SIGCOMM'21 Call for Pods and Watch Parties

As previously announced, SIGCOMM'21 will be held virtually, due to uncertainty associated with the pandemic and the reluctance and real dangers associated with travel. However, with increased access to vaccination, there are some changes, and relaxation of local travel and gathering restrictions are quite possible in certain regions. Moreover, it is recognized that in-person interactions provide benefits that face challenges in virtual environments.

In support of this, SIGCOMM'21 would like to lend its support and encourage creation of "watch parties" and "pods" to allow small groups to meet where it is safe to do so. The organizers of some of those initiatives have reached out to the SIG to ask for help in advertising them. While SIGCOMM'21 does not have the capabilities to observe or approve the structure of these individual pods, the organizers are happy to help promote such initiatives by collecting information about them, providing a single online location where interested parties can look up pods near them that they may be interested to participate in.

If you are interested in running a pod or watch party: please email sigcomm2021-chairs@gmail.com with a brief (few sentences is fine) description of your pod and an agreement that

1. You will follow ACM policies (including policies on harassment and privacy) at your event
2. Your event is free to all attendees
3. It complies with all current guidelines applicable to such gatherings, e.g., in the US, this would include compliance with relevant CDC, state, and county guidelines for gatherings as well as any travel restrictions that may be in effect
4. All participants are registered for the conference.

If you are interested in attending an event -- look at the growing list of events all over the world!

List

• Stanford, California, United States

  • Information: Stanford University is organizing a SIGCOMM Bay Area outdoor reception and poster session on Wednesday, August 25th, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Arrillaga Alumni Center, 326 Galvez St, Stanford, CA 94305 (covid policies permitting). The event is open to all SIGCOMM registered attendees. Ion Stoica (UC Berkeley) will be giving the keynote talk, followed by a reception and poster session. We encourage attendees to bring a poster and display it during the reception. The event, food, and drinks will be generously supported by Google, Facebook, and VMware. We ask all participants to please respect the university COVID-19 policies in effect at the time of the event, as well as Santa Clara, California and CDC recommendations. Please let us know if you are able to join us by RSVP. For questions, please contact Keith Winstein (keithw@cs.stanford.edu). We hope to see you there! This event is organized with financial support from VMWare, Facebook and Google.

• UMass Amherst, Massachusetts, United States

  • Information: UMass Amherst is organizing a Greater Boston SIGCOMM pod on Wednesday, August 25th from 8:30am to 6pm at its Mt. Ida Campus Center at 100 Carlson St, Newton, MA 02459. The event is for registered conference participants and will include an all day watch party for conference talks, refreshments including lunch, and tentatively a panel discussion and poster session late afternoon. We thank Google and Facebook for generously co-sponsoring the event. We ask all participants to comply with COVID-19 university event guidance policy and state masking requirements in effect at the time of the event as well as CDC recommendations. We hope you can join us and if so, please RSVP. For questions, please contact Arun Venkataramani (arun@cs.umass.edu). This event is organized with financial support from Facebook and Google.