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Thanks! If you are interested more about the event here was a podcast https://www.thetalkingmachines.com/episodes/iclr-accessible-inclusive-virtual https://www.

by srush 6y ago

Thanks! If you are interested more about the event here was a podcast https://www.thetalkingmachines.com/episodes/iclr-accessible-inclusive-virtual https://www.thetalkingmachines.com/episodes/iclr-accessible-... and blog post https://medium.com/@iclr_conf/gone-virtual-lessons-from-iclr2020-1743ce6164a3 https://medium.com/@iclr_conf/gone-virtual-lessons-from-iclr... Answers: 1 + 2. We used https://slideslive.com/ https://slideslive.com/ an external conference provider. They do a lot of optimizing behind the scenes, and have that cool sync. 3. Python is the de facto standard language in ML. We use it for everything. We thought about js/react or something, but we didn't think it would be maintainable. 4. A lot of the existing software assumed there would be a physical event or even worse tried to pretend there was a virtual physical event. We wanted something that was async-first, desktop-oriented, and very simple to browse.

zoomablemind 6y ago
So MiniConf is effectively a framework for maintaining a conference/event website. It takes care of presenting the program, schedule and ties together the presentations content (video, slides) which are hosted and served by third-party providers. The result is a static website where the participants meet at time, but all interactions are handled by the third-party providers. The main features are ease of configuration (CSV files) and templatability (with Flask). Is my understanding correct? I was wondering if it offered similar features to EasyChair, like participant registration, review process, notifications etc.
- srush 6y ago
  Yup that's right. Although I would add front-end search and visualization (with d3) to the features. As you mentioned there are a lot of good solutions for review, notification, and reg. Common choices are OpenReview/CMT/HotCRP/EasyChair/softconf... They're all pretty mature and complex. The thing that people suddenly need is ways to easily customize their own pages for hosting virtual conferences and workshops. That's the problem miniconf targets.
  - zvr 6y ago
    For people looking for a Free Software solution for running a (traditional) conference, there is also PreTalx https://pretalx.com/p/about/ https://pretalx.com/p/about/ and https://github.com/pretalx/pretalx https://github.com/pretalx/pretalx But your simple solution for virtual events is very much welcome and appreciated! Many thanks!

by srush 6y ago

zoomablemind 6y ago

So MiniConf is effectively a framework for maintaining a conference/event website. It takes care of presenting the program, schedule and ties together the presentations content (video, slides) which are hosted and served by third-party providers. The result is a static website where the participants meet at time, but all interactions are handled by the third-party providers. The main features are ease of configuration (CSV files) and templatability (with Flask). Is my understanding correct? I was wondering if it offered similar features to EasyChair, like participant registration, review process, notifications etc.

srush 6y ago
Yup that's right. Although I would add front-end search and visualization (with d3) to the features. As you mentioned there are a lot of good solutions for review, notification, and reg. Common choices are OpenReview/CMT/HotCRP/EasyChair/softconf... They're all pretty mature and complex. The thing that people suddenly need is ways to easily customize their own pages for hosting virtual conferences and workshops. That's the problem miniconf targets.
- zvr 6y ago
  For people looking for a Free Software solution for running a (traditional) conference, there is also PreTalx https://pretalx.com/p/about/ https://pretalx.com/p/about/ and https://github.com/pretalx/pretalx https://github.com/pretalx/pretalx But your simple solution for virtual events is very much welcome and appreciated! Many thanks!