Conference Set-up & Approval

Each conference has a General Chair. This Chair is appointed by the sponsoring entities of the conference and is often responsible for selecting the conference location. The General Chair must be a member of IEEE. In conferences of which IEEE is a joint sponsor, Chairs of the Conference Committees should be members of either IEEE or the co-sponsoring organization. The General Chair may also appoint a Vice Chair, Secretary and other individuals to serve on the Conference Committee.

It is the responsibility of all volunteer members of an IEEE activity to consider each item of business where they have a vote or decision of authority in order to determine if a conflict of interest exists. The Conference Chair and/or OU must be immediately notified of any potential conflict of interest.

The Conference Chair and the volunteer acting as Treasurer must complete and submit a Principles of Business Conduct and Conflict of Interest (POBC/COI) form.

The General Chair will be responsible for appointing members of the Conference Committee. Most General Chairs will also appoint a Proceedings Chair and a Financial Chair/Treasurer. These chairs will report to the General Chair. Depending on the conference size, it may be helpful to establish a series of subcommittees to handle different aspects of the conference planning. The chairs of these committees will serve on the conference committee.

The Conference Committee will hold meetings as necessary to ensure that satisfactory progress is being made and will report regularly to the sponsoring entity.

Some conferences choose to establish a series of committees to assist with specific functions. These committees may include: Finance, Program, Publications, Publicity & Public Relations, Registration, Exhibits, Audit, Local Arrangements and others. These committees are merely suggestions; feel free to establish the number and type of committees particular to the needs of a specific conference. Most important in the committee creation process is the clear definition of roles and responsibilities and a reporting structure.

The topic may be an existing field of interest, a subset of that field, or a new technology.

The scope will depend on a variety of factors, including:

• historical structure of the conference;
• breadth of the field of interest;
• geographical considerations;
• maturity of the technology;
• number of individuals involved;
• potential exhibitors;
• potential proceedings.  

The date & length will be determined by:

• What funding is available? 
• The timing of conference.
• Does it coincide with a major development in the field?
• Does it avoid any competing conferences?

Sponsorship relates to the responsibilities and accountabilities of an IEEE Organizational Unit, (OU) with respect to financial, technical, publicity, and administrative aspects of a conference. IEEE OU's can provide sponsorship to conferences that includes either financial involvement or non-financial involvement, IEEE Policy 10.1.2 (PDF, 1.62 MB).

Sole sponsorship indicates full and sole organizational unit involvement in a conference. If an IEEE organizational unit agrees to sponsor a conference, they accept complete responsibility for the technical, financial, publicity and administrative aspects of the conference. As a result of sole sponsorship, the organizational unit:

• approve the conference as indicated in IEEE Policy 10.1.4 (PDF, 1.62 MB);
   
• receive a portion of the surplus or be liable for a portion of the deficit resulting from a conference, IEEE Policy 10.1.9 (PDF, 1.62 MB);
   
• be responsible for assuring the timely resolution of any legal issues;
   
• be responsible for issuing any loans that the conference might need and assuring subsequent repayment, IEEE Policy 10.1.7 (PDF, 1.62 MB);
   
• be responsible for proper usage of the IEEE name IEEE Policy 10.1.16 (PDF, 1.62 MB) and the IEEE logo, IEEE Policy 10.1.17 (PDF, 1.62 MB).
   

Conferences where the IEEE has sole sponsorship, the rights to the conference name, slogan, copyright for publications, and/or logo are owned by IEEE and not conference committees.

Co-sponsorship indicates a shared and significant involvement in the technical, financial, publicity and administrative areas of the conference. The relationship between sponsoring organizations should be explicitly defined in terms of an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), IEEE Policy 10.1.2 (PDF, 1.62 MB).

As a result of co-sponsorship, the IEEE Organizational Unit(s) will:
 

• approve the conference as indicated in IEEE Policy 10.1.4 (PDF, 1.62 MB);
   
• receive a portion of the surplus or be liable for a portion of the deficit resulting from a conference, IEEE Policy 10.1.9 (PDF, 1.62 MB);
   
• be responsible for assuring the timely resolution of any legal issues;
   
• be responsible for issuing any loans that the conference might need and assuring subsequent repayment, IEEE Policy 10.1.7 (PDF, 1.62 MB);
   
• be responsible for proper usage of the IEEE name (IEEE Policy 10.1.16) and the IEEE logo, IEEE Policy 10.1.17 (PDF, 1.62 MB).
   

IEEE Co-sponsored conferences are entitled to IEEE services at the non-profit rate. For IEEE Co-sponsored conferences it is recommended that the IEEE logo be used in all conference publications and announcements.

Technical Co-Sponsorship indicates direct and substantial involvement by the IEEE organizational unit solely in the organization of the technical program. The IEEE organizational unit has no financial involvement in the conference. The organization that has financial sponsorship of the conference must be explicitly identified in the supporting documentation and promotional material for technical co-sponsorship to be granted.

The IEEE organizational unit should encourage members to submit papers and attend the conference. The IEEE organizational unit may assist in publicity through the availability of the appropriate IEEE organizational unit mailing lists and on the organizational unit’s Web site.

The relationship between sponsoring organizations shall be explicitly defined in terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Technical co-sponsorship does not guarantee that the papers accepted for presentation at the conference will be eligible for inclusion in the IEEE Conference Publications Program (CPP), which handles post-conference distribution of conference papers in all media. Inclusion in the CPP should be specifically addressed in the MOU regulating the technical co-sponsorship, with the concurrence of the CPP staff.

The IEEE name may not be used in the conference title, IEEE Policy 10.1.16 (PDF, 1.62 MB) but, the IEEE brand/logo and/or IEEE organizational unit brand/logo may be used in conference publications and promotional materials, IEEE Policy 10.1.17 (PDF, 1.62 MB).

IEEE Society/Council and IEEE Region/Section/Chapters sponsor IEEE Conferences.

Successful conferences are based on the strong cooperation of more than one IEEE Organizational Unit(s). For example, the cooperation of both technical/professional, and geographic entities is crucial to the success of IEEE technical conferences. Similar cooperation is essential for the organization of Educational or Standards meetings with a Section or a Chapter. If all IEEE Organizational Unit(s) are involved in the organization of the conference as early as possible - preferably before any arrangements have been made - it may be able to ensure that activities are run smoothly and that volunteers are available to assist in running the conference. It is required that such involvement precedes the selection of the conference location for the conference to receive IEEE approvals.

An MoU is required when two or more organizational units (OU) agree to provide technical or financial co-sponsorship to a conference. These OUs may be IEEE organizational units or IEEE and non-IEEE organizations.

Contracts valued over US$25K must be forwarded to IEEE for review & execution. IEEE Conferences staff will review your hotel/convention center contracts to ensure that your conference is receiving the best possible services and rates.

There is required documentation associated with setting up an IEEE conference. Submission of the appropriate documentation ensures that your conference will be listed in the IEEE Conference Search and IEEE's Call for Papers listing.

The Conference Committee will have the final responsibility of budget preparation for the conference and will determine if an advance loan of working capital will be necessary. Budgets and requests for loans will be submitted to the sponsoring organization(s) for review and approval. Budgets should be submitted to the appropriate IEEE Organizational Unit for final approval and then forwarded to IEEE Conference Services for IEEE review and approval.

There are many resources available to you to assist with your Conference Publication development, preparation and production.

If you plan to have a publication, and hope to have it included in IEEE Xplore, arrangements must be made with IEEE Conference Publication Products Management. 

All contracts with a contract value of US$25,000 or greater must be forwarded to IEEE Conference Contracts for review and execution.

IEEE Organizational Unit(s)/Conference Organizers will still negotiate their contracts based on their needs, provide their initial approval but shall not give final approval or "execute" these contracts. All contracts related to conferences are to be forwarded to IEEE Conference Services for review by subject matter experts prior to final approval and execution. If necessary staff will provide feedback to organizers for further negotiating. When all negotiations are completed the contract will be submitted to IEEE Conference Contracts for execution. The executed contract will be forwarded to the vendor/contractor and a memo will be sent to the originating IEEE Organization Unit(s)/Conference Organizers.