[Tccc] Summary of current conference concerns - final

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Hi, all,

This is a final list of the status of the conference concerns. We will
be discussing this issue at the TCCC meeting at Infocom next week. I
will be posting the result of our discussions with the ComSoc, as noted
below, shortly and separately.

Joe

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TCCC created a committee to review conference expense concerns raised on
the list. That meeting happened Jan 22, 2010, and the results of that
discussion will be posted shortly.

As part of that discussion, TCCC is planning to create an ongoing
process to participate in the steering committees of major conferences,
where finance decisions are made, to help influence some of the
conservation opportunities we have observed, and to raise our ongoing
concerns with cost.

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v5.0 - final 3/8/10

The following is an attempt to distill the recent threads on conference
concerns down to short list of focus points and action items:

1- reducing non-author presenters

ISSUE: concerns were raised that current ComSoc registration
requirements encourage non-author presenters, and that this
negatively impacts the quality of interactions at conferences

ACTION: we are requesting the ComSoc change its policy from
"full-time registration per paper" to "named author as full-time
registration per paper".

CAVEATS: this change is intended to increase the ability of
participants to interact with authors during a presentation,
and assumes authors are better prepared for such interactions.
This does not address presentation quality.

There are existing rules for exceptions at the discretion
of chairs to address unusual or extenuating circumstances.

STATUS: ComSoc is implementing this change

2- support for resource-challenged authors

ISSUE: travel and registration costs can be prohibitive for
resource-challenged authors to attend in person

ACTION: TCCC is updating its web pages with pointers to
resources for travel grants. TCCC will encourage specific
meetings explore support for remote presentation where
feasible.

CAVEATS: the cost to meetings needs to be considered,
esp. where it involves high-speed network access or
A/V support staff

STATUS: TCCC is preparing a WIKI where information
on this issue can be deposited and the experience on
cost and complexity can be archived.

3- meeting costs

ISSUE: TCCC is concerned with current conference costs,
and seeks ways to reduce these costs.

ACTION: TCCC formed a committee to review conference cost
with TCCC. Specific proposed actions are posted in a separate
message, and include encouraging ComSoc to have a volunteer
to oversee committees, to encourage the use of standing
committees for all recurring meetings, and to encourage
basic common procedures for those committees.

CAVEATS: ComSoc does not directly oversee individual meeting
budgets; that happens in steering committees (where they
exist), or in executive committees.

STATUS: See separate post.

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