UKCMG :: UK Computer Measurement Group

Call For Papers

UKCMG is a user group association of Information Technology professionals, the purpose of which is to exchange information about issues affecting the management, planning, performance and administration of computer systems. We share information in a number of ways - across the Internet, at regional groups, at conferences - providing input to Systems & ServiceManagement groups, such as itSMF. While we remain independent we encourage Vendor participation at all our events and this allows our members to get access to some of the top vendor companies in the world.

UKCMG runs on three principles:

We are platform independent - we believe the same guiding principles apply to all environments, from the biggest to the smallest, from the most complex to the simplest.
Users, Consultants and Vendors meet and contribute on an equal footing.
Technical and Management issues are given equal importance.

We would like you to share your experiences with other practitioners, and with us. You can do this in a number of ways - by speaking at our Annual Conference or by speaking at one of our other events. Slots for presentations are normally about an hour long - 50 minutes presentation, and 10 minutes questions and discussion.

Please do not worry if you have never spoken before - we can provide help. Seasoned presenters (who themselves had to start somewhere) are available to help with your presentation. We also provide a set of guidelines for preparing and presenting your paper. Remember, the audience has come to listen to your ideas, not to criticise your presentation style.

Conference Format

The Annual Conference runs over a 3 day period with 4 streams of concurrent presentations. 3 of the streams are focused specifically on issues surrounding Mainframes, Midrange Systems and Management Issues. The 4th stream covers a variety of topics that apply to principles of Capacity Planning and Performance testing across the board. This format allows Technical or Managerial focused attendees to find an appropriate session across any of the 3 days of conference.

Types of paper and presentations

Tutorial Papers

These are papers that allow speakers to share their experience and understanding of a topic with UKCMG members. It is especially important that the abstract for such papers identifies the intended audience (i.e. technical, managerial, etc).

Experience Papers

Papers are welcomed from users, consultants and vendors; UKCMG members especially want to hear how problems were solved, how a solution was implemented, or how new systems or technologies were installed and managed. What went wrong is often as important as what went right.

Product Papers

UKCMG is a partnership of both users and vendors. Product papers allow vendors to introduce new products into the marketplace which we believe are of interest to our user members. As such, the papers are allowed to go beyond the normal "no marketing" rules applied to conference papers. Vendor workshops, seminars dealing with how to get the most out of a product, and product announcements, fall within this category. User experiences, however, are always the best recommendation for a product. An abstract describing the product paper is still required.

Discussion Group

If you would like to lead a discussion group on any topic, whether it be a formal session or an informal 'Birds of a Feather' session, please contact the UKCMG office.

Why present at UKCMG?

By presenting a paper, you have FREE attendance on the day you present, and attendance at a reduced rate for any other days you wish to attend.
The best User or Consultant paper is selected to present at the affiliated CMG in the USA. This entitles the winner to a FREE trip to the States to present their paper at the USCMG in December 2006.
The best NEW speaker will get a free registration at UKCMG next year. Other presenters may be invited to attend other European CMG conferences.
All accepted papers will be published on the UKCMG website and incorporated into the Conference CD ROM, which is distributed to all attendees and members of UKCMG.
There is nothing like presenting a paper on a specialist topic to reinforce your understanding of the topic.
Giving effective presentations is an important skill. Sharing your experiences with the other members of UKCMG is very useful experience.

Paper selection

Many of the presenters are specifically targeted by the UKCMG programme committee to ensure a high quality of presentation. However it is balanced across our membership and end user papers are greatly encouraged as they often provide the best source of information in the real world. Many papers are received each year and vetted for content by a team of industry experts. Unfortunately some excellent papers may be rejected due to the format of the conference streams and volume of specific papers, however UKCMG offers several opportunities throughout the year to revisit these papers if appropriate.

Abstracts

If you would like to present a paper, please send your abstract on the accompanying form, or submit on the on-line form, as soon as possible. The abstract should be no longer than 100 words, and should introduce the subject to the audience.

The contents of the abstract are important since these will be published on the website to give potential delegates the opportunity to know the gist of your presentation. The title of your paper should also be meaningful, descriptive and reasonably short. Remember that delegates often decide which paper to attend on the basis of the title.

2006 Conference Agenda

Every year the topics covered in the Capacity and Performance arena is increasing. There is a lot more focus on Management issues with many organisations adopting the frameworks such as ITIL. The Distributed system agenda is moving back to more of a traditional Mainframe roll with many of the features now appearing in the midrange world. This year.s conference is split into 3 specific streams with the 4th stream covering off a variety of other topics. For the first time we are looking to introduce some future.s papers along with a whole beginners section on Capacity Planning.

The list below represents most of the topics covered. These topics are applicable across the variety of hardware that falls into the Mainframe and Midrange arena. Additional topics are always given consideration.