eacl: Conference planning schedule

Basic Timetable

The generic timetable for organizing the conference, from which a specific one can be built (months in advance of the conference)

CC = Coordinating Committee; LC = Local Chair; GC = general chair; PC = program chair(s); SC = sponsorship chair

A detailed schedule prepared by members of the Local Organising Committee (Yvonne Adesam and Martin Kasa) for EACL 2014 can be accessed here: EACL_14_schedule.pdf

Year -3

Year -2

T-12 months

[General and local chairs] Organise site visit by the GC in the next few months; a representative from the EACL Board may also attend

[General and local chairs; Priscilla] Create and disseminate Call for Participation; design posters and fliers with Call for Participation; print and distribute them (web, email, hardcopy, posters, etc.)

[General and local chairs] Design conference logo for program, posters, etc.

[General, program, local, and publicity chairs] Create and disseminate Call for Papers (see SampleConferencePaperCalls)

[General, program chairs] Identify invited speakers

[Sponsorship committee] Begin to identify possible sponsors

[GC, Webmaster] Update website with the names of people involved in the conference

[General and program chairs] Make sure the software submission software is set up

[Workshop chairs] If issuing a joint call for proposals with other conferences, contact the workshop chairs of those conferences to begin the discussion on the schedule. EACL has suffered in this respect because it is typically the first conference of the year, so the schedule for EACL workshops ends up being tight.

T-11 months

[Program chairs] Assemble program committee: determine program committee structure and review process; establish major topic areas and likely submission distribution; decide on whether to have separate submission dates for long and short papers

[Tutorial, workshop, student, demo, and program chairs] Solicit tutorials, workshops, and demos; create Calls for Bids and papers (see Sample Tutorial calls for proposals, Sample Calls for Workshop Proposals, and Sample workshop calls for papers); issue them (website, publications, email, etc.)

T - 10 months

[Local chairs] Sign contracts with any PCO.

T-9 months

[Student workshop chairs] Issue call for papers; liaise with local chair for space needs and scheduling

[Exhibits chair] Locate and sign up exhibitors

[Sponsorship chairs] Start to approach potential sponsors

[Program chairs] Create review forms for START

[Demo chair] Call for demos: create and issue Call for Demos (see Sample Calls for Demos & Posters)

T-8 months

[General, local and sponsorship chairs] Update financial picture: update budget; project financial needs and make plans to meet them

[Local chairs] Sign contracts with accommodation providers

T-7 months

[Program chairs] Distribute submitted papers to area chairs; area chairs assign papers to reviewers

[Program chairs] Finalize invited speakers; create basic plan of program; reissue Conference Announcement: Web, newsgroups, mailing lists, ACL (Priscilla), and other related communities; update webpages

[Local chair] Confirm venues: confirm arrangements with meeting venue: rooms, spaces, lunches, etc; confirm arrangements with accommodation venues

[Local chair] Arrange conference social program: confirm arrangements with banquet and other social event providers; arrange reception; arrange banquet: location, transport, etc; book room for EACL Board meeting

[Tutorial, workshop, general chairs] Select tutorials and workshops: select tutorials, taking into account coverage and recent past tutorials; select workshops (see ACL policy on workshop support); liaise with local chair for space needs and scheduling; issue instructions to tutorial teachers and workshop chairs about printed material, agenda/time management, payments, fees, etc; update webpages

[Workshop chairs] Issue workshop calls for papers (see SampleWorkshopCallsForPapers): liaise with local chair for space needs and scheduling; liaise with general chair about printed material, agenda/time management, payments, fees, etc; liaise with sponsorship chair for funding applications; create and disseminate Call for Workshop Papers (see workshop-calls-for-papers and student-calls-for-papers); update webpages; liaise with ACL Office for registration form (and remember to include option to join ACL which is required for non-ACL members)

[GC] Site visit, perhaps with a member of the EACL Board or a member of the organising committee, eg Program co-chair

T-6 months

[General chair] Update website: contact all chairs to collect their info for the website; liaise with Priscilla for registration form (make sure all attendees who are not ACL members join ACL as part of the registration process)

T-5 months

[Program chairs] Process reviewed papers and, based on the area chairs' reports, decide on the accepted papers; start to create the program (remember time for EACL Business meeting, banquet, reception, etc.); send out accept and reject letters with reviews; update conference announcement and redistribute; update webpages; (some of this will happen later for short papers if later submission deadline)

T-4 months

[Workshop and student chairs] Process workshop submissions: decide on which papers to accept based on reviews; send accept/reject letters

[General, program, workshop, tutorial, exhibits chairs] Collect Proceedings descriptions: collect from tutorial teachers, workshop organizers, exhibitors, etc. short descriptions, for proceedings; provide them to webmaster and general and program chairs

[Exhibits chair] Set up exhibit: locate exhibit company for pipe-and-drape stands, signage, etc.; buy insurance, if needed; liaise with exhibitors, local committee, and venue about display needs; work with program and sponsorship chairs on exhibitor fees

[Demo chair] Arrange demos: select demos; work with selected demo-ers for AV needs;liaise with local chair for AV needs; liaise with program chairs for scheduling and proceedings; update webpages

T-3 months

[General and sponsorship chairs] Update financial picture: update budget; seriously go after corporate sponsors, now that logos are being put onto signs, publications, etc.

[Local chair] Confirm local events: confirm meeting venue: rooms, spaces, lunches, etc.; confirm accommodations; confirm social events: banquet, reception, entertainment, etc.

[Program, tutorial, workshop, demo, student, exhibits chairs] Confirm invitees: confirm attendance of invited speakers and panelists; confirm attendance of paper and demo presenters; confirm tutorials and workshops; confirm exhibitors

[Exhibits chair] Finalize exhibit spaces: finalize payments of all exhibitors; complete design of exhibition space(s); complete arrangements with pipe and drape rentals, etc.

[Local chair] Set up demo AV equipment: determine AV requirements of demo and paper presenters and other speakers; link up with venue

[General, program, tutorial, workshop, demo, exhibit, sponsorship, student chairs] Receive final papers and create (electronic) Proceedings: accept final camera-ready papers; create Proceedings (main volume and any accompanying ones); front matter: title page, ToC, foreword(s), list of authors, etc.; body; covers; update webpages as needed; (assumption here that no printed proceedings will be made, only electronic ones, distributed via the web and/or on USB stick)

[Tutorial, workshop, and student chairs] Create tutorial and workshop material; collect material from presenters; create proceedings

T-2 month

[Program chairs] Assign session chairs: send out instructions to session chairs and speakers about time and place, as well as time management for the talks

[Local chair] Finalize on-site admin: assemble team of assistants for registration, gophering, etc.

[General, program, tutorial, workshop, student, exhibit, local chairs] Create conference registration material: create program to be included in conference registration package; gather all other material, incl. any freebies

[Priscilla, local, and sponsorship chairs] Give registration update: update EACL Board on conference registration, venue and accommodation bookings, financial status; update webpages, especially local and travel conditions (check the travel instructions, local weather, medical and political conditions, etc.)

T-1 month

[General and publicity chairs] Perform local outreach: start local advertising; contact press, TV, etc.

[Program, tutorial, workshop, student, exhibit, demo chairs] Finalize all (electronic) Proceedings and tutorial material: check proceedings (papers, students and other workshops, demos, etc.); check final tutorial materials

[Local chair] Finalize demo AV equipment: finalize AV requirements of demo-ers

[Priscilla, local and sponsorship chairs] Give registration update: update EACL Board on conference registration, hotel and dorm bookings, financial status

[Local chair] Finalize registration package: assemble all materials into registration packets: local maps, local events, conference program, freebies, etc.

ACL: Conference planning schedule

Original Author: Eduard Hovy, 1998, from timetables of previous AMTA conferences, AAAI conference schedule and notes by Marie Meteer. Updated by Stephen Clark for EACL, October 2013, with suggestions from Shuly Wintner