Conf Program Extraction

Conference Program Extraction

A conference program is the noisiest structured document you will routinely parse. Formats differ between conferences and often between days of the same conference; abstracts are short, frequently missing, and written to sell rather than to classify; and the fields a downstream scheduler needs most — how advanced a talk is, whether it is recorded, whether it has a capacity cap — are almost never stated outright. They have to be inferred, and an inference you cannot tell apart from a fact is a liability.

This skill turns raw program text into normalized event records in which every field carries a calibrated confidence and a one-line basis, and in which the classification signal is split into independent axes rather than crushed into a single blob. The governing principle is honest uncertainty: a record should make it obvious to the next stage which fields are solid, which are guessed, and which are simply absent.

It does three jobs and stops: detect the format, extract into the schema, score the confidence. It does not enrich thin abstracts (that is conf-abstract-enrichment), cluster (that is conf-theme-clustering), or schedule. It only flags what is thin so the next agent knows where to spend effort.

The event record (output contract)

The output is a single JSON file with a meta block (so an orchestrator can verify the stage gate without parsing every record) and an events array. This schema is canonical — reproduce it exactly; downstream skills read these field names.

{
  "meta": {
    "conference_id": "string",
    "source_ref": "path or url of the parsed program",
    "generated_on": "YYYY-MM-DD",
    "counts": { "total": 0, "talk": 0, "workshop": 0, "keynote": 0, "panel": 0, "other": 0 },
    "confidence_rollup": {
      "mean_field_confidence": 0.0,
      "low_confidence_field_fraction": 0.0,
      "events_with_thin_abstract": 0
    },
    "status": "done | partial",
    "format_detected": "short description of the delimiter/heading pattern used"
  },
  "events": [
    {
      "id": "kebab slug, day+time+speaker+title-stub, e.g. d2-0900-laurie-voss-vibes-to-production",
      "title": "string",
      "speakers": [ { "name": "string", "affiliation": "string | null", "affiliation_confidence": 0.0 } ],
      "session_type": "talk | workshop | keynote | panel | sponsor | expo | unknown",
      "track": "string | null",
      "room": "string | null",
      "day": "YYYY-MM-DD | null",
      "start": "HH:MM | null",
      "end": "HH:MM | null",
      "abstract_raw": "string | null",
      "abstract_enriched": null,
      "axes": {
        "topic": ["string"],
        "depth":      { "value": "intro | intermediate | advanced | unknown", "confidence": 0.0, "basis": "string" },
        "format":     { "value": "talk | workshop | keynote | panel | unknown", "confidence": 0.0, "basis": "string" },
        "prerequisites": { "value": ["string"], "confidence": 0.0, "basis": "string" },
        "recorded":   { "value": true, "confidence": 0.0, "basis": "string" },
        "capacity_constrained": { "value": true, "confidence": 0.0, "basis": "string" }
      },
      "enrichment": null,
      "field_confidence": {
        "title": 1.0, "speakers": 0.0, "track": 0.0, "room": 0.0, "time": 0.0, "abstract": 0.0
      },
      "source_ref": "the raw heading or line range this record came from"
    }
  ]
}

abstract_enriched and enrichment are written as null here and left for conf-abstract-enrichment to fill. recorded and capacity_constrained use null for the value when there is genuinely no signal either way (and confidence 0.0).

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Detect the format before you extract

Never assume a fixed format. Read a representative slice first and identify the recurring shape: the heading level that delimits a session, the field order, the inline metadata convention, the grouping (by day, by track, by time). Write what you found into meta.format_detected. Only then extract.

A typical session line looks like one of:

#### 9:00am-11:00am: From Vibes to Production — Laurie Voss
(sponsor) [Track 1] | Track: Track 1 | Status: tentative
<abstract paragraph or "TBA">

The reusable move: derive a small set of regexes/anchors from the detected pattern (time anchor, title/speaker split on the em dash, the (type) [room] | Track: x metadata line), not from a format you remember from another conference. When a later day breaks the pattern, re-detect rather than forcing the old anchors.

Pattern 2: Extract independent axes, not one blob

A talk is not a single label. Separate the signal into axes that vary independently, because the scheduler and the elicitor will query them independently:

• topic (["evaluation","agents","rag"]) — what it is about. Multi-valued by default.
• depth (intro|intermediate|advanced) — how much prior knowledge it assumes.
• format (talk|workshop|keynote|panel) — how it is delivered.
• prerequisites — concrete things the attendee should already know/have.
• recorded — whether they can catch it later (changes its scheduling priority).
• capacity_constrained — whether a seat is guaranteed (workshops usually are not).

The point of separation: "advanced workshop on RAG eval, recorded, capacity-capped" is four orthogonal facts, each with its own confidence. A blob throws away the ability to say "I'm confident it's a workshop but only guessing it's advanced."

Pattern 3: Confidence is present vs inferred vs missing

Every field lands in one of three states, and the confidence number must reflect which:

• Present — stated verbatim in the program (the title, the time, an explicit "Advanced" tag). Confidence 0.9–1.0.
• Inferred — derived from a real signal but not stated. "Workshop" ⇒ format=workshop (strong, ~0.85); "required prerequisites" in the abstract ⇒ depth=advanced (moderate, ~0.6); session in a "101" track ⇒ depth=intro (moderate). Confidence 0.3–0.8 with the basis naming the signal.
• Missing — no signal at all. value: null/unknown, confidence 0.0, basis "absent".

The basis string is not decoration; it is what lets a human or the elicitor audit a low-confidence schedule decision later ("depth: advanced (0.6, inferred from 'assumes familiarity with embeddings')").

Pattern 4: Flag thin or missing abstracts — but do not fill them

Mark an abstract thin when it is absent, "TBA", or too short/generic to classify from (a rough rule: under ~25 words, or no concrete nouns a topic could attach to). Record this in two places: a low field_confidence.abstract, and the meta.confidence_rollup.events_with_thin_abstract count. Do not web-search or invent text — that is conf-abstract-enrichment's job, and keeping the boundary clean is what lets enrichment carry its own provenance and confidence.

Pattern 5: Handle parallel tracks and ambiguous times

Conferences run many rooms at once, so the same start time appears repeatedly across the program. That is expected — do not dedupe by time. Each (time, room) pair is a distinct event. Capture room whenever present (it is what the scheduler turns into travel-time and overlap constraints). When a time is a range, fill both start and end; when only a start is given, leave end: null rather than guessing a duration.

Workflow

□ Step 1: Read a representative slice of the program; identify the recurring session shape.
□ Step 2: Record the detected format in meta.format_detected; derive extraction anchors from it.
□ Step 3: Walk the program in document order, emitting one EventRecord per session.
□ Step 4: For each record, fill the present fields verbatim with high confidence + source_ref.
□ Step 5: Infer the axes (depth/format/prereqs/recorded/capacity/topic) from real signals;
          attach confidence + a one-line basis to each; use null/unknown + 0.0 where absent.
□ Step 6: Score field_confidence per field; mark thin/missing abstracts.
□ Step 7: Mint a stable, collision-resistant id (day+time+speaker+title-stub, kebab-case).
□ Step 8: Compute meta.counts and meta.confidence_rollup; set status (done | partial).
□ Step 9: Write the {meta, events} JSON; write a human-readable index.md alongside it.

Guardrails

1. Never fabricate a field

Danger: A null abstract or unknown room becomes a plausible-sounding guess that the scheduler then trusts. Guardrail: Missing ⇒ null/unknown + confidence 0.0 + basis "absent". The only text in abstract_raw is text that was in the program. Red flag: You wrote a sentence no source contained.

2. Calibrate confidence honestly

Danger: Everything gets 0.9, so the confidence signal carries no information and the elicitor/scheduler cannot tell solid from guessed. Guardrail: Verbatim ⇒ 0.9–1.0; strong inference ⇒ 0.6–0.85; weak inference ⇒ 0.3–0.55; absent ⇒ 0.0. If you cannot name the basis, the confidence is low. Red flag: A field marked 0.9 whose basis is "seemed right".

3. Inferred is not Present is not Missing

Danger: Collapsing the three states loses exactly the information downstream stages need. Guardrail: Keep them distinct in both the value and the confidence. An inferred advanced and a stated Advanced must not look identical in the record.

4. Preserve the source reference

Danger: A wrong extraction is unauditable. Guardrail: Every record keeps source_ref (the raw heading or line range). A human can always trace a record back to the program.

5. Don't collapse multi-topic talks

Danger: "Evaluating agentic RAG" filed under one topic disappears from two of the three interests it actually serves. Guardrail: axes.topic is a list; populate all genuine topics. (Soft cross-theme membership is conf-theme-clustering's job, but it can only do it if the topics survive extraction.)

6. Don't dedupe parallel sessions

Danger: Treating repeated start times as duplicates deletes real concurrent talks. Guardrail: One record per (time, room). Same time, different room = two events.

Quick Reference

Axis extraction table

Confidence rubric

Related Skills

• conf-abstract-enrichment: thickens the thin abstracts this skill flags, with its own provenance and confidence. The handoff is the events_with_thin_abstract flag plus low field_confidence.abstract.
• conf-theme-clustering: consumes axes.topic and abstracts to build the theme map; relies on multi-topic survival.
• scout-mindset-bias-check: a discipline check against motivated extraction (seeing the depth/topic you expect rather than the one the text supports).
• reference-class-forecasting: useful when inferring capacity_constrained/recorded from a base rate for the session type rather than this specific listing.

Examples in Context

Example 1: A rich session line

Input:

#### 9:00am-11:00am: From Vibes to Production: Evaluating and Shipping AI Agents That Work 101 — Laurie Voss
(sponsor) [Track 1] | Track: Track 1
Building an AI demo is easy. Knowing whether it works in production — and keeping it working — is the hard part. Hands-on: build an eval harness...

Record (abbreviated):

• title: "From Vibes to Production: Evaluating and Shipping AI Agents That Work 101" — confidence 1.0
• speakers: [{name:"Laurie Voss", affiliation:null, affiliation_confidence:0.0}]
• session_type: "sponsor"; room: "Track 1"; track: "Track 1"; start:"09:00", end:"11:00" — all Present
• axes.depth: {value:"intro", confidence:0.6, basis:"'101' in title"}
• axes.format: {value:"workshop", confidence:0.75, basis:"'Hands-on: build...' + 2h block"}
• axes.topic: ["evaluation","agents","production","observability"]
• field_confidence.abstract: 0.9 (rich); not flagged thin.

Example 2: A sparse expo session

Input:

#### 2:30pm: Sponsor Lightning — TBA
(expo) [Expo Stage NE]

Record:

• title: "Sponsor Lightning" — 1.0; speakers: []; session_type:"expo"; room:"Expo Stage NE"; start:"14:30", end:null
• abstract_raw: null; field_confidence.abstract: 0.0 — flagged thin (counts toward events_with_thin_abstract)
• axes.depth: {value:"unknown", confidence:0.0, basis:"absent"}
• axes.capacity_constrained: {value:false, confidence:0.5, basis:"expo stage, open seating"}
• Everything unsupported stays null/unknown at confidence 0.0 — the record advertises its own thinness rather than hiding it.