• Conference -1 year

1. Work with Hillside and the Conference Chair to determine the dates of PLoP
2. Any special plans that you might have for the conference that can change the usual number of days needs to be communicated and planned for.  The facility might not be available, or the dates might have to shift slightly.
3. Consult with the conference chair to make arragements for
   • special speakers/attendees
   • game-master
      

• Conference -9 months

1. Start serious work on the call for papers.  
   • Will it be only Writers' Workshops, or will there be some other kind of activity.  Does that other activity need a leader to self-volunteer (like a hot topic at ChiliPLoP, or a "focus group")?  What are the parameters around the focus group that need to be advertised?

1. Prepare the website and call for papers
   • The Hillside website needs to be updated to point people to the current year's conference.
   • The conference website should have enough information for a focus group/hot topic leader to know what they need to do to submit one.
2. Begin looking for shepherds
   • An initial call for shephers has sometimes been done.  
   • Discussing the shepherding season schedule with your peers at the other conferences that meet in the summer & fall can help avoid *everyone* needing shepherds at the same time.  
3. Assemble program committee
   • These folks can give advice & counsel about general topics.
   • Traditionally they "oversee" the shepherding process by looking over author's shoulders
   • They might be able to draw in attendees also

• Conference - 8 months

1. Send the call for papers to all the websites and journals of interest

• Submission Deadline - 1 month

1. Turn on the submission website
2. Personal invitaitions to regulars/strong participants to encourage papers/attendance
3. What is the conference going to look like?  What special touches do *you* want to add to PLoP?  Start thinking about this.
4. Revise website.  
   • Make sure dates are correct for shepherding schedule
   • Add any new thoughts about focus groups/hot topics
5. Reminder call for papers (Since CFP/website has been modified)

• Submission Deadline 

1. Begin Triage of papers
   • Are they patterns?
   • Are there too many from the same author?
   • Are they ready for shepherding?
2. Announce shepherding start 
   • Support shepherds collecting papers
   • request additional shepherds
   • assign shephards and PC members to papers
3. Watch shepherding and handle any issues 
4. Define 99% correct schedule for the actual conference.  The Conference chair will want this to help start logistics of events and meals.
    

• Paper Acceptance Deadline

1. Collect recommendations from shepherds and PC members for each paper
2. Decide which papers (if any) to reject
3. Start grouping patterns into workshop groups.  Use whatever method makes the most sense to you.  (In 1997 the "non-OO" workshop group had a Smalltalk pattern

• Pre-Conference Paper Deadline

1. Accept the revised papers that are ready for workshopping.  Ensure that  you have all the latest ones, since the Conference Chair is going to burn CDs
2. Prepare the pre-conference paper website with workshop information so people know which papers to read
3. Identify workshop group leaders
   • These are the people that will get the group started,
   •  train the newbies on how to act in a Writer's Workshop, 
   • act as the final arbiter of conflict in the workshop group, 
   • lead any of your special initiatives that relate to workshop groups, 
   • mentor other members of the workshop group in pattern writing and writers' workshop moderation/leadership style.
      

• Conference - 3 weeks

1. Advertise the pre-conference paper website
2. Encourage people to read papers in advance
3. Encourage registration
4. Prepare final schedule
5. Encourage workshop groups to start an email dialog
   • Some issues can be settled in advance, like paper order, basic introductions, etc.
      

• Conference - 1 week

1. Final reminders
2. Do you have your own plane tickets?
3. Are the workshop groups all set?  leaders ready?  
4. papers still all set (any papers that need to be removed because of non-registration)?
5. Arrange demo Writers' Workshop
    

• Select pattern to workshop
• Who will participate?  (usually "old-heads" and workshop group leaders)
• Who will fill what roles?  (Need a traditional moderator  AND a meta-moderator)

• Conference

1. Introduce the conference
2. Introduce Writers' Workshops
3. Introduce workshop process (demo)
4. Handle problems as they arise