Posted by Martijn Grooten on Mar 11, 2016
The call for papers for VB2016, the 26th Virus Bulletin conference, which takes place 5 to 7 October in Denver, CO, USA, is currently open.
We've had some excellent presentations at recent VB conferences, and we are never short of high-quality submissions to fill the schedule. Nevertheless, we're always on the look out for new speakers and new content. To help anyone who's unfamiliar with the VB conference, we have prepared a list of answers to some frequently asked questions about the event.
No, not at all. Once upon a time, the Virus Bulletin conference was indeed 'the anti-virus conference' but, along with the rest of the industry, our focus has broadened to focus on all aspects of security: from malware to mobile threats and from hacking to network security. The call for papers gives an extensive (though not exhaustive) list of suggested topics.
You don't even have to believe that anti-virus is the way to tackle security issues: one of the things that makes this conference so great is that delegates often have opposing opinions. (No wonder some of them can be found in the hotel bar until the early hours, arguing their point of view.)
More than 450 security experts from all over the world. Many have a job title that includes the word 'researcher', and these people usually aren't afraid of line after line of assembly code, but many others are less technically inclined. The conference programme will consist of a mix of technical and less-technical papers.
Have a look at last year's programme or that of the year before. We have uploaded many of the papers to our website and videos of the presentations to our YouTube channel (click on each title to see links to the respective papers and videos).
No, not at all. The categories are designed to help us with the selection process and to ensure that the final programme will cover a broad range of topics. We understand that not all papers fit easily into one of the six categories. If yours doesn't, just choose the one that seems the most appropriate. We will adjust the stream if necessary (and, indeed, we reserve the right to reassign papers to different streams).
Sure. Even the most experienced speakers and authors were once 'rookies'. Should your paper get accepted, you can ask us for help in preparing your paper and your presentation.
No. In recent years, we have had around three times as many submissions as there are speaking slots and we have no reason to believe that things will be different this year. You would be well advised to bear this in mind when writing your abstract: you really do have to convince the selection committee that your paper is going to be better than at least two-thirds of the others!
Papers are shortlisted by a committee consisting of the members of VB's advisory board together with a number of other industry members who have regularly attended the conference in recent years. The final decision on which papers are selected lies with Virus Bulletin.
We always like it when new technologies are presented. However, please keep in mind that this is not a marketing conference. Make sure your abstract explains why the technology will be beneficial to the security community. And, unless absolutely necessary, don't mention a company name in the abstract.
The members of the selection committee will have to judge around 150 papers. Make sure your abstract is clear and well-written, yet doesn't read like a marketing pitch.
It might be useful to explain why you think the topic of your paper is relevant to the security community today, but make sure the abstract is self-contained: people don't have the time to follow links or references. There is no need to include your CV and say how brilliant a speaker you are — or even to mention your name.
Sure! We encourage collaboration both between colleagues within the same organisation and between those from different organisations — in fact, in the past we've had some great joint presentations from researchers working at competitor companies.
Yes. Should you have any questions about the technical feasibility of what you want to do during your presentation, please don't hesitate to contact us (email [email protected]).
First, we will ask you to confirm that you can come and present the paper in Denver. Remember, you will almost certainly need approval for the travel and accommodation expenses from your budget holder, you may need to check with your firm's legal department if your topic is sensitive, and please do make sure that the dates don't clash with any important personal events or festivities.
We will also ask you to send us a full, written paper by 13 June. The papers (which will be published in the VB2016 Conference Proceedings) are a very important part of the conference, as they provide a detailed back-up of the material presented at the event — in many cases, the written papers will be able to provide information in greater depth than is possible in a 30-minute presentation, and many speakers find it useful to refer the audience to their paper in order to save time going over details in the presentation.
Papers are edited in house for style, grammar and consistency, and we will send you an edited version of the paper for approval prior to its publication.
At the event itself, you will be required to give a 30-minute presentation to delegates.
You do not need to send us your presentation itself in advance and of course, you're more than welcome (encouraged, in fact!) to update your presentation right up to the last minute in order to refer to the latest developments.
We make recordings of the presentations at the VB conference, and it is our intention to make papers and the recordings of presentations available to the public after the event - however, we will not do so without first seeking your permission.
The deadline is strict. However, as in previous years, we will reserve a small section of the programme for 'last-minute papers' dealing with up-to-the-minute topics. A separate call for papers for these speaking slots will open in the summer.
No. We have a small exhibition area and people are known sometimes to 'do business' at the event, but the main focus is on the conference.
The small size of the exhibition area actually makes it an excellent opportunity to present your company and its technology to the conference delegates. Please contact [email protected] to enquire about sponsorship and exhibition opportunities.
It would be best to mention the confidential nature of the material in the abstract - if in doubt, please contact us (email [email protected]) and we'll be happy to discuss the best way to proceed.
Sure, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected].
The conference is usually attended by a small number of specialist IT industry journalists and the conference tends to be covered even by journalists who aren't attending. If you are a journalist and want to apply for a press pass, please contact us (email [email protected]).
Please use the abstract submission page and don't forget the deadline is 18 March! We look forward to receiving your abstract — and hopefully to seeing you in Denver!
Yes. Using the login you used to submit an abstract, you can make changes until the submission deadline of 18 March.
