Got a question about MCN 2012 or conferences in general?

Ask it here and we'll answer it so everyone can benefit!

Q: What kinds of presentations and interactions can I propose?

A: MCN conference presentation formats include:

• Individual Paper: 20-30 min presentation; optional written paper (up to 5,000 words) or wiki contribution
• Case Study Showcase: 5 minute presentation followed by break-out discussions
• Complete Panel: 3-4 presenters united by a common theme
• Roundtable: moderated discussion of a theme without formal presentations by panelists
• Half-Day Workshop: hands-on learning activity for smaller groups
• Full-Day Workshop: hands-on learning activity for smaller groups
• Demos: for non-profits who want to demonstrate and road test their new digital programs, products and initiatives with conference attendees
• Unconference Session: ad hoc & informal, unconference sessions allow us to address very focused topics and specific needs [So just what is an un-conference?]
• Other... surprise and inspire us!   

If the topic or problem you most urgently need to discuss with your peers and experts in the field is not covered by the scheduled papers and sessions, then consider proposing an un-conference session.

Submission Guidelines

• The Individual Paper and Case Study Showcase formats are designed for single presenters.
• The Complete Panel, Roundtable, and Workshop formats are designed for more than one presenter. For these formats, please supply the names of all presenters – even if tentative or unconfirmed. For any unconfirmed presenters, please indicate "unconfirmed" in parentheses after the last name.
• Unconference sessions can be proposed through the normal paper proposal process on this website, or at any time until the day of the conference. We encourage you to put your ideas, however unformed, into a proposal page on this site to solicit interest and input that will help you refine your session idea.
• NOTE: Priority will be given to submissions with all necessary fields complete. Submissions with unspecified presenters will not be considered.

Q: My MCN presentation will be in a Case Study Showcase. What will the session's format and procedure be?

A: MCN's Case Study Showcase format consists of a sequence of very brief presentations, followed by breakout time at tables in the back of the room for everyone. Each case-study presentation as such has a five-minute limit, regardless of the number of people speaking about that case study. To make the changeovers in the session's first, presentational part as efficient as they can be, there is a podium at each side of the front of the room. Successive presentations alternate between the two locations. To make these transitions even easier, the group of presenters using each podium is asked to load their presentations onto one of their laptops per podium. That is, with an overall sequence like so:

Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Speaker 3
Speaker 4 and Speaker 5 [this example has 2 presenters speaking about the fourth case study]
Speaker 6

There would be these podium-specific (interleaved) sequences:

Left podium:
Speaker 1
Speaker 3
Speaker 6

Right podium:
Speaker 2
Speaker 4 and Speaker 5

The person chairing a Case Study Showcase contacts all presenters in advance to share this procedural information, to ask each podium's sub-group of presenters to work out a plan for whose laptop they'll use, to confirm the time and room location, and to ask everyone to plan to meet in the session room fifteen minutes before the start time to ensure that everything is good to go. If you have any difficulty finding someone from within your podium group who can be the laptop provider, ask your chair for help in lining one up from a fellow conference participant. Each breakout table has whatever laptops its presenters and participants bring to it.

Each podium has one wired network connection, for a total of two in the room. Internet access at breakout tables is supported by the conference wireless network. This enables more widely shared connectivity at the tables, along with the shared bandwidth factors that entails; so especially data-intensive Internet content (streaming HD video clips, anyone?) may most reliably be accessed and shown during the initial presentation from either (wired) podium--or even better, downloaded in advance to that podium's laptop for presentation from its own internal storage.

For the breakout part (second half) of each case study session, the presenters all move to tables at the back of the room. Each table is labeled with a card for one case-study topic. Everyone else gravitates to whatever table has the topic of greatest interest to them. Attendees may remain at one table with one presenter for the duration, or they may move around to other tables if and as desired. The format at each breakout table is left purposely unstructured by MCN. Presenters may choose to open things up right away with free Q&A, or they may plan to share additional material at first--as long as doing so still leaves lots of time for informal discussion and questions from attendees.

Q: What technical & AV facilities are provided to speakers as standard; what needs to be requested as extra?

A: All sessions are provided with a projector and screen. Plenary sessions are supplied with microphones as standard as well. Audio facilities (microphones, speakers) can be supplied to smaller rooms/sessions upon request. Computers and other equipment are not generally supplied but can be requested and the conference organizers will do their best to help.

If your organization has projectors, computers etc. that they can lend to the conference, this can be enormously helpful as rental costs for AV equipment are generally very high. Please contact conference@mcn.edu if you can help!