RSECon2020
Call for committee members for the Conference of Research Software Engineering 2020!
Following in the well-trodden footsteps of the past conferences, the conference committee is made up of volunteers who give their time and effort from January through to September. You don’t have to be an RSE or in the UK to join. Apart from the Programme Chair position, you don’t need experience in organising an event or conference as guidance will be given at all stages. We’re looking for people who are willing to volunteer for the RSE community and be an active part of making RSECon2020 an amazing experience for the community.
See this page for a diagram of the committee structure.
A little to explain the diagram- the Logistics Chair and Programme chair co-lead the conference committee working closely together throughout the nine months from January to September to deliver the conference. They work primarily delivering their respective area, but along with the Treasurer role form a steering group for decision making.
The Logistics and Programme roles alternate chairing the committee meetings and can step in to cover urgent tasks for each other due to absences like annual leave etc. Ideally, the Programme co-Chair would be an experienced RSE from the community and the person appointed in this role changes annually. The Programme Chair would need to attend the online meetings in UK office hours and be able to travel to the venue a few times before the conference using their own funding. This Chair will involve an interview with the Society Trustees before appointment and if appointed, the Chair will need to continue working with and reporting to the Trustees regularly. The Programme Chair does not need to be based at the venue.
The Logistics co-Chair is a role covered by a trustee from the Society of Research Software Engineering and this role is currently filled by Claire Wyatt, RSE Community Manager.
The committee is split into two working groups, Logistics and Programme.
The Logistics team consists of the Volunteer Chair, a Publicity Chair, Website chair and a Technical Venue Liaison Chair, and a Logistics Vice Chair.
The programme team consists of the Workshop Chair (Team Leader) and two team members, a Talks Chair (Team Leader) and two team members, two Chairs for the RSE Worldwide Meeting, and a Poster Chair.
The Website Chair and Diversity & Accessibility Chair work with both groups when necessary and relevant.
The Perks
It’s great fun! Seeing the conference come to life is really rewarding. You get free entry into the conference and evening social events and we have, in the past, been able to arrange for committee members to go to the talks and workshops of their choice. You will help to shape the conference format and programme and be encouraged to bring ideas to the group- you won’t just be a worker-bee!
The Commitment
The conference committee meets every two weeks for one hour usually online on a set day and time (if possible) from January to June. We would encourage committee members to attend meetings as much as possible but when that’s not possible, we’d ask that you send us your apologies and an update on your actions/area in advance to the chair. From July, meetings become more frequent taking place once a week for an hour. We do our best to stick to one hour for each meeting. The committee also communicates daily on our private slack channel for discussions and quick decisions.
You may need to work an additional hour on your tasks between meetings. Each team works together to spread the load amongst them and in the past, committee members have helped out across teams during busy periods.
Before the conference, we would ask that you arrive the night before to help with all the set up tasks and on the first conference morning, we usually arrive early to set up and welcome sponsor staff. During the conference, you would be ensuring that everything is going smoothly in your chosen area and helping out other committee members where needed.
So, you’ve read about the roles, the perks and the commitment, all that is left now is to apply for a role….. You have until the 6th January 2020 at 10am to apply. More detailed info on each role is via links below.
For a noncommittal chat about any role, please do contact Claire Wyatt, RSE Community Manager, c.wyatt @ soton.ac.uk or 02380 599692.
Role Descriptions (click for details)
Diversity & Accessibility Chair
