Tutorial and workshop submissions: Tips and resources for authors

Guest blog post by Sharon McMeekin and Tricia Patterson, iPRES 2025 Programme Committee Tutorials and Workshops Co-Chairs

Tutorial session at iPRES 2023 in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA. Photo credit iPRES 2023.

Are you interested in offering a tutorial or workshop at iPRES 2025? Then hopefully this blog post will be helpful for you! Tutorials and workshops traditionally form the first day of the iPRES programme and offer a great place to share and develop ideas, and to build new skills to help meet the challenges of digital preservation.

Tutorials are educational sessions aimed at teaching new skills or technologies in digital preservation from beginner to advanced levels, with clear learning outcomes. They provide attendees with the opportunity to learn about practical implementation of digital preservation approaches, and also to gain knowledge and skills relating to their application. 

Workshops are interactive sessions focusing on tools, methods, or best practices. They provide the opportunity for detailed discussions and group working to explore new ideas, research, or resources in a collaborative setting. A great workshop should not only provide attendees with new knowledge and understanding, but also help take forward the work of the presenters.

Here are some helpful tips and resources to support your tutorial and workshop submissions ahead of the 14 April 2025 deadline.

Workshop and Tutorial Submissions

Use the Workshop, Panel, Tutorial Template to submit your detailed tutorial or workshop proposal (up to 2 pages) for peer-review. The proposal should cover the topic for the session, as well as goals, target audience, format, presenters (including a facilitator, if applicable) and preferred duration (usually 90 mins, half day, or full day). 

iPRES welcomes returning workshops and tutorials from previous years, and we want to help attendees navigate whether they should revisit previous sessions. For example, if the tutorial is for implementing a standard, a new version may prompt previous attendees to revisit the session. Specify if a similar tutorial or workshop has been given previously at an iPRES conference, and if so, how this year's session will be unique.

Following the formatting and guide in the template, workshop and tutorial submissions must include the following information:

• Title: Up to 15 words.

• Authors (Presenters/Facilitators): Indicate the name, affiliation, country, email, and ORCID ID for each.

• Abstract: Provide a concise summary of your workshop or tutorial which offers attendees everything they need to decide whether to sign up, like software requirements or whether this is a repeat proposal with updated information.

• Submission Type: Tutorial OR Workshop.

• Keywords: Select up to 3 terms from the iPRES vocabulary spreadsheet that best describe the content of your panel, and up to 2 additional terms of your own choosing if needed.

• Conference Theme: Select one conference theme that best aligns with your panel.

• Extended abstract: Provide an extended abstract that describes the content, aim, and structure of your tutorial or workshop. Clearly describe the topic that will be presented, why it is important to the field of digital preservation and what attendees will get out of the session. If attendees can expect to use software or tools for hand-on work or participate in collaborative participant work, please outline these expectations. For a tutorial, you may also wish to include learning objectives. You should use the headings in the template to format your abstract.

• References: Include any references, using the IEEE style outlined in the template.

• Author biographies: Include a brief biography of each contributor, up to 50 words each.

Tutorial and workshop proposals will be peer-reviewed based on the following criteria: 

• Relevance to the conference themes.

• Originality, innovation, and contribution to the field of digital preservation.

  • For workshops, this will include the relevance and potential impact of discussions/activities within the session.

• Clarity and organisation of ideas.

• Significance for the digital preservation field and impact on the community.

  • For tutorials, this will include skills development potential of the session.
    

iPRES 2025 will be a hybrid conference and submissions are welcome whether authors will be attending on-site or online. However, we strongly encourage on-site attendance to maximise engagement between presenters and attendees during the entire conference. Presenting authors at iPRES 2025, including tutorial and workshop presenters, must register for the conference to confirm their space on the programme.

We look forward to seeing your tutorial and workshop contributions!