SIGCSE2020 International Buddy Program

Update (Mar 10): Despite the obvious challenges, SIGCSE 2020 is as of now, going ahead. Although some registrants had to cancel their travel plans due to COVID-19, the SIGCSE 2020 International Buddy Program has been a success. 119 registrants (resulting in 59 pairs) registered to take part. This represents 41% of international registrants. We made 45 pairs comprising US-based and non-US-based buddies, 2 pairs comprising two non-US-based buddies, and 12 pairs comprising two US-based buddies (where one buddy is a US-based graduate student who hails from a non-US country).  This reflects significant demand to increase the support for non-US-based attendees as well as the desire for experienced US-based community members to help in providing this. We will be gathering feedback through conference evaluations and hope to make SIGCSE 2021 even better!

Please keep up to date on SIGCSE 2020 news at sigcse2020.org for the latest official information.

Update (Feb 13): If you want to take part in the International Buddy Program but already registered, no problem! Just find your original confirmation email and from there you can modify your registration to join the program, join the International Lunch, etc.

The ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium actively seeks feedback as an essential component of continual improvement. A number of recent comments have indicated opportunities to improve the experiences of those attendees who are traveling from outside the US, and in particular for those attendees who are relative newcomers to the symposium.

For the last decade (2010-2019 inclusive) the average symposium attendance was 1,385. The average number of non-US attendees was 101 (7%). Excluding Canada, this falls to 71 (5%). In 2019, a record attendance year, these numbers were actually slightly lower percentage-wise. We would like to see these numbers, and these experiences, improve.

As the ACM SIGCSE Symposium International Liaison, I am happy to announce that this year the SIGCSE Symposium is piloting an “International Buddy Program”. Simply put, the program pairs up non-US attendees with more experienced attendees to try and improve the experience of those coming from outside the US.

This is all, of course, voluntary. During registration there will be three checkboxes in the registration system under the heading “Buddy Program”:

    1. I reside outside the US and would like to be paired up with an experienced attendee
    2. I am opting out of the Buddy Program for this year

After registration, those who selected the second option will be paired up with someone who selected the first option. Logistically all this will entail is connecting pairs on email. From that point, the two parties can take it from there.

The intended goal is for the experienced attendee to help the international attendee “navigate” the Symposium and have a more engaging experience. For instance, perhaps they can meet at the Symposium, and the host can introduce the guest to some members of their network, etc.

What we are trying to do is to avoid non-US attendees, particularly newcomers, from getting “lost in the crowd”, and for them to have a more engaging experience at the Symposium. Although I am from the USA, I came to my first SIGCSE after 15 years in Ireland, and I didn’t engage as much as I could have. I did feel a bit lost in the crowd. I didn’t really engage with the SIGCSE community until I participated in an ITiCSE working group and spent substantial time with other SIGCSE members.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at [email protected], or any other member of the SIGCSE international committee!

Next year we *might* open the system up to all first-time attendees, but that all depends on how this year goes! All participants will be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the pilot this year.