SOUPS 2021 Instructions for Presenters

These instructions are for presenters at the Seventeenth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security. If you wish to submit a paper or deliver a talk at another upcoming USENIX event, please review the open Calls for Papers and Calls for Participation for our upcoming USENIX conferences.

Contact

If you have questions, please contact the SOUPS 2021 Technical Papers Co-Chairs, Joe Calandrino or Manya Sleeper, or the USENIX Production Department.

Instructions for Authors of Refereed Papers

  1. Final papers deadlines. A printable PDF of your paper is due via the submissions system on or before Wednesday, June 9, 2021. These are hard deadlines. No extensions will be granted. If you have questions about the requirements shown below, contact the Production Department.
  2. Maximum page length. Final papers must be no more than 12 pages (excluding acknowledgements, bibliography, and appendices) and up to 20 pages total including acknowledgements, bibliography, and appendices.
  3. Paper format. Papers must use the SOUPS formatting template (available for MS Word or LaTeX), and be submitted as a PDF via the submission system by June 9, 2021. If you have questions, please contact the USENIX Production Department.
  4. Embed all fonts in your final paper PDF.
  5. Make searchable your final paper PDF.
  6. Page numbers must be suppressed on your final paper PDF.
  7. Certify your final paper's title, author, and abstract in HotCRP. The final PDF's title and author information, including author order and affiliation, and the abstract, must exactly match the information entered into the HotCRP submission system. Please update the information in HotCRP as necessary, then check the certification checkbox. Please note: if you make any changes after you check the certification checkbox, you will need to check the box again.
  8. Sign the consent to publish form. Each author must sign a consent to publish form, which allows USENIX to publish the paper as well as any slides, audio, and/or video of your presentation. USENIX makes these freely available as part of our commitment to open access. Please review and e-sign the form. If you are the lead author, please be sure all of your co-authors sign a form.
  9. Use of images, audio, and video in your materials. It is very important that you secure permission to use copyright-protected materials in your slide deck, paper, or other materials used at a conference or submitted for publication. Even when an item has a Creative Commons license, you must read and comply with the terms of the license.

    USENIX receives copyright infringement notices from time to time, resulting from authors or speakers using copyright-protected materials without proper licensing or attribution. When this happens, we have to depublish the work in question until/unless the issue is resolved. Licensing fees may be incurred, even when the work is unpublished, and USENIX will bill the author or speaker for any costs incurred. When possible, USENIX will refer the complainant directly to the author or speaker, who will be solely responsible for resolving the complaint.
  10. Embargo requests. All papers will be available online only to registered attendees before the conference. If your accepted paper should not be published prior to the event, please notify the Production Department. The papers will be made available online to the public beginning on the first day of the conference.
  11. Prepare and submit your presentation videos and slides. For our virtual events, authors are required to record videos of their presentations and prepare their slide decks prior to the conference. Submit your videos and slide decks via our Box upload link by Tuesday, July 20, 2021. Specification requirements for both the videos and slides are available below.

Slides and Video Specifications

For our virtual event, you must pre-record a video of your presentation that integrates your slides with footage of you speaking. This video will be played live for you by the USENIX staff during the event at your designated time slot in the program.

Slides Specifications

  • Introduction slide that clearly lists the title of your paper and your name
  • Leave sufficient space in a corner for the speaker inset showing you presenting your paper
  • Closing slide to thank your audience and/or collaborators and to display your contact information should you wish to receive follow-up questions from attendees
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • File format: PDF
  • File name: soups2021_slides_[yourlastname].pdf (e.g. soups2021_slides_smith.pdf)

Video Specifications

  • Length: 4–5 minutes
  • File format: H.264 MP4
  • Resolution: 1080p (1920x1080)
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Max file size: 500MB
  • Clearly audible audio (headphones and headsets are permitted)
  • File name: soups2021_video_[yourlastname].mp4 (e.g. soups2021_video_smith.mp4)
  • Fullscreen slides with a speaker inset, as shown here:
    Please ensure that your speaker inset does not cover any pertinent information on your slides.
  • Need help preparing your video? See our document, "USENIX Virtual Conferencing Video Instructions for Presenters," for step-by-step instructions, additional tips, and best practices.
  • Need a background to hide your messy office? Download one of USENIX's video conference backgrounds.