The CHI workshop deadline is almost upon us. I’ve run a few workshops over the years: some fantastic, some a bit rustic. Quite a few times now, some younger scientists have asked me how do you write a proposal and run an academic workshop.

Years ago, fresh out of my own Ph.D. I asked a friend, Corey Cheng, the same thing. “How do I run a workshop” as I was trying to figure out how to write a workshop proposal for Creativity and Cognition 2007. He sent me this long and wonderful email. It’s how I’ve modeled my workshop proposals ever since and what I’ve looked for as a workshop chair. And, at the risk of sounding too formulaic, I thought to publicly share it. His direct quotes are inline or marked.

When you plan a workshop, it’s a lot like planning a high school party: whose “parents” house is the party at, where’s the party, how long is it, what are the party favors, and who’s coming.

Here he starts, apologizing for being patronizing, but said this is true. The workshop description, which is not published, should address these points.

i) you want to make sure that the organizing committee likes your idea, it fits with what they think the entire conference is about, and that they are convinced that you won’t have any problems delivering the people and the topics you promised.

Think here about the time commitment. Full day or half day or two day. Two days eat into other bits of the program. Half days are tough. So really make sure you can fill your time and convince the organizers that you can. A day is a good time frame to dive into a breakout session, maybe mini poster bit, some keynotes. But Corey pointed out, “if I wanted another conference, I would go to another conference, dern-it!” So try to do some demos, hands-on bits, and social/group collaborations. He says extracurriculars and good food can make your workshop gel. Think about what’s on-site (whiteboards or markers?) and near by (for lunch outings?). Once while running a workshop at UBICOMP in Beijing, I went to the campus art store to buy markers and poster boards…be resourceful when under pressure.

ii) The people part is the hardest part. Basically, you have to convince your friends to come to your party. The way I handle this is to “feel out” who’s interested in presenting a paper, doing a demo, etc etc etc before writing the proposal.

You don’t need a super finalized version of the workshop list. But let the organizers know you’re targeting people, name a few tentative names, who support the idea and cause. List potential speakers, presenters, and demonstrators, the org committee will be looking for your ability to draw a good crowd which would attract a good audience. “The party scene” as he put it. But it can be tricky—you don’t want to mislead participants or the program committee, but you still want to encourage the negotiation.

Also present a rough outline of the day, time-wise. How many papers, demos, panels, posters, etc. and how long for each bit. Add about 15% time for slack and overflow.

iii) Additionally, and really most importantly, a workshop is so individualized, it might just be a good idea to call up the organizers and talk to them about what you’re trying to do. In a lot of cases, they will be happy to accommodate you with more time / room to firm things up if they think you have a good idea.

I’ve never really done this myself, but as a workshop chair I’ve always appreciated when someone contacted me before the call ended to feel out an idea or get an expectation of what can be done. At Creativity and Cognition 2013, I found an entire electronics studio for an Arduino textiles workshop by relocating that workshop elsewhere on campus.

iv) Wow, here is another one of the most important things I’ve saved for last. This is your workshop! What do you think the field needs? Yes, that’s a bit grandiose to think of, but when you write the proposal, ideally, it should reflect what you feel like doing at the workshop. Kinda like your thesis: it’s your book, write what you want (and can get away with ;) ).

This one is clutch and really is the most important. If this area was super well represented, it should be in the main technical program. This is your opportunity to shape out a new area and gain community. Embrace it. On top of all this, make sure to give some framing in literature to demonstrate that you actually know the space, but don’t throw 42 citations to the committee. Just enough to demonstrate you understand the vertical, your vertical, what the workshop represents.

Best of luck and I hope to see your workshop in the future! And my apologies to Corey for blogging his email advice to me from 2006 without telling him.

2026 Update

Since this was posted, things have changed a bit but the guidance here is still mostly correct. Make sure you fit what is in the call (duh) first and foremost. Some workshop submissions don’t have the position statement and a workshop itinerary as two documents. Build to fit. Along those lines, make sure you fit the style of other workshops at that venue. Go look at last year’s submissions and see what they looked like. For example, at ACM CHI many workshops do list a ton of citations, so that’s what the review committee will be looking for. At other conferences (especially non-SIGCHI ones), they won’t want 2 pages of citations—have some situational awareness.

Also, I did send this to Cory after publishing it in 2014...he was grateful to have this post (and the snark from his original email). 😃