Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies

The APRICOT Programme Committee

APRICOT's Programme Committee constructs the tutorial and conference programme for APRICOT. This programme includes the APRICOT Peering Forum, Lightning Talks, BoF session, as well as the standard conference presentations and tutorials.

Programme Committee Structure

The APRICOT Programme Committee consists of a Chair, a co-chair and a small group of people from the Internet community in the Asia Pacific region, including a representative from the local host to help ensure that the content is suitably balanced for the needs of the local economy.

The APNOG Board formally endorses the Chair and Co-Chair of the Programme Committee following nomination by the APNOG Executive Director. Membership of the Programme Committee is by volunteer. APNIC recommends two members of technical staff who are suitably qualified to join the PC. And the APRICOT local partner similarly recommends two suitably qualified volunteers from the local community (or NOG) to join the APRICOT PC.

In September prior to the event, the Programme Chairs will issue a call for volunteers. All volunteers supply an expression of interest and state their qualification to be on the PC, as well as prior experience on other Programme Committees for similar events. The PC Chairs select, the most appropriate of the volunteers to form a PC. Some will be continuing members of the PC, others will be new to the PC having participated previously as speakers or in other APRICOT roles. The proposed PC membership is endorsed by the APNOG Board, at the request of the Executive Director. PC membership is to be no more than 20 participants, including the Chairs.

The Programme Committee serves for one APRICOT event only - the committee is then disbanded at the conclusion of that APRICOT event.

Programme Committee Chair Activities

The Programme Committee Chairs are responsible for the management of the PC and the development of the programme for the APRICOT conference days.

As noted in the previous section, they run the call for volunteers for PC membership and select those who qualify to join the PC. They publish the call for presentations, run the regular PC meetings, request publication of the content accepted after each PC meeting and, nearer the event, develop first the outline and then the final layout of the conference programme. They also supervise the volunteers who have joined the PC to ensure that members are soliciting content, reviewing the proposals, and participating in PC calls.

At APRICOT itself, the PC Chairs themselves are active during the event, ensuring that session chairing is working well, introducing tutorial presenters, and monitoring the general smooth flow of the technical programme. They also keep the APRICOT Secretariat informed if any details on the website need updating and indicate on the paper upload system provided by the website development team when a presentation should be published. One of the PC Chairs participates in the Newcomers event on the morning of the first conference day, to brief newcomers to APRICOT about how the programme works, the highlights of the three days, and encouraging future participation as a contributor to APRICOT.

On conclusion of APRICOT, they will review the website, making sure that all presentation content has been published, using the correct slide decks. And they will wind down PC activities before disbanding the PC for another year.

Programme Committee Activities

The Programme Committee meets soon after their appointment at the end of September prior to the conference. Their first meeting is usually to get to know each other, discuss goals for the upcoming conference, and agree on the Call for Contributions/Papers.

The Programme Committee sends out a call for contributions for the APRICOT Conference and Tutorial sessions at the start of October. The critical deadlines for the programme development are as follows - these are approximate dates and should serve as guideline only:

Apart from the regular NOG lists in the region, the PC members will also share the call for presentations to their local NOG list.

The schedule mentioned above is only a guideline and will vary from year to year, usually only by a few days, depending on when the first day of APRICOT occurs, and also so that it matches with weekends, holidays, etc.

Programme Committee Meetings

The Programme Committee will meet regularly by conference call after it has been formed. Usually, initial meetings are on a fortnightly basis, but starting from December through to the conference itself, the meetings occur on a weekly basis. The meetings are usually short, sufficient time to review the proposals received since the last conference call. The conference call will be arranged by the APNOG Secretariat at the request of the PC Chair and/or Co-Chair, at a time which is suitable for the majority (or all) of the PC members.

The PC Chairs will request PC members to assist with shepherding content proposed for the conference by working with the prospective presenter to adjust their slide decks according to PC feedback and suggestions. This mentorship is vitally important to ensuring the continued high quality of programme content that APRICOT is renowned for.

PC members who don't participate in the PC calls and/or who are not reviewing content (very much) will be reminded by the PC Chairs as to the promise they made when volunteering. A review is substantive commentary about the content, not simply a "+1" to other reviewer comments. PC members who are unable to fulfil their promise of full participation will likely be requested to step down from the PC, and the opportunity offered to someone who is more willing or has more time available.

Programme Presentation Proposals

The paper review system used by APRICOT was originally developed in the early 2000s and has been substantially enhanced over the following 20 years. It is hosted by APNIC as a community service for the whole Internet community to use, and many NOGs in the Asia Pacific region (and elsewhere) use it for their conference presentation submission and review work. The facility for the current APRICOT is setup on request by the PC Chairs to the APRICOT Secretariat and is laid out with the deadlines and the programme structure. The PC members are added when they are finalised by the PC Chairs.

Presentation proposals to be considered for tutorials or conference talks must include presentation title, abstract, draft slides (as PDFs), and biography. While the paper review system will accept OpenOffice and PowerPoint formats as well, these are only required for final slides - reviews are easiest to perform (and strongly preferred) when PDFs are supplied. Absence of draft slides significantly reduces the likelihood of the submission being accepted. The draft slides do not have to be the final slides, but they should give a good indication as to the topic and content of the presentation - but more than placeholders for content.

Failure by speakers to submit materials for review by the presentation proposal deadline means that they forfeit their speaking opportunity. The Programme Committee will call on waitlisted speakers to fill the vacant slots.

Programme Committee On-Site at APRICOT

Programme committee members who have been actively involved in developing the programme for APRICOT, through constructive reviews of proposed content, soliciting content for consideration for the Programme, and general participation at the PC meetings will be offered complimentary registration to attend APRICOT itself. This benefit is at the discretion of the PC Chairs - being on the PC itself is no guarantee of complimentary participation.

PC members are also expected to volunteer to chair conference sessions (if their experience and skillset allow them to do so).

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