This page provides answers to several questions that may arise during the effort to prepare and to submit a tutorial to SC17. However, we recognize that we cannot possibly cover all questions here. If your specific question is omitted from this list, please feel free to send it to tutorials@info.supercomputing.org. We will try to answer your question promptly and if appropriate will consider adding it to those addressed here.
Are there major differences this year compared to previous years?
The major changes involve reimbursements. Travel reimbursement is now limited to airfare only. Honorariums have been increased to offset the lower travel reimbursement. A related change is in the terms used to describe the organizers, in an effort to clarify who can receive reimbursements. A “presenter” is a person who is eligible for some part of their tutorial’s honoraria, travel expense reimbursement, and/or complimentary registration. A “lead presenter” is the presenter authorized to speak for/make decisions for all of the tutorial’s presenters as recognized by the SC Tutorials Chair. A lead presenter is also considered a presenter. The person who submits the tutorial materials is assumed to be the lead presenter. An “assistant” is a person assisting with a tutorial but not designated as a presenter. These people are not eligible for the Tutorial’s Breakfast, honorarium, or travel reimbursement. A full tutorial may have at most 6 presenters and 2 assistants, while a half-day tutorial may have at most 3 presenters and 1 assistant. Including assistants requires a justification (made after a tutorial is accepted), and the request will be decided on by the SC General Chair.
The honorarium may be split between at most 4 presenters for full-day tutorials and between at most 2 presenters for half-day tutorials. Travel reimbursement is limited to airfare only, with a maximum of $600 per presenter (increased to $1000 for non-North American presenters). At most 4 presenters may claim airfare for full-day tutorials, and at most 2 presenters for half-day tutorials.
Submitters need to indicate honorarium and airfare recipients at submission. That said, they can change recipients up until October 15th.
What tutorial topics are of interest?
SC Tutorials are intended to cover a wide range of topics of interest to the HPC community. The Tutorials Committee encourages proposals for full-day (six hours) or a half-day (three hours) tutorials with broad applicability and of interest to a large fraction of the SC16 attendees. Proposals for the following areas (as well as others) are solicited:
Basic and introductory topics for expanding broader engagement
- Applications and application frameworks
- Algorithms, numerical methods and libraries
- Software engineering for portable performance and scalability
- Parallel programming methods, models, languages and environments
- Software tools for accelerators (GPGPUs, FPGA, etc.)
- Performance evaluation and/or optimization tools
- Debugging and correctness tools
- High performance I/O, storage, archive and file systems
- Big Data topics, like large databases and data mining for HPC
- High performance networking technology
- Scientific and information visualization
- Large systems administration and/or resource management
- Computer and network security
- Fault-tolerance, reliability, maintainability and adaptability
- High performance computer architecture
- Clusters and distributed systems
- Embedded-and/or reconfigurable systems
- “Hot Topics” of current interest to the SC16 community
Where should one submit a tutorial proposal?
Tutorial proposals need to be submitted electronically via the web site: https://submissions.supercomputing.org/.
How long can an SC tutorial be?
Tutorials may be proposed for either a full-day (six hours) or a half-day (three hours).
What if a topic of interest can be covered in less than three hours?
Tutorials must require three hours or six hours. Shorter subjects should be combined into a coherent theme for consideration.
How many presenters may a tutorial include?
Full-day proposals may include up to six presenters and up to two assistants, while half-day proposals may include up to three presenters and one assistant. Requests for assistants will be decided on by the SC General Chair.
What is the format of tutorial proposal submissions?
Each tutorial submission must present its course information through the web form and a PDF file. The web form requires basic tutorial information such as the title, length, presenter information, and keywords. A sample form is available at the submission website. More details on the proposal, such as goals, targeted audience and outline, should be written in the submission PDF. The submission PDF of successful tutorial proposals follows the proscribed format documented in the Call for Tutorials. Submissions are particularly encouraged to submit a draft of the full tutorial presentation as the visual aid sample.
Will network access be available when the tutorial is presented?
Tutorial submissions must clearly indicate if “hands-on” exercises are essential to the tutorial. Tutorials may indicate that they include an option for “hands-on” exercises, in which case the tutorial may be accepted with, or without, support for “hands-on” exercises. All tutorials that include hands-on sessions will be held in rooms that provide high-speed, wired-network access. Any tutorial that is accepted without “hands-on” exercises must not include any such exercises in order to avoid network access issues.
When must materials for accepted tutorials be submitted?
Accepted tutorials must submit all material in time for it to be included in the Flash storage distribution of all tutorial material. Final submission dates will be provided at the time of tutorial acceptance but typically precede the Conference by two months.
Are changes allowed to the final submitted tutorial materials?
The presentation must follow the submitted tutorial plan with potential minor extensions to present more timely material. In general, tutorial presenters are expected to use the submitted material with no changes. Changes motivated only by limits on the time available to presenters to prepare the submitted material are not acceptable. However, if the tutorial covers materials that is beyond the presenters’ control, such as decisions by standards bodies, then changes that incorporate this material are allowed. In such cases, the submitted material should clearly indicate where changes are anticipated and provide as close to a final version as possible.
What are the expectations of tutorial presentations at the Conference?
SC Tutorials are one of the most popular programs of the Conference. Although the Tutorial Registration is separate from the main Technical Program, and adds a considerable additional cost, the Tutorials Program attracts several thousand participants. Thus, tutorial abstracts must clearly present what lessons can be learned. Further, tutorial presenters are expected to deliver professional presentations and to treat tutorial attendees with respect. Each tutorial will receive detailed evaluation after the presentation from the attendees, which will be used to evaluate future tutorial proposals.
What are the rules with respect to tutorial honoraria?
SC Tutorials include “usual and customary” honoraria in recognition of the effort involved in representing the Conference. Half-day tutorial presenters will receive honoraria totaling $1,400. Full-day tutorial presenters together will receive $2,800. If tutorial presenters include promotional videos, then the total honoraria will rise to $1,600 and $3,200, respectively. Honoraria must be claimed at the Conference or will be considered forfeit. Full details, including other conditions, will be provided to presenters of accepted tutorials.
What other actions are required of tutorial presenters?
Tutorial presenters are expected to attend the tutorial breakfast the day of their presentation. Final instructions for tutorial presenters are made at this breakfast. In addition, tutorial honoraria are disbursed at it. Presenters are expected to alert the SC Tutorials Chair if they are unable to attend.
What travel expenses will be covered?
Travel support will be provided for up to four presenters for each full-day tutorial (up to two for each half-day tutorial). Only airfare is supported, up to $600 for a North American presenter and up to $1000 for a non-North American presenter. This is less support than previous years, but the honoraria has been increased accordingly.
Have travel policies changed from last year?
Yes! Please see question 1 (major differences from previous years).
What is the difference between presenters, lead presenters, and assistants?
A “presenter” is a person who is eligible for some part of their tutorial’s honoraria, travel expense reimbursement, and/or complimentary registration. A “lead presenter” is the presenter authorized to speak for/make decisions for all of the tutorial’s presenters as recognized by the SC Tutorials Chair. A lead presenter is also considered a presenter. The person who submits the tutorial materials is assumed to be the lead presenter. An “assistant” is a person assisting with a tutorial but not designated as a presenter. These people are not eligible for the Tutorial’s Breakfast, honorarium, or travel reimbursement. .
Do presenters get complimentary access to the conference or to other tutorials?
They do not. To attend other tutorials or the main conference, presenters must register in the standard way using the SC registration website. That said, presenters do receive a tutorial pass for the entire day of a tutorial, so half-day presenters may attend other half-day tutorials on the same day.
