INITIAL PLANNING

Request to host an LF AI Day

If you are interested in hosting an LF AI Day, please review this checklist carefully and reach out to events@lfai.foundation with any questions.

Please include in your email request:
1) the community organization(s)/members(s) who are planning to host the event.
2) location and format (in person or virtual).
3) target event date.
4) primary host contact name and email for the event planning and overall execution.

IMPORTANT: LF AI Days require the LF AI Foundation to budget for and find resourcing for event coordination support. Because of this, it is very important that you email events@lfai.foundation to confirm your interest and request to host an LF AI Day. A response on availability to resource the event on the requested date will be provided to you shortly after.

A minimum of 2 months lead time is required in order to plan for the resourcing required as well as to properly promote the event.

Review the Resources for LF AI Community Hosted Events

Host must confirm they have read all the documentation resources. It is an important step as it includes planning information, expectations for LF AI Community Hosted Events, examples, and more.

Review COVID-19 information related to events

As LF AI Days are associated with LF Events, we will have the expert support and guidance of that team regarding COVID-19 and it's impact to events. Support includes items such as:
Messaging for website, self-certify travel restriction email template (this is what we would send to event attendees if asking them to certify that they have not traveled to China or South Korea in the 14 days prior to the event), signage text template for onsite at events, etc.

Official updates from the Linux Foundation on this topic can be viewed here.

If you have specific questions please reach out to LF AI staff.

Email LF AI at events@lfai.foundation and request a meeting if you have questions about any of the required tasks or the event planning in general.

Please coordinate the meeting with LF AI if needed.

Approve/confirm the event.

LF AI will confirm moving forward with the LF AI Day and will provide you with the primary LF AI staff person you will be working with.

Create an event wiki page using the Template Event Wiki and fill out the details for your event.

Follow the instructions noted on the Template Event Wiki page. This event wiki will serve as the site that you can use for your content planning, coordination with other community participants involved, to provide general information to attendees, and a space to post your event content.

The Event Host is responsible for keeping the event wiki updated. The event wiki will be the single source of truth for all who want to participate.

You'll need an LF ID to edit the wiki. If you need to create an LF ID for the first time, click here.

Copy/Clone this LF AI Day Instructions template and create a sub-page from your event wiki page.

Creating the specific LF AI Day instructions page is critical to ensure all components for coordinating efforts with LF AI are completed and to help drive a successful event.

Event Host and LF AI are responsible for keeping the wiki updated for their assigned tasks. The wiki will be the single source of truth for status on all tasks.

If there is a missing item in the template that would be beneficial to other event hosts, please do provide the suggestion so that it can be added.

Add in target due dates under the "Target Dates" column to the LF AI Day Event checklist based on your confirmed event date.

Host must determine a plan to complete the required tasks and deliverables submissions. The dates can be targets with some modifications along the way but it is important that the lead times shared for the various tasks are incorporated to avoid missed deadlines and potential negative impact to event.

Review the remainder of this tasks list and return to this item to input your dates.

Notify LF AI when this is complete for their review of critical target dates specific to deliverables.

Send LF AI the two links for your specific event wiki pages.

Please share both the event wiki and instructions wiki page with LF AI staff.

Review the LF AI's target dates specific to critical deliverables.

LF AI will review and advise of any concerns or recommended updates.

Add the event to the current year LF AI Events Overview wiki.

LF AI will add accordingly based on the details shared by host.
Example LF AI 2020 Events Overview

Add the event to the LF AI Events pages.

LF AI will add event to LF AI Events section on the website and on the LF AI Events Group Calendar on the wiki accordingly based on the details shared by the host.

AGENDA / WEBSITE / REGISTRATION FORM CREATION

Request LF AI staff speakers for event (if desired).

In planning your agenda, if you would like to request an LF AI staff speaker, such as Ibrahim Haddad who is the LF AI Foundation Executive Director, please ensure you make the request early in your agenda planning so that we can do the best we can to accommodate based on schedule availability.

Email your LF AI staff contact and include in your email request:
1) when (approximate time during agenda) you want the speaker to present .
2) how long they should plan for their portion.
3) messaging you would like them to cover.

Request LF AI to review event presentation content, overall agenda, etc. (if desired).

In planning your agenda, if you would like LF AI to do a brief review of your presentation content, please plan to make that request as early as possible so that we can do the best we can to accommodate based on schedule availability. LF AI will gladly review if time permits.

Draft event website content form and registration setup forms and send to the Event Host to complete and approve.

LF AI will draft the form submissions based on the information provided by the host and will then will send the forms to the host to add missing items and finalization.

Draft an initial agenda for the event and add to the website request forms. 

Complete event website and registration set up request forms.

LF AI will provide an event website and registration through Cvent. The two forms required will be provided to you by LF AI to help in completing. LF AI will coordinate the final form submissions to LF Events who will complete the set up of the event website and registration.

Example event website and registration

Host will need to complete the missing items in the forms and work with LF AI to finalize as soon as possible.

Please note that you must plan accordingly to ensure you have at minimum 2 weeks lead time for the event website and registration to be built out, as completion will be dependent on an initial form review period, initial set up, reviews, and final launch approval.

Please note that this website and registration and coordination efforts for them are items that require specific LF AI resources and impact budget. Thus, the event approval requirement for LF AI Days.

Finalize the forms and send to the LF Events Team to begin the registration form build and website build.

LF AI will submit the final forms to LF Events and work with the event host on any questions.

Send test links for event website and registration form on Cvent.

LF AI will send to Event Host:
- Cvent link to review, test, and approve the registration set up.
- Website preview link for review and approval.

Review, test, and approve the website and registration prior to launch.

Host will receive an email from LF Events via Cvent with a link to review, test, and approve the registration set up.
Host will receive from LF AI the website preview link for review and approval.

Launch event website and registration form

LF AI will confirm launch approval to LF Events and update event host.

Update LF AI Events pages with the new event website and registration details.

LF AI will update event website and registration details on LF AI Events section on the website and on the LF AI Events Group Calendar on the wiki.

Provide weekly event registration snapshots to Event Host.

LF AI staff will send host registration snapshots once per week (usually Friday mornings) and can adjust the frequency leading up to the day of the event as needed.

Note that details for registration reports will be limited to registration snapshots of registration totals as we cannot share attendee registration details based on privacy policy/GDPR regulations.

Provide LF AI with any agenda and/or event website updates.

Please note that once the site is live, we can only support a handful of updates.

If you anticipate several changes to the agenda for example, you should have the agenda details on the event website link to your event wiki or other space where the host can manage updates independently. A final update to the agenda leading up to the event is perfectly acceptable and should be planned in advance.

Any website update requests should be sent to LF AI and they will coordinate updates via LF Events. Updates must be sent in a format that outlines the changes clearly (such as Word document with change tracking), otherwise pages potentially have to be built again from scratch if it is not clear what is changing; this adds additional cost to the LF AI project which is not budgeted for.

Please note that any requested website edits will take about 1-2 business days lead time to complete.

EVENT PROMOTION

Draft event announcement blog post, social promotion, and mail list communication.

LF AI will draft a short blog post, promotion on LF AI social channels (Twitter/LinkedIn plus social amplification coordinated with LF), and LF AI mail list communication (as applicable).The content for these communications will use information from the event website and pointers to registration.

A draft of the blog will be shared with the event host prior to publishing.Example blog post

Event announcement will also be shared via LF AI mail lists, including: outreach-committee, tac-general, generalmembers, governingboard, and project specific announce mail list if applicable.

Social posts typically include (subject to change based on event details and timeline):
- First announcement
- Weekly post with reminder to register
- Reminder 3 days prior to event
- Reminder 1 day prior to event
- Reminder day of event
- ~30 minutes after event with details on when/where to find post event content (presentations and/or recordings) and thank you to attendees
- 1 week or so after event sharing details about content now being available (date dependent on host confirming completion of content availability)

Review and approve event announcement blog post and series of social posts.

Please provide your review as soon as possible per the deadlines shared in order for LF AI to start promoting your event as soon as possible.

Schedule and publish event announcement blog post, mail list announcement, and social promotion series.

LF AI will schedule and publish event announcement blog post, mail list announcement, and social promotion series as noted above.

Host should help promote event.

Hosts are highly encouraged to publish their own blog and/or social channel promotion. Hashtag to use on social posts: #LFAIDay

MEETING SETUP & ATTENDEE COMMUNICATIONS

Request LF AI Foundation Zoom meeting for event use - for virtual events only.

If your event requires a Zoom account for use in either a Zoom meeting or webinar format, carefully review the Zoom Guidelines.

Note: The Zoom account can host meetings with unlimited minutes for up to 500 participants.

Thereafter, please request a Zoom meeting link from your LF AI Staff.

Include in your email request:
1) specific date/time (we must manage not overlapping with other meetings using the shared Zoom account) .
2) name and email address of the person who will be the Zoom host (responsible for starting/stopping the meeting, managing the recording, etc.).

We recommend a second person be identified to help the Host manage the meeting. This person can be designated by the host to be a co-host to help with monitoring the chat, muting/unmuting people if needed, etc.

LF AI will provide Zoom link for use and account login credentials.