Organizers' Guide

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Type of Events
• Application for an IFAC Event
• Responsibilities
• Organization
  • - National Organizing Committee (NOC)
  • - International Program Committee (IPC)
  • - Symposium/Conference/Workshop Editor
• Publications
  • - Preprints
  • - Proceedings
  • - Publisher
  • - Sale of Proceedings
  • - Electronic Publications
  • - Combination Preprints/Proceedings
  • - Information for Authors
• Copyright Conditions
  • - First Announcement/Call for Papers
  • - Event Homepage/URL of the Event Homepage
  • - Distribution of the First Announcement/Call for Papers
• Second Announcement/Advance Program
  • - Distribution of Second Announcement/Advance Program
• Free Registration
• Final Program
• Distribution of Preprints
• Final Reports
• Timetable; Scenario for Organization
  • - Scenario for Organization of Workshops without Preprints
• Conclusions
• Short Task List
• Appendices
  • Appendix 1 - Master Plan of IFAC Symposia
  • Appendix 2 - Standard Application Form
  • Appendix 3 - Review Form
  • Appendix 4 - Checklist for Organizers
  • Appendix 5 - Suggested Letter for Acceptance of Papers
  • Appendix 6 - Suggested Letter for Rejection of Papers
  • Appendix 7 - Proposed Draft Call for Papers
  • Appendix 8 – Final Report by the IPC Chair
  • Appendix 9 – Final Report by the NOC Chair

INTRODUCTION

If you are involved in the organization of an IFAC sponsored Congress, Symposium, Conference or Workshop, there are numerous details which may, at the outset, seem overwhelming. This document has been written for two primary reasons:

1. to enable you to share in and benefit from the experience of many others who have gone through this process and
2. to ensure that the events sponsored by IFAC deliver maximum value to the international scientific community.

Certain procedures must be followed simply to obtain the formal backing of IFAC. This backing, in the form of official IFAC sponsorship, ensures that the subject fits into the technical areas covered by IFAC and that the full professional resources of IFAC will be at your disposal to help you make your event a success. It also helps to avoid conflicts with other planned IFAC activities. Although IFAC does not assume financial responsibility for the event, its technical committees, publicity channels, subject-oriented mailing lists, publication system and world-wide reputation are resources which would be otherwise unavailable to an organizing group; all this is put at the disposal of the organizers.

TYPES OF EVENTS

IFAC Symposia

Are organized regularly, typically once per triennium. Participation ranges between 100 and 500. All Symposia are part of the Masterplan (see Appendix 1). Publication of Proceedings is mandatory. Lead time for applications is at least 15 months.

Conferences

Have about the same size and requirements as Symposia. They are not part of the Masterplan, however.

Workshops

Smaller in size, often focused on new topics, less formal. Lead time for applications is 12 months. Publication of Proceedings is not mandatory.

IFAC World Congress

Is held every three years. Usually, no other IFAC events are held in the Congress year, with the exception of a limited number of Workshops. All events planned for a Congress year must be approved by the IFAC President.

Co-sponsored Events

Distinction is here made between events where IFAC is the main sponsor and events, where IFAC is invited as a co-sponsor.

Special rules apply to co-sponsorships. All invitations for co-sponsorship must be made via the IFAC Secretariat.

APPLICATION FOR AN IFAC EVENT

Application for an IFAC event must be made by the National Member Organization in whose country the event is to be held, together with the Technical Committee, having the scientific responsibility for the event.

The application form can be obtained from the IFAC Secretariat or directly from the web. As electronic submission only cannot be accepted, a signed hard copy version must be sent to the IFAC Secretariat.

The information given on the application form is binding and can only be changed with the consent of the organizing NMO and IFAC. The IFAC Secretariat must be informed of any change, and approval for the change must be granted from IFAC.

The IFAC Secretariat can be reached in the following ways

Mailing address:
IFAC Secretariat
Schlossplatz 12
A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria

Phone: +43/2236/71447
Fax: +43/2236/72859
E-mail: secretariat@ifac-control.org
Homepage: http://www.ifac-control.org/

RESPONSIBILITIES

The financial responsibility for IFAC events lies with the National Member Organization of IFAC. Therefore the NMO must sign the application form for every IFAC event.

The scientific responsibility lies with the Technical Committee(s) organizing this event.

For this reason also, every event has to have two governing bodies, i.e. the

• National Organizing Committee, and the
• International Program Committee

In addition, the nomination of a

• Symposium/Conference/Workshop Editor

is required.

The Chairs for each of these bodies and for the editorship must be stated on the application form.

ORGANIZATION

For every event, the following bodies should be nominated and established. All nominations are to be made in agreement between the NMO and the main sponsoring TC.

National Organizing Committee (NOC)

Composition:

• NOC chair (normally from the host country)
• Vice-Chair from industry, if applicable
• 3 – 5 members, usually from the organizing country
• IPC Chair and Editor must also be members of NOC

Tasks:

• liaison with the Editor-in-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine to arrange the provision of author kits and other information
• administration of the paper submission process and collection of copyright transfer forms from the authors
• close cooperation with International Program Committee (IPC – see below)
• making the local arrangements
• taking care of financial matters (budget, fundraising, etc.)

International Program Committee (IPC)

Composition:

• IPC Chair (preferably not from the host country)
• Vice-Chair from industry, if applicable
• selection of IPC members for their
  • international scientific reputation
  • willingness to participate actively and effectively in IPC activities, i.e. reviewing and selecting papers
  • membership in sponsoring or co-sponsoring TCs
  • geographical distribution of IPC members
    • NOTE: no more than 1/3 of the IPC members should come from the organizing country

•  The Editor must also be a member of the IPC.

A list of potential IPC members should be given on the application form. TCs sponsoring or cosponsoring the event are entitled to nominate up to two IPC members from their technical field.

A complete list of IPC members must be published in all announcements, Preprints and Proceedings of the event.

Tasks:

• review and selection of papers, based upon review of full draft papers for Symposia and Conferences
• shaping of the program, i.e.
  • distribution of available time, plenary sessions, round tables, tutorials, etc.
  • inviting speakers whose contributions may or may not be subject to review (invited papers)
• identification of possible contributions to IFAC Journals and Affiliated Journals
• notification of authors that their papers have been accepted or rejected (appendix 5 – model letters)
• preparation of mailing list of accepted papers to be sent to the Editor-in-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine and editors-in-chief of IFAC Journals
  • NOTE: number of papers from organizers to be limited!
• IPC members will receive a review form to help them grade papers for their suitability for the event and for possible publication in an IFAC Journal or Affiliated Journal (Appendix 3 – review form)

Symposium/Conference/Workshop Editor

The nomination of the Editor is made by the NOC in agreement with the sponsoring TC. The Editor must be a member of the IPC and of the NOC.

NOTE: Some Conferences do not have their Proceedings published on IFAC PapersOnLine (see PUBLICATIONS below). Therefore reference to the Editor-in-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine in the following tasks applies to whoever is responsibled for publications, whether IFAC, or some other publisher.

Tasks:

• Editing of the Preprints (optional for Workshops)
• Ensuring that original authors’ electronic files are sent to the Editor-in-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine directly after the meeting (see below).
• Helping the IPC select papers suitable for publication in the IFAC Journals and Affiliated Journals.
• Ensuring that the following rules are strictly observed:
  
  • Read, sign and return the letter from the IFAC Secretariat (not applicable if Proceedings are not being published on IFAC PapersOnLine), accepting the conditions for preprint and proceedings production, including the statement ‘Preprints must not carry an ISBN, Bar Code, cataloguing details or the words "published by…"’
  • Contact the IFAC Publications Office before anything is despatched to authors.
  • Obtain up-to-date instructions for authors from the IFAC Publications office and discard all instructions that may have been supplied for previous meetings.
  • Agree with the IFAC Publications Office on the method of transfer of authors’ manuscripts following the meeting. Manuscripts may be sent electronically (in certain formats), or as camera-ready copy, following guidelines that will be issued by the IFAC Publications Office.
  • If camera-ready copy is to be sent to the IFAC Publications Office, ensure that this consists of authors’ original manuscripts and not photocopies, as the latter are usually unsuitable for publication.
  • If electronic file transfer is agreed, ensure that camera-ready copy is also sent as backup.
  • Include a statement in all advertising for the meeting and in the preprints that the copyright of papers presented at the meeting belongs to IFAC.

These steps are essential to safeguard the rights of IFAC and to ensure that the preprints and proceedings of IFAC technical meetings meet the required standard for IFAC publications. If the IFAC Publications Office is not used, the editor should enforce IFAC Publications rules that can be obtained from IFAC Secretariat.

Close cooperation is required with the following persons:

PUBLICATIONS

Preprints

Preprints are the collection of accepted papers produced prior to a meeting for distribution at the meeting, either in printed or electronic form. Preprints provide easy access for participants to papers before or during a meeting. Preprints are provided solely for meeting participants, included as part of the registration fee. They may be available for sale, but they must not carry an ISBN, Bar Code, cataloguing details or the words "published by..." Preprints are not a publication and should not have any mark that enables them to be cited as such.

Alternate documents rather than Preprints may be approved. For example, collections of brief Paper Summaries may be an acceptable alternate document, but collections of paper abstracts are not suitable alternates for Preprints.

Electronic Publications

Proceedings published following an IFAC meeting will be exclusively electronic, and will be posted on the IFAC PapersOnLine website.

Proceedings

Proceedings are the final collection of papers from an IFAC meeting. Proceedings are typically produced after the meeting such that "no-show" papers are deleted. Proceedings are the only way in which papers from IFAC meetings are published.

Proceedings from all IFAC Symposia are published by IFAC, in cooperation with the IFAC Publisher, on the IFAC PapersOnLine site and will be citable via an ISSN and a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), a unique industry-standard identifier assigned to every paper.

Proceedings must be published for Symposia, but they are not mandatory for Workshops. If the organizers of a Workshop choose to publish Proceedings, the same procedures as for Symposia, including peer review of full draft papers, must be followed. In this case, the Proceedings will be published on the IFAC PapersOnLine site. If the Organizers decide not to publish Proceedings, they must not produce any other publication of the Workshop.

IFAC and the IFAC Publisher will also normally publish Proceedings from IFAC Conferences on IFAC PapersOnLine, but they are granted the option to decline publication for Conferences. In the case IFAC and the IFAC Publisher decide not to produce Proceedings from a Conference, then the Organizer must produce the Proceedings, provide copies to all meeting participants (included as part of registration fee), and a copy to suitable IFAC Journal Editors as well as one copy to the IFAC Secretariat (for archival storage). The IFAC Publications Committee will provide an identification number (similar to ISBN) for the Proceedings as well as establish a storage system so that future retrieval may be made for papers in these Proceedings. Organizers must coordinate with the IFAC Publications Committee to insure satisfactory quality for the Proceedings.

Combination Preprints/Proceedings

IFAC may also approve publication of Proceedings prior to an IFAC meeting (so that Preprints are not needed). The Technical Board, Organizers, the Editor-in-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine, and the Publisher must coordinate production to ensure compliance with all IFAC and Publisher agreements. In addition, provisions should be made to ensure that all papers in the Proceedings are in fact presented at the meeting; for example, in order to minimize no-show papers, organizers may require authors to pay meeting registration fees when submitting the final version of their papers (if this procedure is used, this requirement must be published in the Call for Papers.) If satisfactory arrangements are made so that participants can have easy access to the papers prior or during the meeting, then IFAC may approve electronic media for Proceedings produced prior to a meeting.

Copyright Conditions

IFAC holds the copyright of the material presented at meetings where IFAC is the main sponsor, in order to protect the interests of IFAC, the authors and their employers. Authors of papers accepted for presentation are required to transfer their copyright to IFAC or to give IFAC a licence to publish. Full information about copyright conditions will be provided by the IFAC Publications office.

The paragraph below must be included in all announcements pertaining to the event (including web pages) as well as in the Preprints and Proceedings:

First Announcement/Call for Papers

Once an event has been officially approved by the Technical Board of IFAC, this approval will be communicated to all persons involved by the IFAC Secretariat.

This is then the point in time for the NOC, the IPC and the Editor to take immediate action for preparatory activities, i.e.

• drafting the program structure, scope and topics of the meeting
• fixing local arrangements (venue, budget assessment, etc.)
• issuing the First Announcement and Call for Papers (at least 11 months before a Symposium and 8 months before a Workshop)

The Call for Papers should contain the following information:

• IFAC Symbol
• Name, date, location of event
• URL of event website
• Members of NOC, IPC and Editor
• Sponsors, supporters, etc.
• Brief narrative description of technical subject matter (scope), giving sufficient details (topics) to attract interested participants and competent speakers
• Lengths of desired contribution
• Detailed mailing instructions and deadline for draft papers
• Preliminary calendar of deadlines, etc.
• Contact address, phone, fax and e-mail numbers of the event Secretariat
• Return coupon indicating if a paper will be submitted and/or if planning to attend
• Information if partial or complete pre-payment of the registration fee by one of the authors is required
• The official IFAC copyright stipulation for papers as stated above

Event Homepage/URL of the Event Homepage

A website, publishing all the information provided in the Call for Papers (including the copyright conditions) as well as other information details should be established.

The URL of this homepage is to be given to the IFAC Secretariat to be published on the IFAC website, and in all other IFAC publications (i.e. IFAC Newsletter)

Distribution of the First Announcement/Call for Papers

Hard copies of the First Announcement/Call for Papers or an e-mail message on the availability of it on the web should go to the following groups of persons:

• IFAC National Member Organizations
• Sponsoring Technical Committee(s) Chairs and Vice-Chairs
• Addresses of interested persons provided by the IFAC Secretariat
• Editor-in-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine, and the Editors of the IFAC Journals (see above)
• IFAC Secretariat
• Other national or international organizations which might be interested in the meeting.

NOTE 1: The IFAC Secretariat can provide disks, labels and lists of IFAC Affiliates interested in the subject of the event.

NOTE 2: It is usually possible to include a full-page announcement of an IFAC meeting in one or more of the IFAC Journals, subject to suitable deadlines and to the availability of space in the journals. The IFAC Publisher is willing to enter into trade agreements with meeting organizers, whereby display space at the meeting exhibition is provided in return for advertising in the IFAC Journals. Contact the IFAC Publications Office for full details.

Second Announcement/Advance Program

Six months before the event, a hard copy of the Second Announcement or an e-mail message on the availability of it on the web should be sent to all authors, Session Chairs and people who have previously indicated an interest in the event.

This announcement should at least contain:

• IFAC Symbol
• Name, date, location of event
• URL of the event website
• Sponsors, supporters, etc.
• Members of IPC and NOC, Editor(s)
• Detailed meeting dates
• Session titles and times
• Paper titles and authors' names and countries (including names of authors often attracts other potential participants and increases attendance)
• Hotel reservation information
• Registration fee (regular and special rates)
• Pre-registration requirements for authors, if applicable
• Payment procedures
• General information (address of meeting venue, access to venue, transportation facilities, visas, weather, currency, electricity, insurance)
• Accompanying persons program, if applicable
• Cancellation conditions
• Pre- and post-meeting technical/cultural activities, if organized
• Social programs
• City map
• The official IFAC copyright stipulation

Distribution of Second Announcement/Advance Program

The mailing list of the Second Announcement and Advance Program should include the following groups:

• IFAC NMOs
• Chairs and Vice-Chairs of sponsoring Technical Committee(s)
• Editor-in-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine and Editors-in-Chief of the IFAC Journals (see above)
• Authors
• Session Chairs
• IFAC Publications Office
• IFAC Secretariat (5 copies)
• and all persons who indicated their interest in the event.

Free Registration

Members of the IFAC Council and IFAC Secretary, Editors-in-Chief of the IFAC Journals, Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Technical Committees sponsoring or co-sponsoring the event may be exempted from registration fees by the NOC.

The IFAC President or his proxy at IFAC events, however, should be exempted from registration fees.

The number of Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Technical Committees sponsoring or co-sponsoring the event may be very large indeed and their free attendance at the event must inevitably result in higher fees for everyone else. In the interest of economy, the number of people given free attendance should be limited.

Final Program

For distribution at the event, a final program should be prepared. Its primary function is to provide final, accurate information for the attendees. It should include the following:

• IFAC Symbol
• Name, date, location of event
• Sponsors, co-sponsors, supporters, etc.
• Members of NOC, IPC and Editor
• Session titles, times and Chairs
• Paper titles, authors, times, room allocations
• Special features such as round tables, names of their participants
• Plenary lectures, lectures, tutorials, case studies, times, room allocation, map of the site
• The official IFAC copyright stipulation

Distribution of Preprints

When preprints are prepared, one copy should be made available to each of the following:

• IFAC Secretariat
• Editor-Chief of IFAC PapersOnLine
• Editor-in-Chief of the IFAC Journals
• Chair of (each) responsible IFAC Technical Committee
• Chair of the IFAC Technical Board
• Each co-sponsoring organization through its Secretary
• Symposium/Conference/Workshop Editor

Preprints are given to participants as part of the registration fee and may be offered for sale. They must not carry an ISBN, Bar Code, cataloguing details of the words "published by...".

Organisers are at liberty to make local arrangements for the production of their preprints, subject to the above conditions.

Final Reports

Within two months after the event, the final report should be written by the Chair of NOC and the IPC Chair, or preferably jointly by the Chair of the NOC and IPC, and the Chair of the responsible Technical Committee, with a copy to the IFAC Secretariat. Standard forms are available for these reports (see Appendix 8 and 9).

These reports should contain details about the event, such as:

• Breakdown of attendance by country
• No-show authors by country
• Method and statistics of paper selection
• Brief summary of program and discussion
• Comments on new features tested

In addition to the Final Report, a report should be prepared, suitable for publication in the IFAC Newsletter. It should point out the highlights of the event with respect to technical and scientific contributions, new information or developments, trends and conclusions to be drawn which might be of interest to the automatic control community in general.

Timetable; Scenario for Organization

Scenario for Organization of IFAC Symposia/Conferences (and Workshops if Preprints are prepared*):

The above items of the timetable, especially those related to the publication schedule should be observed.

NOTE: The time scales are the minimum required!

* If the Workshop NOC decides to prepare Prepints, the same rules apply as for Symposia/Conferences. In that case, the NOC may publish the papers elsewhere

Scenario for Organization of Workshops without Preprints

The above items of the timetable should be observed.

NOTE: The time scales are the minimum required!

Conclusions

Organizing an IFAC event is certainly not a simple task. It implies the responsibility for a good technical program, for good conditions (rooms, projection facilities, hotels, social program), as well as good publications.

Fortunately, however, a lot of experience is available within IFAC that is at your disposal:

• through this brochure
• through the Technical Committee(s)
• through the IFAC Secretariat
• through the IFAC Publisher.

Of course, you and your co-workers want to make a success of the event you will be organizing - a success in such a way that your professional colleagues will remember (and tell you) years after the event.

Previous experience has shown that it can be done successfully, particularly if you take note of the recommendations in this booklet.

Many good wishes!

Read carefully the Procedure Manual for IFAC Sponsored Events.

Ask for approval through the IFAC Secretariat for any change in the already approved Application (dates, registration fees, chairs, etc.).

Include representative(s) from TCs and co-sponsoring organizations in the International Program Committee.

Inform the IFAC Secretariat about the homepage address of the event when it is available on the web.

Follow the deadlines

Follow the instructions of the IFAC Publications Office

Observe the work of the editor

Send the mailing list of accepted papers to the IFAC Publications Office and Editors-in-Chief of the IFAC Journals

Distribute the hard copy of the Call for Papers and/or e-mail information about its availability on the web

Distribute the hard copy of the Advance Program and/or e-mail information about its availability on the web

Include the copyright stipulation in all announcements, in the preprints & proceedings and on the website.

Do not hesitate to contact the IFAC Secretariat if you have problems

Appendices

Appendix 1 - Master Plan of IFAC Symposia

Appendix 2 - Standard Application Form

Appendix 3 - Review Form

Appendix 4 - Checklist for Organizers

Appendix 5 - Suggested Letter for Acceptance of Papers

Appendix 6 - Suggested Letter for Rejection of Papers

Appendix 7 - Proposed Draft Call for Papers

Appendix 8 – Final Report by the IPC Chair

Appendix 9 – Final Report by the NOC Chair

Appendix 4: Checklist for Organizers

The following list of items will be helpful:

• Assistance at transportation terminals
• Meeting rooms, also for informal discussions
• Projection equipment
• Name tags
• Place tags at speakers' tables
• Social/cultural events
• Simultaneous translation (if applicable)
• City maps for participants
• List of restaurants
• Sightseeing attractions
• Technical visits to local institutes and industries
• Suitable arrangements made for mailing the preprints from the meeting location
• Visa arrangements and other government formalities
• Briefcases
• Large signs for room sessions
• Message board, telephone, mail service
• Special arrangements for students and young scientists (reduced fees)
• Information on local transportation
• Secretarial services for participants
• Program for accompanying persons
• Office facilities for Symposium/Conference officials, session Chairs, authors
• Copying facilities
• Exhibition of books, papers, etc.
• Presentation of films
• Boards for poster sessions (if any)

Appendix 5: Suggested Letter for Acceptance of Paper

Dear

The International Program Committee is pleased to inform you that your paper identified below has been accepted for presentation at the IFAC Symposium/Conference/Workshop on

at the time and in the session indicated. To appear in the preprints of the Symposium/Conference/Workshop we must have the final version of your full paper specially typed (camera-ready copy) and in our hands

by.......... ...................................

You will be receiving detailed instructions for this shortly from .......................................................... .

Please note the following IFAC policies relating to your paper:

IFAC Publication and Copyright Policy:

The material submitted for presentation at an IFAC meeting (Congress, Symposium, Conference, Workshop) must be original, not published or being considered elsewhere. All papers accepted for presentation will appear in the Preprints of the meeting and will be distributed to the participants. Papers duly presented at the IFAC Congress, Symposia, Conferences and Workshops will be hosted on-line on the IFAC-PapersOnLine.net website. The presented papers will be further screened for possible publication in the IFAC Journals (Automatica, Control Engineering Practice, Annual Reviews in Control, Journal of Process Control , Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, and Mechatronics), or in IFAC affiliated journals. All papers presented will be recorded as an IFAC Publication.

Copyright of material presented at an IFAC meeting is held by IFAC. Authors will be required to transfer copyrights electronically. The IFAC Journals and, after these, IFAC affiliated journals have priority access to all contributions presented. However, if the author is not contacted by an editor of these journals, within three months after the meeting, he/she is free to submit an expanded version of the presented material for journal publication elsewhere. In this case, the paper must carry a reference to the IFAC meeting where it was originally presented and, if the paper has appeared on the website www.IFAC-PapersOnLine.net, also a reference to this publication

Congratulations on the acceptance of your paper. We look forward to your successful participation in the Symposium/Conference/Workshop.

Yours truly

Paper Title:
Author:
Session Title:
Date and Time of Presentation:

Appendix 6: Suggested Letter for Rejection of Paper

Dear

The International Program Committee regrets to inform you that your paper identified below will not be included in the program of the IFAC Symposium/Conference/Workshop on

(Reason for rejection)

Although your paper was considered the editorial property of IFAC following its submission, the copyright is hereby returned to you.

We regret that we have been unable to include your paper in this event, but hope that other contributions from you will appear in other IFAC technical meetings. Of course we hope you will participate in our meeting and share your experiences with other attendees.

Yours truly,

Paper Title:
Author:

Appendix 7: Proposal Draft Call for Papers

Following information should be included:

• Name, date, location of event
• IFAC Symbol
• Organizer
• Sponsor
• IFAC - International Federation of Automatic Control
• Technical Committee on ……….
• Co-sponsors:
• IFAC Technical Committees on ……..
• Recognized International Organizations (c.f. page …)
• Co-operation: upon special agreement.
• Scope: describes the general goals and the field of event
• Topics: describes the specific subjects details of scope,
• Mailing Instructions
• Deadline for submission of papers
• IPC (chair and members, identifying TC's and liaison officers, if applicable)
• NOC (chair and members)
• Contact Address with telephone, fax, and e-mail number homepage
• Return Address, if different from above
• Official Copyright Stipulation (c.f. page 7)