IEEE Technical Activities Volunteer Training
IEEE Conferences
July 2014
Topics 主题
Conference contributions and value to the community
Description of conference sponsorship roles
Overview primary roles and responsibilities of
conference committee
Getting involved with TAB conference organization
Technical program criteria and standards
High level time lines for major activity areas
Conference
contributions to IEEE
IEEE has a growing conference
presence…
In 2013 IEEE….
– Sponsored 1489 conferences (75% in R7-10)
– 768 financially sponsored approved (62% in R7-10)
– 721 technically co-sponsored approved (89% in R7-10)
Total Number of IEEE Sponsored Conferences
IEEE Society/Council/Geographic Unit/Other
2000
1500
1000
500
973
1103
2008
2009
1369
1331
1394
1489
2010
2011
2012
2013
0
Data as of 31Dec2013
That is global…
– IEEE sponsored conferences in 93 countries
2013 Top 10 locations for all conferences by country
42
37 36
USA
China
44
India
45
369
48
Japan
Germany
62
Singapore
105
140
Italy
With community connections…
Partnering with 1000+
non-IEEE organisations
75% of all IEEE conferences
are co-sponsored
of these, 88% are co-sponsored by
a non-IEEE organisation
Sole Sponsor
Co-Sponsored
Reaching many individuals…
– Over 425,000 attendees, estimated
―249K financially sponsored conferences
―176K technically sponsored conferences
60%
50%
2000+
40%
1000-1999
30%
500-999
20%
300-499
100-299
10%
<100
0%
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
~75% of IEEE conferences have < 300 Attendees
Major source of content for Xplore
The IEEE Xplore digital library is a powerful resource for
the scientific and technical community, providing Web
access to more than 3-million full-text documents
 Conference publications account for 72% of total Xplore content
In 2013, IEEE sponsored conferences
contributed 83% of all new article entered into
IEEE Xplore
IEEE Conferences
All other sources
Sources of Xplore Content, 2013
52% of all articles downloaded are from IEEE sponsored conferences
Conferences contribute to scientific &
technical communities in many ways…
Are one of the most significant drivers of technical community
satisfaction!
Enabling knowledge dissemination and discussion
Building and sustaining world-wide scientific and technical
communities
Networking opportunities
Providing attendees and organizers with engaging, enriching and
satisfying activities
– Authoring and speaking opportunities
– Awards and recognition
– Leadership development
– Conference volunteer opportunities
Conference quality receiving
lots of attention
Quality issues that IEEE has Seen:
Machine-generated papers
Plagiarized papers
Content outside of conference scope or IEEE technical scope
Poor English / grammar
“Pay-to-Publish” behavior
(e.g., most authors are no-shows)
“Paper Stuffing”
– (1000 papers from conference w/ 100 attendees ）
“Proceedings Hijacking”
– (unauthorized people substituting content)
Rapid increase in volume in 2010-2011
Potential consequences
Loss of IEEE Reputation
Loss of IEEE Conference
Publications’ Ability to be
Indexed
We Need to Monitor & Maintain Our Quality
Involvement of Volunteers is Critical
11
6/23/2016
Types of IEEE
conference sponsorship
IEEE sponsorship
IEEE
Type of sponsorship depends on the percentage of IEEE’s financial
and technical responsibilities in running a conference
Financial Sponsorships
– Sole Sponsorship
– The IEEE OU* has full financial and technical responsibility for planning
and executing the conference
– Co-Sponsorship
– The IEEE OU shares financial and technical responsibilities with some
other institution (university, professional society, etc.)
Technical Co-sponsorship
– The IEEE OU provides direct and substantial involvement only in
development and management of the technical program
Note: IEEE OU sponsorship agreement should be obtained
prior to conference application submission
*OU – Organizational Unit (example: society/technical council, region, section,
chapter, geographical council)
IEEE financial sponsorships
IEEE
IEEE Financial Sponsor responsibilities:
Define the conference scope and execute a high quality
technical program
Conference execution responsibilities, including:
– venue selection, negotiating services, exhibit management, publication
of programs and proceedings, marketing and public relations
Ensure appropriate representation of the IEEE brand is included
on all communications, websites and marketing materials
Obtain approval of conference from IEEE
Escalate any legal issues to the IEEE Meetings, Conferences &
Events Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Team
Develop and manage a positive budget that provides financial
contributions to IEEE
IEEE financial sponsorship
categories
Sole Sponsorship
IEEE OU has full financial and
organizational responsibility
– 100% of surplus or loss
Conference execution is sole
responsibility of IEEE OU
No Memorandum of
Understanding is required
Co-Sponsorship
IEEE OU has shared financial
(surplus/loss) and organizational
responsibility based on an agreed
percentage
– Example:
 Sponsor A - 30%
 Sponsor B - 70%
Conference execution responsibility
noted above is shared
A Memorandum of Understanding
(MOA) is required to define the
responsibilities of each party
Technical co-sponsorship
IEEE OU has no financial responsibility. The OU does not receive any
financial gain or incur any loss
Technical Co-Sponsorship indicates direct and substantial involvement by
the IEEE OU solely in the organization of the technical program and scope
definition
– Technical program involvement examples: IEEE volunteer is a member
of the technical program committee or a track chair, assigning reviewers
to submitted papers
– The conference is allowed to use the IEEE brand, following all guidelines.
All conference promotional materials indicate IEEE as a Technical Cosponsor
– IEEE may not appear in the event title or website URL
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is required
Must obtain conference approval from IEEE
Conference supporters
For-profit companies cannot sponsor an IEEE conference
However, for-profit companies can be supporters of an IEEE
conference
– Supporter, Patron, Partner or Contributor are acceptable designations
Supporters can contribute or donate goods and services to a
conference. Involvement examples:
1) Donation or grant for a specific activity, such as a dinner
2) Providing conference attendees trinkets or small gifts
3) A university or business may donate use of facilities to host a conference
Supporters must be noted separately from sponsors on all conference
marketing materials including the conference web-site
Conference organizing
committee
Conference organizing committee
roles and responsibilities
Below are the “core” team roles that fulfill the critical
conference functions:
Conference Chair
(often referred to as “General Chair”)
Finance Chair
(often referred to as “Treasurer”)
Technical Program Chair
Publications Chair
Conference Success Depends Heavily on the Organizing Team
Conference chair
The conference chair has full fiduciary, legal, quality
& IEEE brand use responsibility
Conference chair is appointed / approved by the
sponsoring organization
Usually responsible for selecting the conference location
Conference chairs will often have oversight of a committee
that is charged with specific responsibilities
Identify and appoint the chairs of the other committees,
who make up the conference committee
Finance chair / Treasurer
The finance chair or treasurer ensures all that all financial,
tax and audit requirements are met, possibly with a
committee (depending on the conference size)
Some important activities include:
– budget, accounting for all revenue & expenses, and producing the
financial report (conference closing)
– establishing and managing conference bank account(s)
– indirect tax
– insurance and bonding
The finance chair is responsible for organizing the final audit,
if required
Technical program chair
The technical program chair ensures that a high-quality, well-balanced
program is organized and presented at the conference
The technical program chair manages all activity from the Call for
Papers through peer review and ultimate selection of every accepted
paper
The technical program chair is responsible for the overall quality of the
technical review process and the intellectual property selected for
potential inclusion into Xplore
The technical program chair is responsible for recommending the nonpresented paper and plagiarism checking policies
The technical program chair coordinates with the local arrangements
chair to schedule session rooms for the program
Publications chair
The publications chair is responsible for the preparation of
materials as determined by the technical program chair
– Selecting a production vendor for conference proceedings
– Producing the conference program guide and tutorial materials
– Collecting and submitting author copyright forms for the accepted papers in the
proceedings
– Oversees plagiarism checking, if performed
– Coordinating all production logistics
– Inclusion of papers from special sessions or colloquia
– Exclusion of non-presented papers
– Coordinating with authors on formatting or other non-content related issues
Publications chair
contd.
The publications chair is also responsible for submitting
the conference proceedings to post-conference
publishers such as IEEE
– IEEE requests content to be sent within 30 days of the
conference end date
Customize your structure
Depending on the size and complexity of your
conference you can institute additional committees or
additional resources if necessary to help support your
conference
– Do you need more help in a specific area?
– Advertising
– reaching new un-tapped target markets of potential attendees and authors
– social media integration
– targeting younger engineers
– executing the technical program
– the addition of track chairs
Other conference roles
Technical program track chair: Participates in executing the technical
program and oversees a specific technical area paper reviews and
presentations
Publicity or public relations chair: Promotes the conference through
placements in publications calendars, advertisements in IEEE and non-IEEE
publications, news media past potential attendees for targeted outreach
Marketing & social media integration chair: Manage the conference
website, social media applications and all marketing campaigns aimed at
attracting authors and attendees
Registration chair: Plans and runs conference registration (both advance
and on-site) procedures and logistics, including handling of credit card fees,
cancellation policy and creation of name badges. Or, manages a registration
management company
Other conference roles - contd.
Patronage chair: Works with other organizations to identify, design
and recruit opportunities for participation and support
Exhibits chair: Ensures proper handling of contracts, floor space,
exhibitor registration, security and other logistics. Or manages an
exhibits management company
Local arrangements chair: Works with local vendors, management
companies, the conference and other committees in the planning of
the conference space as well as hiring entertainment, tours, logistics
and working with the local Convention & Visitors’ Bureau
How do you get your
conference approved
by a TAB OU?
General observations
Every TAB OU is independent, with its own approval
requirements and approval process
Most TAB OUs would like to operate more conferences in
China
TAB is relatively inexperienced with holding conferences
in China, and finds it difficult to do so (especially
financially sponsored conferences)
Local (Chinese) partners & support are considered to be
essential
⇒ Strong desire for collaboration!
*OU – Organizational Unit (example: society, technical council,
region, section, chapter, geographic council)
For technically co-sponsored
conferences
No financial risk to TAB OU ⇒ easier to get approved
Significant concern about conference quality
Formal evaluation and approval process
Need to convince OU that conference is good quality & that
there is a reason they should grant sponsorship
– Conference is technically aligned with TAB OU
– Good conference history / track record
– Provide OU with copy of previous proceedings
– Involvement of sponsoring TAB OU in the program committee
– How does TAB OU benefit from sponsoring this conference?
Can be time consuming ⇒ start planning / approval early (>1
year before conference)
For Financially Sponsored
Conferences
Financial risk to TAB OU ⇒ much more scrutiny
Formal planning & organizing process
Oversight from OU throughout entire life of conference
If conference is new (to TAB OU), similar process to
Technically Co-Sponsored conf, but more scrutiny
If OU holds conference annually (but in a different location
each year), convince OU to hold the conference in your
location
– Become member of conference organizing committee
– Learn how conference operates, including site selection
– Propose to hold the conference in your location
Personal relationship very
important!
Committed volunteers are always needed!
⇒ Become involved in conference and OU organization
Learn by doing; taking on roles with increasing
responsibility
– Talk to Conference Chairman, volunteer to help with conference
– Promote OU conferences in China (get attendees from China)
– Perform one of the “Other Conference Roles”
– Conferences are a good entry into OU organizing committees
– Do a good job!
– Be reliable, responsive, & accurate
Working with IEEE
Meetings, Conferences
and Events (MCE)
Who we are
IEEE Meetings, Conferences & Events (MCE)
A resource to enable conference success within the
technical community
– Deliver effective, integrated, experiential solutions worldwide
– Help grow and build your community
– Explore new event models to enrich and engage
– Harness next generation media for memorable experiences
Synergy of Professional Experts
– Offering a suite of services
– Enabling a collaborative environment
Ways that MCE can assist you
MCE
Overall conference guidance & support
Identifying potential IEEE partners /
assistance in evaluating non-IEEE partners
Conference submission and approval
Finance, budgeting, insurance, contracts
Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)
Publication of your proceedings
Marketing your conference
Site location, event management, meeting logistics
Contract negotiations, food & beverage planning, supplier management
Conference organizer training
Meetings Conferences & Events (MCE)
MCE has extensive experience that you can leverage at
any time while planning your conference
MCE can act, consult, guide or provide services for
your conference or OU
MCE single point of contact:
MCE Customer Relations
Management Team
ieee-mce@ieee.org
Technical program
Overall Structure
Technical
Program
Chair
Technical
Program
Committee
Reviewers
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6/23/2016
What is the technical program?
A series of presentations delivered at the conference that cover the
range of scientific areas of the technical scope of the conference
– the ‘heart of the conference’
The presentations should generate scholarly dialogue amongst
attendees regarding the technical merit of the paper
– Oral presentations
– Keynote speeches
– Panel and poster sessions
– Workshops and tutorials
Often sub-divided into tracks and sessions based on topical areas
Why review technical content?
Enhance the quality and thus the reputation of
the conference
Determine the suitability of material for conference
(scope)
Determine the quality of suitable material
– Innovation, novelty
Determine originality, providing a potential filter for
plagiarism
Assess potential impacts of material
What is review?
A process by which a scholarly work is evaluated by a
group of experts in the same field to ensure it meets the
necessary standards before it is published or accepted
Common types of review processes
Blind Review
– The reviewers’ names are hidden from the author
Double Blind
– The reviewers’ names are hidden from the author and the author’s
name is unknown to the reviewers
Ongoing challenges in review
Getting enough high quality papers by the submission
deadline
Finding enough experts to provide quality reviews by
the deadline
Managing conflicts of interest
– Reviewers should recuse themselves from conducting reviews if
they have interacted or interact closely with any of the authors or if
any authors are from the same institution
– This reduces concerns about potential favoritism
Improving conference quality and reputation
will help with all of these issues
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6/23/2016
Review and scoring guidelines
Establish review criteria:
• number of reviews per paper (2 minimum, 3 preferred)
• maximum number of papers assigned to a reviewer
(suggested: 12 maximum for full paper, 20 maximum for abstract only)
Define criteria that reviewers will use to determine if papers are within the
scope of the conference
Reviewers should focus on essential criteria that will apply when scoring
papers for acceptance for publication. The typical list will include：
Scope (relevance)
Reproducibility
Technical correctness
Innovation / Novelty - new or innovative methods or approaches to a problem
(or its examination) in a given subject area that is within the conference’s scope
• Readability - sufficient written English quality to enable readers to follow the
narrative easily, and which can be used by the appropriate audiences to further
their knowledge or research
•
•
•
•
Conference timelines
• Following are “sample” timeframes for critical planning
elements
• Individual conferences may need to adjust timing based on
complexity, location and size of the event
Conference application and
approvals
Reach sponsorship
agreement and
understanding with
IEEE OU and all
sponsors
24 -18 Months*
Submit Conference
Information to IEEE
for approval
18 – 12 months*
Application
Review & MOU
Validation
6-12 Months*
*Prior to conference start date
OU and Sponsor
Approval of
conference and
MOU
Conference posts
in IEEE
Conference
Search
Conference finances timeline
IEEE Financially Sponsored Conferences Only
Budgeting, Banking &
Insurance
18-12 Months*
Venue/Supplier
Negotiations and
Contract
24-18 Months*
Establish Event
Registration
Process
6-12 Months*
Transaction Processing
(paying bills, receiving
deposits)
6 Months* Post Event
Closing your Conference
Post Event
0-6 Months
Reporting will be on-going as you update budgets and reforecast
revenue and expenses
*Prior to conference start date
Technical program timeline
Establish TP
Committee
10-12
Months*
Recruit
Reviewers
Plan Key Dates
9-10
Months*
Call for Papers
6-8 Months*
Abstract/full
paper
submission
deadline
4-6 Months*
*Prior to conference start date
Peer Review
Process
2-6 months*
Notice of
acceptances
sent to
authors
8-10 weeks*
Conference publications timeline
Applies to only Conferences Publishing With IEEE
Submit Publications Form
and Register for PDF
Express
IEEE Sends Letter of
Acquisition
Pub Chair Collects
Copyright Forms for
Pub Chair Prepares
Content and Submits
Proceedings to IEEE
5-6 Months *
Final Accepted Papers
(Xplore Compliant)
8-10 weeks *
Within 30 Days Post
Conference
6 Months *
*Prior to conference start date
Volunteer roles and
contacts
49
6/23/2016
Volunteer roles
Conferences positions within Societies/Technical
Councils (defined by each Society/Technical Council)
– Organizer of conference activities
– Lecturer
– Leadership roles such as Vice President, Conferences; Chair of
Conferences Committee or Conferences Board
– Membership roles within Conferences Committee or Conferences
Board
Educational activities positions within geographic unit
– Sections Conferences Committee Chair or Member
– Chapter Conferences Committee Chair or Member
IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB)
– Leadership roles within EAB
– Member of assorted EAB committees
Who to contact to volunteer
Within a specific conference
– Contact the general/program Chairs for desired conference
To submit to a specific conference
– Contact the OU sponsoring the conference (typically sponsoring OU’s Vice
President, Conferences)
Within a specific Society/Technical Council (different positions
defined by Society, including Vice President of Conferences, Chairs
of various committees, member of conferences committees,
representative to steering/advisory conferences committees, or to
propose a new conference)
– Contact Vice President, Conferences, of desired Society/Technical Council
for more information
Within IEEE Conferences Committee
– Contact Chair of committee or IEEE Vice President for Technical Activities
for more information
Conference Organizing
Success Stories in China
Zhen-An Liu
Get prepared for NPSS/IEEE
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Senior scientist of Institute of High Energy Physics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Professor of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Research field in electronics, trigger and data acquisition
in experimental physics
He designed/Constructed the Trigger System of Beijing
Spectrometer, Beijing Electron Positron Collider, Beijing
China
He designed Overall readout and data transmission for
Belle II Experiment(Belle2link)
He designed PXD/Belle II data acquisition and data
reduction in collaboration with Prof. Kuehn of Giessen
Uni
He is leading the development of TDAQ of PANDA
Experiment in collaboration with Prof. Kuehn of Giessen
Uni
ATCA/xTCA
BES III Trigger System
Get prepared for NPSS/IEEE（2）
• Lecture course of Modern Electronics for
Particle Physics in the University of
Chinese Academy of Sciences(UCAS,
former Graduate School of Chinese
Academy of Sciences, GUCAS) since
2002
• Lecture course of High Speed Digital
Circuit Design in UCAS in some years
• Supervision of Ph.D. and M.S. students
Started with IEEE/NPSS conferences
• TNS papers and NPSS conference
Proceedings(80’s)
• NPSS conference awareness in early
21 century
• NSS/NPSS conference attendance in
2006
• Real Time Conference of CANPS/NPSS
attendance in 2007
• Each real time conferences
attendance ever since
• Most NSS-MIC conferences
attendance ever since
Join small IEEE tasks
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
IEEE Sponsors/co-sponsored workshops
– NEDS, IHEP, NSFC,CAS,CAST
– IEEE/NPSS
Participated organization 2008 – 2nd xTCA
workshop, IEEE NSS-MIC Dresden
Organized 3rd ATCA workshop in Beijing May 2009
Participated organization 2010 – 2013 - IEEE
Workshops 4-6 at Lisbon, Valencia, Berkeley, DESY
(1st & 2nd DESY workshops)
Topical Seminar on Frontier of Particle physics :
Detector and Electronics hold in Aug. 18-22 2011 in
Beijing China
Belle II Trigger and DAQ Workshop Jan. 2011 in
Beijing
2014 - 7th Annual IEEE Workshop Nara Japan, 3rd
DESY workshop Dec. 2014
International School on Real Time System, Osaka
University, June 2-7 2014
Small task(2)-Member Recruitment and
promotion in China
• New IEEE/NPSS Member in effort in
2011 (thanks to Vernon Price)
• Good coverage of the units
– Inst. Of H. Energy Phys.(IHEP)，
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
– U. of Sci. and Tech. of China(USTC)
– Inst. of Modern Physics(IMP), CAS
– Inst. of Plasma Physics(IPP), CAS
– Others
– Membership booth at IPAC Shanghai
May 2013
– Membership booth at SCINT Shanghai
June 2013
• Membership and NSS/MIC participation
increase
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
2012 2013
– 16
29
41
??
41
37
68
？
–
Promotion of NPSS/IEEE in China
• Arranged NPSS delegation visit to IEEE
Beijing Office in 2008
• Arranged NPSS delegation visit to IHEP in
2008
• Arranged IEEE delegates visit to IHEP in
2013
• Participated IEEE delegates visit to IACAS
in 2013
Better Understanding NPSS/IEEE
• He’s active meeting Experts in Physics
Experiment Instrumentation and learning
regulations
Learning NPSS conference operation
• Being a Committee Member of CANPS/NPSS and
TNC/NPSS, learn more for larger conference
organization
Learning from organizers
• By participation conferences and talks
with organizers, he has been learning
conference/workshops organizations
More Organizations of IEEE/NPSS conferences
• He is now active in IEEE conference
organization
– 2009 16th IEEE/NPSS real Time
Conference RT09 in Beijing
– 2012 Los Angles IEEE NSS-MIC2012
• TRIG/DAQ session Convener
– 2013 Seoul IEEE NSS-MIC OC
• Asia-Pacific Liaison Chair
• TRIG/DAQ Session Convener
– 2014 Japan/Nara IEEE Real Time
Conference RT2014
• Advisory Scientific Committee Co-Chair