Information for Conference Chairs
Information for Program Committee Members
Information for Session Chairs
Conference Timeline and Due Dates
24 September 2007 | Call for Papers due from Conference Chairs to SPIE Conference Programs Coordinator |
28 January 2008 | Abstracts due |
11 February 2008 | Short Course proposals for Education Program due from Conference Chairs to John Cain |
25 February 2008 | Advance Program due from Conference Chairs to SPIE Conference Programs Coordinator |
2 June 2008 | Manuscripts due for all conferences with onsite proceedings (applies to 7057, 7063, and 7064 ONLY); submit via MySPIE.org
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2 June 2008 | Student Grant Applications due from student authors to SPIE Conference Programs Coordinator |
9 June 2008 | Final Program changes due from Conference Chairs to SPIE Conference Programs Coordinator |
30 June 2008 | Manuscript Reviews for onsite Proceedings completed by Conference Chairs (applies to 7057, 7063, and 7064 ONLY) |
7 July 2008 | Manuscripts due for all Solar Energy and Photonic Devices conferences with post-meeting proceedings deadline; submit via MySPIE.org
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9 July 2008 | Manuscripts due for all Nanoscience+Engineering conferences with post-meeting proceedings deadline; submit via MySPIE.org
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14 July 2008 | Manuscripts due for all Optical Engineering+Applications conferences with post-meeting proceedings deadline; submit via MySPIE.org
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10-14 August 2008 | Conference Dates, San Diego, California USA |
25 August 2008 | Manuscript Reviews for post-meeting Proceedings completed by Conference Chairs |
Information for Conference Chairs
Call for Papers
Include the following elements in the Call for Papers (SPIE reserves the right to edit copy, as necessary):
- Focused conference title
- Conference Chair(s) full name(s), affiliation(s), and contact information (mailing address, phone, fax, and email)
- List of confirmed program committee members, including affiliations, mailing address, phone, fax, and email
- program committee should be diversified, active, and from a variety of countries and affiliations
- committee members should have expertise in your conference topics
- committee members should be active in soliciting abstracts and evaluating submissions for acceptance in the program
- Introductory paragraph describing the intended content of your conference and an invitation to contribute papers
- Bulleted phrases which highlight specific topics of interest
• View a Sample Call for Papers
• Print a Call for Papers Worksheet
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How the Call for Papers will be used to generate papers for your conference:
- An electronic flyer can be emailed to you and your committee upon request to use in soliciting papers and encouraging conference attendance
- A Composite Call for Papers will be mailed to appropriate SPIE mailing lists
- Electronic promotions and the placement of the Call for Papers online will enable interested participants to view your conference Call for Papers and respond with electronic abstract submissions
Abstract Solicitation, Submission, and Presentation
- The abstract due date for this conference is 28 January 2008
- Involve your program committee in the search for conference participants. Although the Call for Papers reaches many interested persons, personal contact does the most to produce a full and interesting program
- Direct all speakers (including invited speakers) to submit their abstracts to your conference by 28 January 2008. This will give you immediate access to their abstract
- Do not offer fee waivers, or author support without contacting SPIE first
- As you contact your colleagues to submit abstracts, please be sure to let them know the following:
- When submitting an abstract, all authors must agree to the following conditions:
- An author or coauthor (including keynote, invited, and solicited speakers) will register at the reduced author registration rate, attend the meeting, and make the presentation as scheduled. (Current SPIE Members receive an additional discount on the registration fee.)
- Authors and coauthors attending the meeting must obtain funding for their registration fees, travel, and accommodations, independent of SPIE, through their sponsoring organizations before submitting abstracts.
- All clearances, including government and company clearance, have been obtained to present and publish. If you are a DoD contractor, allow at least 60 days for clearance.
- SPIE is authorized to circulate your abstract to conference committee members for review and selection purposes.
- Accepted abstracts may be published with the printed Final Programs or on a CD-ROM for distribution at the meeting. Please submit only 250-word abstracts that are suitable for publication.
- Please also submit a 100-word abstract suitable for early release. If accepted, this abstract text will be published prior to the meeting in online or printed programs promoting the conference.
- A full-length manuscript (8-12 pages) for any accepted oral or poster presentation (including keynote, invited, and solicited presentations) will be submitted for publication in the SPIE Digital Library, printed conference Proceedings, and CD-ROM.
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MySPIE Presentation Abstract and Manuscript Review Information
The MySPIE submission and review system allows you to quickly and easily view and review abstracts submitted to your conference. Conference Chairs and committee members can monitor and review abstract submissions in real time via http://MySPIE.org which also helps to determine who still needs to submit.
Print MySPIE Conference Chair Review System Information and Step-by-Step Instructions
Print MySPIE Technical Committee Review Step-by-Step Instructions
If you, or any of your committee members, run into difficulties with MySPIE, please don't hesitate to direct them to your Conference Programs Coordinator for assistance.
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Advance Technical Program
Advance Programs are due to your Conference Programs Coordinator on 25 February 2008. It is very important to have the programs done by this date so that SPIE can notify authors of acceptance early enough so that authors can begin to navigate through the visa application process, make travel arrangements, finalize funding from their organizations, and begin to write their manuscripts.
- Conferences should have 32-36 accepted submissions for a two-day conference (more submissions are certainly acceptable). Note: SPIE reserves the right to cancel or combine conferences of less than 20 viable submissions.
- Program templates and additional instructions will be sent to all Conference Chairs as the advance program due date approaches.
- Once you have reviewed the abstracts, or during the process, begin determining session categories and place papers in sessions.
Please include the following information with your program: - Session Titles
- Conference Chairs will also need to invite and confirm Session Chairs at this stage (program committee members are often assigned as Session Chairs). Note that:
- Full Names, affiliations, of Session Chairs (include contact information if the Session Chairs are not already on your program committee
- Session Chair duties include, but are not limited to, contacting authors within their session in advance to confirm that they are attending the meeting, introducing the session topic and each speaker, maintaining the printed schedule, and tracking session changes
- Participation should be confirmed before including them in your program
- List of paper numbers in each session, in sequence, with invited papers noted
- Invited papers are generally allocated 30-40 minutes; be sure to identify these for SPIE
- Keynote papers are generally allocated 40-60 minutes
- Contributed papers are generally allocated 20 minutes
- Due to visa issues, we're recommending that individuals from the following countries be placed just prior to coffee breaks or lunch, or at the end of the day: China, Russia, India, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkey
- List of poster papers
- If you received papers that fit better into another conference, please make sure to let SPIE know so that we can let the other Conference Chairs know
- List of rejected papers
- To assure a high-quality conference, reject commercial papers, papers with no research content, and papers in which supporting data or technical description cannot be given for proprietary reasons
- Allow 20-30 minutes for the morning and afternoon breaks which will occur between 10-11:00 am and 3-4:00 pm each day, and allow at least 1 hour for lunch.
- Conference Chairs and committee members are encouraged to make suggestions for possible panel discussions and workshops.
- Once the advance program is finalized, all authors will be notified by email of acceptance/rejection, and all conference programs are made available for viewing online at http://spie.org/op (these pages are continually updated until the conference is over).
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Final Technical Program
Conferences are promoted through the Advance Technical program (mailed and online). Since there are often changes (such as cancellations) after the Advance Technical program has been printed, we print a Final Technical program that is distributed onsite that reflects the most up-to-date information at the time of printing.
- Updated programs are due from the Conference Chairs on 9 June 2008. Changes from the Advance program should be minimized as much as possible for the Final program as authors and attendees make their plans based on the Advance program.
- Cancellations you receive should be sent to your Conference Programs Coordinator so we can track them. SPIE will also notify you of any cancellations we receive.
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Manuscript Review for Conference Proceedings Volume
Chairs also act as Proceedings Editors and work with their designated SPIE Staff Proceedings Coordinator to collect all delinquent manuscripts and resolve any publications issues
- An SPIE Staff Proceedings Coordinator will be assigned to your conference once volume numbers are assigned before the Advance program goes to print
- Conference Chairs are expected to make certain that each manuscript is assessed by one or more reviewers (Conference Chair, committee member, Session Chair, or other assigned reviewer).
- Manuscripts are posted on the Web and accessible to assigned reviewers through MySPIE.org
- Print MySPIE Conference Chair Review System Step-by-Step Instructions
- Print MySPIE Technical Committee Review Step-by-Step Instructions
Onsite Manuscripts Due from Authors (applies to 7057, 7063, and 7064 ONLY)
Full-length manuscripts for conferences 7057, 7063, and 7064 are due 2 June 2008. Manuscripts submitted for these conference proceedings will be published on SPIE's Digital Library on the first day of the conference, and printed volumes available at the meeting.
The manuscript assessment period is 12 May - 23 June 2008.
Assessment/Review of manuscripts and introductions to proceedings must be finalized by 23 June 2008.
Post-Meeting Manuscripts Due from Authors
Full-length manuscripts are due 7, 9, and 14 July 2008 for Solar Energy/Photonic Devices, Nanoscience+Engineering, and Optical Engineering+Applications conferences (except conferences 7057, 7063, and 7064 see section above), respectively. Post-meeting manuscripts will be published on the SPIE Digital Library 1-4 weeks after the meeting, and printed and shipped 4-6 weeks after the meeting. CD-ROMs will be compiled 6-8 weeks after the meeting.
The manuscript assessment period is 16 June - 25 August 2008.
Assessment/Review of manuscripts and introductions to proceedings must be finalized by 25 August 2008.
CD-ROM of Presentation Abstracts
A CD-ROM that includes the presentation abstracts will be distributed at the meeting with the Final program.
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Optics + Photonics 10-14 August 2008
Once onsite, Conference Chairs are expected to:
- Pick up their registration materials and Conference Chair packet at the Conference Chair Registration Desk
- Check for any late program updates on the room sign located outside of the meeting room
- Provide backup for Session Chairs and deal with any no-show presentations (according to SPIE guidelines)
- Distribute the session forms to each Session Chair so they can track changes in their session
- Ensure that the session forms are returned to your Conference Programs Coordinator, the Registration Desk, the AV Desk, or the AV room monitor at the end of the session. Authors will have been notified that SPIE enforces a no-present, no-publish policy, so it is very important that the session forms provided by SPIE be returned to us!
- Attend the planning meeting for the next symposium.
If you are also chairing a session within the conference, view the Information for Session Chairs
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Education Program
SPIE would like to solicit your input on possible short courses to consider for inclusion in this program. As Conference Chairs and leaders in this community we feel you are in an excellent position to advise on this group's continuing education needs.
When suggesting possible courses it would be helpful for your proposal to include the following:
- Suggested course title and a list of topics to be covered
- Suggested instructor with contact information
- Suggested course length (usually half-day or full-day)
Once we receive input from Conference Chairs, suggestions will be reviewed and decisions made about which courses are most appropriate for this audience. We will be able to include only those courses with the best chance of success at this meeting, so please be aware that we may not follow up on all of your suggestions. In order be considered for this program we will need your suggestions no later than 11 February 2008.
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Registration Fee
Conference Chairs
Conference Chairs receive a full fee waiver and a complimentary copy of the proceedings volume or CD-ROM, and will be registered automatically by SPIE. You may purchase other items such as additional proceedings volumes online, or onsite.
Cochairs, Program Committee Members, Session Chairs, Invited, Keynote, and Contributed Speakers
These individuals pay the corresponding reduced registration fee.
Students
A reduced rate is available for full-time student attendees, including student authors.
Non-Authors
Individuals who want to attend the technical conferences, but who are not authors, pay the technical registration fee.
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Author Support for Registration Fee
SPIE has a very limited registration fee support budget that is reserved for needy authors who have not received support from SPIE in the past. We ask that you do not offer financial assistance from SPIE to any authors without first obtaining SPIE approval. As our support budget is very limited, it must be allocated very carefully. Please send any requests for assistance to your Conference Programs Coordinator via email at least 6 weeks prior to the conference. Early requests are encouraged since once the budget is used we will not be granting additional support. Thank you for your help in this!
Sponsorships
- As a nonprofit society SPIE actively seeks sponsorship funds to help support expenses related to our events.
- If you have special speakers who need more support than SPIE can provide please contact potential sponsors or send the contact information directly to SPIE and we will be happy to contact them on your behalf.
- Funds received from these sponsors can be earmarked to directly benefit your conference.
- Be aware that SPIE will contact some companies, universities, and government organizations on behalf of the whole meeting to help with expenses related to coffee breaks, special events, and for a general author support fund. If you are aware of an organization that may be interested in providing general sponsorship please contact our Sales Department at Sales@SPIE.org
Approaching a Potential Sponsor
It often works best if the Conference Chair, or whoever has the best contact with the potential sponsor, approaches them directly. However, SPIE is happy to approach a potential sponsor on your behalf if you provide us with the contact information. Following is a sample letter. If you use this letter please change the sponsor amount request to what you deem reasonable.
Dear Chair to insert appropriate name:
I am chairing the conference on "Chair to insert name of your conference" at the SPIE International Symposium on Optics & Photonics, to be held 10-14 August 2008 in San Diego, California. I expect to attract approximately Chair to insert number speakers to our conference.
The entire symposium consists of professional development courses, a product exhibition, and ~80 conferences in various technology tracks involving specify program tracks. This symposium is expected to attract insert number expected participants from various countries. Complete information about this symposium, and my conference, can be found at http://spie.org/op. As a not-for-profit organization, SPIE is able to provide limited support for needy authors. I am hopeful that you will be able to provide a $5000 (Chair to insert appropriate amount) sponsorship so that we can assist more people who will be presenting papers in the conference that I am chairing. As a sponsor you will be acknowledged in the printed and online version of the technical program, and in the proceedings volume.
I hope to hear a positive response about sponsorship from you soon.
Sincere regards,
Chair signature
Confirming a Potential Sponsor
- Once a sponsor commits, SPIE will send a thank you letter that includes information about how to remit sponsor funds. Since all support requests come to SPIE, it is best to have the funds collected here.
- The Conference Chair can inform SPIE how they would like to distribute the funds.
- SPIE does not deduct administrative costs from the sponsor amount.
- Funds can be used to pay for a portion or all of a registration fee, or reimburse some travel expenses for selected speakers.
- Travel reimbursements are made after the meeting once receipts are submitted to SPIE.
- If the sponsor ties any financial requirements to the sponsorship such as a free registration for one of their representatives, this will be deducted from the sponsorship amount.
Sponsor Recognition
Sponsors are listed in the printed and online versions of the technical program, and in the conference proceedings volume.
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Contingency Student Travel Grant Program
SPIE commiserates with full-time students who may need some financial assistance to present their papers at our technical conferences.
- If you are aware of such a student please direct them to the SPIE Contingency Student Travel Grant page to determine if they are eligible for consideration.
- Students who apply will request a letter from the Conference Chair that states their paper presentation will contribute significant value to the conference.
- In addition to this letter, students complete other paperwork and submit proof of full-time student status.
- Applications and supporting material are due 10 weeks prior to the meeting.
- Please note that only limited funds are available to help a limited number of students.
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Information for Program Committee Members
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Information for Session Chairs
Before the Conference:
- Please view the Advance Technical Program for information about the session you are chairing.
- A copy of the author biographies will be sent to you.
- Contacting the presenters in your session(s) is a way of ensuring their attendance and commitment to the meeting.
- If biographies for authors in the session you are chairing are missing, please email the authors and request brief biographies so that you can properly introduce them before their presentation.
- Preregister for the meeting and save. Prices increase by $100 if you register onsite. As a Session Chair you qualify for the reduced Author/Session Chair/Committee registration rate.
At the Conference:
- Check for any late program updates on the room sign outside of the meeting room.
- You will receive a Session Report Form from the Conference Chair to use in tracking changes in your session.
- Return the forms to the Registration Desk, the AV Desk, or the AV room monitor. It is very important that these forms are returned to SPIE for paper and publication records.
Chairing the Session:
- Introduce the session topic
- Introduce the speakers
- Maintain the program schedule
- Be prepared for the unexpected!
If you find a presenter has failed to attend:
- Note the no show on the Session Report form
- DO NOT move to the next paper. Attendees plan for the talks they want to hear based on the published schedule. Choose one of these options:
- Fill in the *hole* with a standby paper (if there are no official standby authors for your session, make arrangements in advance to have one or two *no strings* [no manuscript] presenters on hand)
- Open the floor to an extended Q&A session for speakers who have already presented
- Have one or two controversial topics ready for discussion
- Bring a topic on your laptop for presentation and/or discussion
- Open the floor for discussion on any topic of interest to the audience
- Start the next talk at its published, scheduled time.
If you have any questions or need more information, please contact your Conference Programs Coordinator.
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