You might ask yourself, “Why should I present a poster at the SIGUCCS conference?  What’s in it for me?” Well, there are plenty of good reasons you should present a poster!  You’ll get valuable experience in presenting, experience writing a conference paper, and you’ll also get to network with other people who might be doing similar work.

Don’t be intimidated by the word “presentation” – the poster session does involve presenting, but on a smaller scale.  You’ll get to talk directly to people who are interested in your poster and what you’re presenting about, as opposed to a room full of attendees.  You’ll also gain valuable experience in writing a short research paper for a conference – and your paper will be published in the ACM Digital Library.  Sharing information about interesting projects you’ve been working on at your university is definitely a plus – and with the poster format, you can talk about topics that might not quite fit into a typical presentation format.  And last, but certainly not least, poster presenting is fun!  You can be creative with your posters to help make them stand out and be more eye-catching, and you’ll get to talk with all sorts of people who are curious about what you’re presenting on.

What’s the process like?

The process for submitting a proposal and preparing to present is pretty straightforward.  The first thing you’ll want to do is figure out what you want to present about.  Once you’ve decided on a topic, you’ll write up your proposal abstract – aim for 150-250 words for your abstract.  This can be tough, especially if you have a lot you want to talk about, but remember this: whatever you don’t cover in the abstract, you can talk about in your poster and its accompanying paper.  When you’ve written up that proposal, the next step is submitting it!  The deadline for proposals has been extended to February 16th, so you’ve got a little extra time to put together and submit your proposal.

After your proposal’s been submitted and accepted (which is exciting on its own!), then you get to write the paper that your poster will be based off of.  While writing a paper might sound intimidating, keep in mind this one will be short (2-4 pages), and you get the additional bonus of your paper being published!  The paper writing process will also help you organize your thoughts before making your poster, and help guide you in the poster creation process.

Speaking of the poster creation process: once your paper is written, you can get to work on its accompanying poster!  This is where the fun starts – be creative in presenting your content.  You want to catch the attention of your fellow conference-goers, and get them interested in your poster.  If you’re not sure where to start on your poster, Indiana University’s UITS IT Training has an award-winning and publicly available resource on creating research posters here: https://iu.instructure.com/courses/1590156/

After finishing your poster, the last step in the process is to wait eagerly for the poster session at this year’s conference.  That might be hard, especially if you’re writing about something very exciting, but the wait will be completely worth it.

Let’s fill the poster session at the SIGUCCS Annual Conference with exciting posters about all the interesting projects we’ve been working on this year – submit your proposal today!

http://siguccs.org/Conference/2018/call-for-proposals/

–Beth Lynn Nolen

Why is a written paper required to present at the SIGUCCS Annual Conference?

As part of our sponsorship with ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), SIGUCCS is responsible for contributing to scholarship in the computing sector. We are just one of a number of special interest groups associated with ACM (https://www.acm.org/special-interest-groups).

The ACM Digital Library (DL) (https://www.acm.org/publications/digital-library) is the world’s most comprehensive database of full-text articles and bibliographic literature covering computing and information technology.  The DL is designed to facilitate information dissemination and sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration for computing professionals, practitioners, researchers, and educators. ACM also sponsors a number of publications (https://www.acm.org/publications/about-publications) and expects its membership to contribute. Your SIGUCCS membership entitles you to access all SIGUCCS-submitted content!

You may think writing a paper is a huge undertaking order to give a presentation, however, the paper writing process fulfills several objectives.

• Organization: Writing the paper helps you organize your thoughts around your presentation. It does that early in the process, not the week (or night) before your presentation. By the time of the conference, you should have a great presentation put together!
• Professional Development: The paper you write is an official publication and adds to your resume. How many IT staff can boast about their publications?
• Editing & Review:  Your paper is reviewed by peers before publication. A team of SIGUCCS volunteers works together to make sure that your paper is put together logically and thoughtfully. This helps make sure that you look your best when you present! Would you like to be part of the SIGUCCS 2018 paper review team? Email siguccs2018@docs.siguccs.org

Consider presenting at SIGUCCS! Don’t let the paper writing process stop you! Submit a proposal today. http://siguccs.org/Conference/2018/call-for-proposals/

• Lisa Brown
• Laurie Fox

Many of us already know the old platitude about why you should present at a conference: “It’s an opportunity to share professional knowledge and experiences to industry peers.” At the annual SIGUCCS conference, typical reasons for giving a presentation include gaining professional experience, sharing your institution’s successes and/or lessons learned, and providing an exposure opportunity for your staff. In some cases it can also be an incentive for your  institution to fund your conference costs.

But there’s another why for submitting a proposal.

Ask yourself, “When I’m at the SIGUCCS Annual Conference  in Orlando this October, what presentations would I be interested in attending?”

What excites you about your daily work? What challenges have you conquered in your profession? What are topics that you feel that other IT professionals in higher education may be interested in learning more about? What subjects would inspire you to reach for the stars?

Not sure where to start? Past SIGUCCS conference attendees have presented (and learned) valuable lessons related to implementation of new technologies, management strategies, budgeting dilemmas, creative professional development opportunities, communication approaches, development of organizational culture, and personal effectiveness improvements. In many cases, compelling presentations cover more than one area.

Maybe you already have some ideas about what you would be interested in presenting at the SIGUCCS 2018 Conference.  If not, some topics of interest might include (these examples are from past SIGUCCS conferences):

• Selecting and implementing technology solutions to comply with privacy regulations (e.g., FERPA, institutional requirements)
• Transitioning email storage system from on-site storage to a cloud-based solution while maintaining high availability and data security
• Deploying a new Content Management System on campus with no additional staffing or budget—while meeting deadlines
• Elevating student staff morale and body of knowledge by using a badge-based gamification approach
• Safeguarding the continuity of institutional leadership by investing in succession planning
• Communicating technology changes to campus to an audience that is change-averse
• Overhauling customer-facing documentation by inspiring readers to take action —instead of littering pages with confusing technical jargon
• Redeploying and reorganizing staff and budget after an organizational overhaul —while maintaining high level of customer satisfaction
• Researching print management solutions in campus labs which led to more effective administration and reduced paper costs
• Leveraging a real-time social media platform to create an innovative signage system for pushing campus-wide alerts

These are just some of the launch points for a proposal. They appeal to attendee’s curiosities and successfully address the “what’s in it for me?”).

Presentation topics are everywhere in your daily work. With a myriad of possibilities, it’s not a matter of whether or not to submit a proposal—it’s a matter of deciding which idea to propose!

When proposing, don’t be afraid of the “snowflake syndrome”—or being afraid that no one will be interested in a topic that seems unique to your institution. Although no two schools are identical, SIGUCCS members share similar challenges and concerns. They are more than happy to take away valuable lessons learned from your presentation!

Your proposals can take shape in many formats. Interested in diving into a topic from several angles and perspectives? Collaborate with your peers from other institutions to co-present a proposal for a talk or panel discussion. Do you have an exciting idea but have concerns that it may not be deep enough for a full session? No worries—propose a Lightning Talk! Do you have visual poster or instructions that helped solve challenges at your school? Develop a  poster presentation.

With so compelling presentation topics, having to decide which sessions to attend at SIGUCCS 2018 is a problem that many attendees will be more than happy to entertain. Let’s make that happen — submit your proposal!

SIGUCCS 2018 Conference proposals are due February 2. Learn more about conference proposals at siguccs.org/Conference/2018/call-for-proposals/

~ Mo Nishiyama