 |
SIGCOMM policy issues:
General
Conference issues:
- Meeting room
Plan for a single presenter and single projector, i.e.,
typical conference style.
Rows should allow attendees to come and go without distruption
- avoid theater-style seating. Three banks of seats (two
'center' aisles) is useful if possible - it avoids the
speaker staring down an empty aisle.
There should be multiple aisles in which microphones can
be placed.
The room should have unobstructed views for the entire
seating area. We typically use a single projector, and everyone
should be able to see the screen as well as the speaker.
- Break area
The break area should be adjacent to the presentation
room. There should be enough room for refreshments, reasonable
mingling space for a singificant fraction of attendees,
as well as areas for registration and (if applicable)
publisher tables.
If posters are presented, it is useful to place them
in the break area or immediately adjacent.
- Power
At least some of the conference seats should have power
available. Assume that attendees bring plug adapters but
not multi-socket taps.
- Internet access
Network access should be provided at the conference venue,
though not always inside the presentation room itself.
Power should be available, as should both wired ethernet
and wireless 802.11b access and some terminals capable
of web access (command-line access is useful as well,
if possible).
At least one printer should be available if possible.
The room should be lockable to secure the terminals and
printer.
NAT'd access should be avoided if possible, for at least
some subset of the connections.
Information on other local Internet access - at hotels,
coffee shops, etc. - is also useful.
- Registration
There are three ways to handle registration, each with
particular caveats, noted below.
Note - regardless of who handles registration, it is
critical that a member of the conference executive
committee oversee the process. That person should be listed
as a contact on the registration web pages, e.g., for
questions and help with problems.
-
- yourself (internal to a committee member's organization)
- Be very careful about handling credit card numbers
- notably where they are kept and who has access.
Keep in mind that a small percentage of registration
payments are bogus.
-
-
- ACM-assist
- The ACM no longer handles registration entirely.
They can provide a credit-card processing service,
which can be used together with 'your own' registration
staff, for a fee.The service is NOT real-time; card
information is collected in batches and processed
by the ACM 'offline'. The fees run from $1/transaction
(data FTPd) to $3/transaction (data FAXd).
-
-
- third-party contractor
- A local contractor can be used, with similar fee
structures to the ACM (setup plus per-person).
#2 and #3 reduce liability issues with holding credit
card numbers, and often provide their own on-line web
forms or form templates.
#3 is often used outside the U.S., because the ACM is
based in the U.S., and often contractors native to the
conference site are better equipped to handle VAT and
other local tax and currency exchange issues.
- Preparation room
A separate room, with an identical projector if possible,
as well as presentation materials (spare blank slides,
markers, etc.) should be provided for presenters.
- Food issues
Keep in mind that your entire attendance will be going
for lunch at once. For buffet or lunch-service lines,
multiple lines should be utilized.
As with the meeting area, keep in mind that people will
want to come and go at irregular times. Plan a small amount
of extra table space to avoid 'spinners' (people who spin
around looking for a seat - airline terminology ;-)
- Presentation advice
Inform speakers in advance of the schedule, leaving some
time for questions (depending on the meeting style).
Provide suggested guidelines, e.g., number of slides,
a sample outline, etc. It is useful to provide "advice
for novice speakers" - i.e., minimum font sizes,
maximum number of ideas per slide, etc. It is also useful
to provide a mentor service to review draft talks (at
the speaker's request) if possible.
- Presentation management
Provide a visible count-down timer, changing colors or
backgrounds at critical intervals (green at the start,
yellow at 50%, orange at 20%, red at 10%, and flashing
when expired). Any good slide program on a PC or laptop
with automatic advance will suffice. Click here for a
20-minute talk sample in Powerpoint.
Be prepared to stop the speaker in time for questions,
esp. if the audience appears ready for such (e.g., gathering
at the microphone). Forewarn speakers of this.
Be prepared to guide/summarize/redirect questions, or
to cut-off questions that are talks in of themselves.
Advise the presenter to be prepared to do this if required
as well. I.e., if a question requires a detailed response
and is of marginal interest to the room, take it off-line
at the break, and invite the room join you and the questioner
then.
Sigcomm-specific
Conference issues:
- Schedule
Traditionally Wed-Thur-Fri, with tutorials and/or workshops
on Mon-Wed, but other formats are being tested (Tues-Thur-Fri
in 2003 Karlsruhe Germany, and Tues-Wed-Thur in 2004 Portland,
US).
Reception is best if the evening before the first conference
night.
Banquet is typically the evening of the second conference
night, and often follows the Sigcomm business meeting.
A student dinner sometimes follows the reception. Avoid
the two core conference evenings - they interfere with
exec. committee events, and having them participate is
useful. It is useful to have the student dinner as early
as possible, to initiate relationships they can use for
the rest of the meeting.
Outrageous Opinions session should occur later rather
than sooner, and should be planned well in advance.
- Site selection:
Click here for more info.
- Student award info
They get:
- invitation to the award dinner (Mon night)
their advisor is also invited
- honorarium
$500 (split if multiple students are awardees)
- travel grant
get receipts for:
economy advance-booked air travel
4 nights hotel
4 days per diem
ground transportation as needed to get to the hotel
- registration to the conference only
prepaid or reimbursed; either way works fine
reimbursed works easier if they've already paid
- a plaque, coordinatedin 2005 by:
Elizabeth Grove
ACM
1515 Broadway, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10036
212-626-0614
212-302-5826 (fax)
- Business meetings at Sigcomm:
Legend of meetings, with contact points for attendee lists and approximate sizes:
SIG: SIG Exec [SIG Chair, 10]
Conf+1: current SC Exec, next years' SC Exec, SIG Exec [Conf+1 Chair, 20]
PC+1: PC chairs and PC members [PC chair, PC size]
IMC: IMC Exec, SIG Exec [IMC chair, 15]
Asia: Asia Exec, SIG Exec [Asia chair if available, or SIG chair, 15]
ToN: ToN EiC and Editorial Board [ToN EiC, 20]
CCR: CCR EiC and Editorial Board [CCR EiC, 20]
Student: Student registrants, SC Exec, TAC and Exec as
possible [Local arrangements chair, ~150]
Award: SC Chair, SC PC Chairs, SIG Exec, SC Awardee, SC
Student awardee and advisor [SIG chair, 25]
(banquet): conference banquet
(reception): conference reception
Logistics:
All breakfasts are typically in a reserved room
in the hotel restaurant
All lunches are typically in side-rooms near the conference
lunch, serving conference food in a separate area
All dinners are typically off-site in nearby restaurants
Typical schedule (assuming Mon/Fri tutorials and workshops):
| |
Mon |
Tues |
Wed |
Thur |
Fri |
| bkfast |
|
|
ToN |
Asia |
|
| lunch |
|
SIG
CCR |
PC+1
|
Conf+1 |
|
| dinner |
(recep)
award |
stud |
(banquet) |
|
|
|
|
