets
Monitor ticket sales.
We are likely to start running out of early-bird tickets, so monitor that
Sponsors
Continue to recruit sponsors
Work with communication team for sponsor blog posts and social media posts
Communication
Plan blog posts for this months. Possible topics include:
Early bird tickets running low
Push to book hotel
Accepted speaker list
Child care available
Work with Program and Opportunity Grants on their acceptance/rejection letters
Inclusion and Accessibility
Research international travel requirements
Work with communication team to communicate travel requirements
Prepare child care application
Communicate child care application on website, on social media