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How to Host a Conference

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Preamble

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'RE GOING TO HOST AN OWASP EVENT!

Our intent in posting these guidelines at the OWASP web site is to give conference planners something more than "Good Luck" as they prepare to host an event. While it is almost impossible to cover EVERY detail of planning, we think we have put together a fairly comprehensive series of recommendations. Just ask anyone who has put together an event of any size and they will tell you it's hard work, but can also be a lot of fun. We are an open community, so your peers are often a great resource. Refer to some of the other conference pages and contact the conference planners directly for advice. Different types of OWASP Events (see the Event Definition tab) have a few requirements imposed on them. See the requirements tab for details.


We’ve also prepared a Conference Planning Table that summarizes these guidelines and gives you a check sheet to use as you plan your conference.

Questions?

The Global Conferences Committee is responsible for coordinating all OWASP conferences and events. If you have any questions or comments feel free to ask them at global_conference_committee@lists.owasp.org


Overall OWASP Conferences Chair is (Eoin Keary & Dave Wichers)

Global Conference Committee Chair is Mark Bristow

OWASP Operations Director is Kate Hartmann

EVENT DEFINITION

Event Definition

All OWASP events will fall into one of the following categories. If you are unsure as to what types of event you would like to plan contact the Global Conferences Committee and they will be able to help you set your scope. Please also note that various types of events have some requirements set for them, see the requirements tab for details

OWASP AppSec Conference

These conferences are the flagship of the OWASP outreach effort. This will be an international conference sponsored by OWASP and approved by the Global Conferences Committee. AppSec Conferences include multiple days of multi-track plenary sessions in addition to pre-conference training offerings. AppSec Conferences, schedules, and trainings must be approved by the OWASP Global Conference Committee and will receive the full support of the OWASP Foundation. In any calander year, there will be no more than 4 AppSec Conferences of this size. Locations will be determined the prior year and planning must begin at a minimum of 12 months in advance.

OWASP Regional Conference

Regional conferences typically have lower attendance than AppSec conferences and typically include multiple days of single track plenary sessions. Training may or may not be offered at the descression of the regional conference planning team. Regional conferences are not subject to the same rigor as AppSec conferences in terms of planning and only require the local planning team deconflict scheduling with the Global Conferences Committee. Regional teams are free to brand their conference as they wish, as long as the OWASP affiliation is maintained. OWASP Foundation support may be available for large expenses at the discression of the Global Conference Committee.

OWASP Events

Events are typically single day or "OWASP Day" type events that are generally local in nature. Events typically have only one track and span anywhere from a half to a full day. Planning for these events are at the sole discression of the event team and may be branded in any manner so long as the OWASP affiliation is maintained. In general, significant OWASP Foundation support will not be available for these events.

BOARD MEMBER ROLE

Board Member Role

The OWASP Board will make every effort to have at least one OWASP Board Member in attendance at each AppSec conference. The Board Member will…

  1. Provide a keynote or other address on OWASP, our goals, vision, strategy, ethics, projects, membership, and progress. The goal is to introduce attendees to OWASP and our culture, describe membership program, attract contributors, and inspire people about the importance of application security.
  2. Ensure that OWASP principles and ethics are upheld in all aspects of the prosecution of the conference. In particular, ensure that OWASP’s brand is not misused by commercial entities.
  3. Provide logistical support and the ability to make quick decisions on the ground (within reason) without having a formal board meeting and decision process.
  4. Serve as a lightning rod for any issues, problems, suggestions or praise that anyone wants to provide about OWASP and bring them to the appropriate committee or OWASP Board.
  5. Assess the general operation of the local/regional OWASP organization, chapters, sponsors, leaders, and contributors. The goal is to use this information to strategize how to grow OWASP’s presence in the region and support the local leadership.
  6. Meet with local leaders from OWASP, government, vendors, and industry to get them to understand why application security is important and joining with OWASP makes sense.


PLANNING

Planning

The amount of planning, committee work, advance deadlines, etc., in part depends on the size conference you are planning. A general rule is to allow about a month for every 20 participants. For example, if you are expecting 200 attendees, you should begin to prepare at least 10 months in advance.

The general dates and time of the conference should be suggested by local variables as well as OWASP speaker availability. For example, it may not be a good idea to plan a conference in Wisconsin in January or Texas in August due to potential weather conditions. Check the OWASP conference schedule to make sure there are not any conflicting events. If you plan to invite out of town speakers, it’s best to arrange them months in advance. Good speakers and instructors are often booked up to a year in advance.

Consider the size and scope of your conference. Small groups can be hosted nearly any time. But larger groups will require housing, transportation, and food services that might conflict with other events. Make sure to check the local community events to ensure there will be adequate accessibility to these needs.

Having a cohesive, comprehensive plan for your event is key to the success of your event. While all plans change it is important to consider all of the elements listed in the following tabs when developing your conference planning package.

Once you have developed your plan submit it to the Global Conferences Committee for review and consideration.

Conference Committee

While there is no requirement to organize your conference's committee in any particular way, these structures have worked for successful conferences in the past. It's important to organize a conference committee as early as possible. It is recommended that you establish regular planning/reporting meetings and set up email lists. Always make it clear who is supposed to do what and when. Keep minutes/notes of your meetings and use them to follow up. The more you communicate with each other, the less likely you'll have slip ups.

It is important that the conference committee be predominately comprised of a local team that is able to act locally to speed up and help in all activities related to the conference venue and local services. Planning a conference entirely from a remote location is a challenging job and is NOT recommended. Events without local support are unlikely to get Global Conferences Committee approval.

Conference Organizers

This should be a relatively small group (recommend 3) who are the core organizers of the conference. This group is the "executive leadership" for the conference. There is a tendency for one person to lead a conference, or for this group to be fairly large. experience indicates that one person is likely unable to handle all of the decisions that will be required for managing a successful conference while having too many causes the issue of inaction by committee. In the initial stages, these are the people who will be doing the heavy lifting while the rest of the committee comes into place. It's recommended that specific organizers be initially tasked into the following:

  • One of the principle organizers should be designated as responsible for the budget. It is important to reconcile any decisions with the budget as well as keep it up to date. Conferences are the lifeblood of OWASP's financial picture so it's important that they be managed well.
  • One organizer should be devoted to developing partnerships/sponsorship leads for the conference. It's important to determine if the conference will be partnering with any local organizations or governments up front and to manage that relationship. Additionally getting sponsorships early will greatly help keep the conference fiscally responsible
  • The last organizer should be devoted to facilities. The first step in planning a conference is to develop a contract with the conference facility. There are many things to consider while working this process and it requires dedicated attention. Please do keep in mind however that organizers may not sign contracts, only officers of OWASP (The Board) may obligate the foundation legally.

Functional Leaders

In the past it has been helpful to appoint functional leaders for the conference. These volunteers are typically assigned a specific area of responsibility to work in conjunction with the principle organizer's efforts.

  • Sponsors -- To augment the activities of the principal organizer assigned to this task, it's important to assign someone to sponsorships right away. This task will involve a lot of email, conference calls, and footwork and needs all the help it can get.
  • Security -- Checking credentials at the entrance to convention only areas and controlling access to convention events. There will be licensed security personnel onsite to handle and "real" security issues should they arise, volunteers are not expected to put themselves in any jeopardy as security staff.
  • Speakers -- Helping Speakers and Trainers get to and from their assigned areas, and making sure that they have the resources that they need to do their tasks. Will also interface with the facilities team if any facilities issues arise and need to be remedied.
  • Registration/Info Desk/Merch -- Helping run the registration and "Front Desk" functions of the conference. This may also expand to running an Information Desk functionality and/or helping sell merchandise.
  • Facilities -- Helping run the "behind the scenes" of the conference. This will mainly be overseeing the various contractors and vendors hired to provide services for the conference, and acting as a liaison between the convention center, contractors, exhibitors and the rest of the conference.
  • Volunteers -- Getting a small army is hard to do


Program Committee

You need a group of people to review the papers you will receive.

Good criteria to select Program Committee members include their involvement in OWASP activities (e.g projects, conferences, mailing lists). Selecting people already involved with OWASP helps choosing proposals that are aligned with OWASP's values.

Trainer Evaluators

You need a group of people to review the training proposals you will receive.

Good criteria to select Trainer Evaluators include their involvement in OWASP activities (e.g projects, conferences, mailing lists). Selecting people already involved with OWASP helps choosing proposals that are aligned with OWASP's values.

Remember that the foundation does have some personnel who can help with the conference planning. While it's important not to over-leverage these people, do include them as often as they can support as their insight and experience will be invaluable.

BUDGET

Budget

The OWASP Conference Budget Planning Tool has been developed by the Global Conferences Committee to assist in the budget planning process. The tool was originally designed for AppSec conferences but can be used for a conference of any size. When submitting a budget to the GCC, you are required to use this format.

Attendees should be expected to pay their registration fees in advance. This helps provide an accurate picture of the number who will attend because the attendees are more committed to attending. You can consider a slightly higher fee for late registrations or registrations onsite, if your food and facilities planning can handle extra last-minute registrations.

Your conference costs should be handled through the Foundation. Sponsorship funds, venue deposits, travel reimbursements, printing, etc will be managed for you. This allows you to focus more on the event content! Contact Kate Hartmann as soon as possible to get this set up. Don't minimize the importance of a detailed accounting of your conference funds. Setting things up right before you begin to receive registrations fees can make things a lot easier during and after the conference.

Things to Consider

  • Shipment of OWASP products will come out of the conference budget
  • Conferences are expected to provide travel for at least one board member
  • Be sure to budget for fliers, signage and schwag

SPONSORS

Sponsorships

Obtaining sponsorship is essential to the success of your event. Without financial input from vendors to cover costs of food, venue, giveaways, and everything else, your event will inevitably fail. The following document has been prepared to assist you in convincing vendors to give you money. Please tailor the document to suit your event and forward it to any and all potential sponsors.

https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Image:OWASP_sponsorship_new.doc

It is important to have completed your budget early so you can correctly estimate the amount of sponsorship you will need.

If you plan to have an exhibit hall it must be easily accessible and must have adequate space to accommodate vendor booths. There may be costs associated with such a hall. Some facilities require that their own people set things up. Make sure you know what is included with any rental costs, and what you may have to pay extra for.

Make sure that there is adequate time for attendees to visit the exhibits and to talk with vendors. Directing breaks and snacks into the vendor expo will encourage participants to visit the exhibits. Depending on the benefits to the vendors, you may ask that they pay for exhibit space, or leverage their participation by asking them to sponsor one or more conference activities (reception, meal, etc.).

VENUE

Venue

One of your very first items of business should be to reserve necessary rooms for plenary sessions, breakout sessions, classroom sessions, tech expo, breaks, receptions, and conference headquarters/registration.

Adapt your conference to the facilities you have available. For example, good plenary sessions can be better than breakout sessions that don't have adequate facilities. To the extent that you can, schedule conference sessions in rooms that have basic AV equipment (overhead projectors and screens, for example). If the rooms already have computers and computer/video projection, that's even better. Then assign conference sessions to the appropriate rooms.

Try to keep conference costs down by using rooms that are free. Again, this may require some adapting or negotiating. Partnering with a local university is a great way to obtain free space.

A contract to secure your venue is critical. Only a member of the Board can enter into a contract on behalf of OWASP!!! Please forward contracts to be signed to Kate Hartmann for signatures.

Training rooms will require space to accommodate generally 10-30 students per class.


CONTENT

Content

International meetings usually have a general theme. However, for regional meetings, you may want to choose a theme that reflects your chapter's particular strengths or interests.

A good program is critical. Look for variety, interest, timeliness. What do your members need or want to leave with? Try to balance lectures with discussions, hands on, social activities, and time for colleague interaction.

While is is acceptable to target individuals/companies to solicit content, in keeping with the OWASP value of openness, all Call for Papers and Call for Training must be open to all to submit. Calls for Papers or Training must be at a minimum announced on the conference Wiki page.

Presentations

A general call for presenters should have a deadline that gives you ample time to recruit and to fill in gaps should you not get all the good proposals you need. Network with other members of your organization to identify people who might be invited to make presentations. Immediately after the deadline, begin organizing the conference schedule. Select the proposals you want to use and contact them to verify their availability. Create a tentative schedule, matching presenters to the facilities. You may want to lay out your schedule on a whiteboard, or use 3x5 cards on a corkboard so you can visualize how things fit together. Make sure you plan time for attendees to talk with each other, such as at breaks, before and after dinners, at receptions, etc.

Send a formal acceptance note to each participant, and ask them to confirm by sending an abstract (if you didn't get that as part of their submission) and submitting a request for any special equipment (AV, computer, etc.)

Also note that according to the standard OWASP Speaker Agreement, presenters must submit their presentations (in Powerpoint format) at least 60 days prior to the conference. Submissions should be uploaded to OWASP Presentations after the event.

Consider a CFP system to manage submissions such as EasyChair (it is free) http://www.easychair.org, or OpenConf (free and pro-version) http://www.openconf.com.

Additionally, each OWASP Conference is required to solicit a board member to provide a welcoming or keynote address. This shows foundation endorsement of the local team ensures a consistent OWASP message.

Training

If you are offering training at your event the Call For Training proposal template should help you issue a call for training. While you are welcome to target training organizations, remember to ensure that the call for training be publicly available so that all my propose classes.

Training revenues are to be split 60/40 with 60% of the revenue going to OWASP and 40% going to the trainer. OWASP will provide the facilities, promotion, A/V equipment, and refreshments for all training. Trainers are responsible for travel/accommodations for the training staff, all training materials, and promotion of the training.

All training during OWASP Events must be OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. OWASP and the Trainer may set aside no more than a combined 10% of the available training slots for their own use. Setting aside of training slots in all cases must be approved by the Global Conferences Committee


AUDIO VISUAL/RECORDING

Audio Visual/Recording

This is another critically important part of the conference, especially in our technology-driven organization. You should assign a member of your committee to head this up since it's a demanding and time-consuming responsibility.

To the extent that you can, schedule conference sessions in rooms that have basic AV equipment (overhead projectors and screens, for example). If the rooms already have computers and computer/video projection, that's even better. Then assign conference sessions to the appropriate rooms.

Determine ahead of time what portable equipment you have available, and whether you have to rent equipment. OWASP owns one projector that can be "loaned" out for events. Contact Kate Hartmann to arrange for the shipping of this and other items. When you confirm conference presentations, ask presenters to provide you with a list of equipment they need.

REGISTRATION

Registration

OWASP has several registration tools available to use. Currently we utilize the CVENT registration system for larger, paying events. There is a fee for CVENT Registrations. If your event is free of charge, but you require an RSVP for space restrictions or food, please contact Kate Hartmann to review registration options for free events.

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