Local Arrangements Chair Responsibilities
- Reserve rooms at the host institution as soon
as the institution commits to host the conference.
Room requirements for the conference include:
- An auditorium to seat 250, for the keynote speech on Friday.
- Dining hall facility for 200 for Friday social hour and banquet,
and Saturday luncheon.
- Four rooms, each to hold no less than 30, for four parallel sessions.
Each room must have a screen, overhead projector and preferably, chairs
with writing tablets.
- A room or space which is central to the above four session rooms for:
- Coffee breaks
- Vendor tables - they must be collocates with coffee breaks
to ensure maximum exposure
- Student posters - preferably displayed in the same area for maximum
exposure.
- Registration desk
- Rooms or laboratories for workshops on Friday morning.
Provide Publicity chair with room numbers to include in the final
program within a month of the January meeting.
- Contact hotels in the area for conference accommodation
as soon as the institution commits to host the conference.
- Present the choice of hotels at the program committee
meeting held after previous year's conference and solicit recomendations.
(See below for details about each hotel that must be gathered and presented.)
- Sign a contract with the hotel(s) as soon as negotiations
are completed: Everything must be in writing.
Have the signed contracts ready by September meeting
of the conference committee.
- Book a block of 120 rooms. These rooms may all be in the same hotel or in two
different hotes.
- Arrange to receive special conference rate for the rooms.
- Inquire about the possibility of a free shuttle from the hotel to the
host institution, if the hotel is not within walking distance.
- Arrange for a cutoff date for booking at conference rate, if necessary.
- Check if hotel gives a free room per X attendees. These rooms can then be
used for keynote/banquet speakers.
- Make sure conference rate for rooms is available from Thursday night (for workshop
attendees) through Saturday night (for those who choose to stay behind and
do sightseeing on Sunday.)
- Send hotel information to Publicity Chair immediately after
September meeting of the conference committee
for inclusion in the preliminary program and the conference Web site.
- Plan the menu and order food for the following events:
- Coffee breaks: one of Friday, two on Saturday. Coffee, tea, soda (regular and diet),
danish and muffins.
- Social hour on Friday: the options are open bar, cash bar with X drinks on
the house, and cash bar only.
- Open bar is the best option, especially if a sponsor can be found for it.
- If we provide a cash bar with X drinks on the house:
- Prepare a ticket per drink per person and send it to Conference Chair for inclusion
in the attendee packet. On the ticket, mention the hours when the free
drink is available.
- Friday banquet: About 80% of conference registrants attend the banquet.
The options are sit-down dinner or buffet.
- If sit-down dinner, arrange for water + salad + bread + butter to be
already on the table before seating guests.
- If buffet dinner, make sure people wait for everyone to have a first round
before going up for a second round.
- Saturday breakfast
- Saturday luncheon: About 60% of conference registrants attend the luncheon.
A buffet is always a good idea for the lunch.
Interact with Vendors Chair and Conference Chair to find out which events
are sponsored.
- Present the menus at the September meeting
for feedback.
- The choice of entrees for Friday banquet must be decided by January
meeting: Send this information to CCSCNE Editor and Publicity Chair
for inclusion in the registration form.
- Sign contracts with food vendors at least a month before
the conference. Obtain latest conference attendance figures from CCSCNE
Editor a week after the camera ready deadline for the
conference.
- Arrange for parking for conference attendees. Send the details
within a month of the January meeting.
to Publicity Chair
for inclusion in the final program and posting on the Web site.
- Arrange A/V for the conference:
- Obtain A/V requirements of paper and workshop presenters from
CCSCNE Editor a week after the camera ready
deadline for the conference.
- Obtain A/V requirements of invited speakers from Speakers Chair
by January meeting.
Arrange for a technician to be on duty during the conference for A/V emergencies.
- During the conference,
- Put up signs from parking lot to registration desk, and signs in front of every
session and workshop.
- Optionally, arrange for a message board for attendees to post messages for each other.
- Optionally, arrange for attendees to be able to check their email.
Send details (room number, hours of operation, instructions for logging in)
to Publicity Chair for inclusion in the final program.
- Optionally, arrange for photographing the conference, and post the pictures
on the Web (or present during the Saturday Luncheon).
- After the conference,
work with Conference Chair to settle bills for food.
Original by Ingrid Russell, Modified by Amruth Kumar