Symposia, Conferences and Workshops

An IFAC Symposium is a technical meeting covering a well defined theme of Control Engineering. Symposia on the same subject are arranged as a regular series, usually on a triennial basis. They are organized by a host country NMO and are scientifically assisted by those IFAC Technical Committees which take an active interest in the selected topics of the meeting. Attendance usually ranges between 100 and 500 participants. IFAC maintains a Masterplan for future symposia activities.

An IFAC Conference is a technical meeting of about the same scope and size as a Symposium but it is not necessarily part of a series of events. Conferences may also cover topics that are more specialized.

An IFAC Workshop is a more informal and less structured meeting than a Symposium or a Conference. It usually has a narrower scope and a more limited attendance (between 50 and 100 participants). However, provisions for the host country National Member Organisation acting as organizer, for the scientific support by the appropriate TCs and for co-sponsorship by other scientific organizations are similar to those for Symposia.

As a rule, no Symposia or Conferences take place in the year of the Congress, and also the number of Workshops is restricted in order to avoid conflicting dates.

Information on forthcoming IFAC technical meetings can be found in every issue of the IFAC Newsletter and on the calendar page of this server.

To assist those involved in organizing and preparing Symposia and Workshops a booklet entitled "Organizers' Guide" (Procedure for the Organization of IFAC Events) is available from the IFAC Secretariat.