CCSCNE   Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges — Northeastern Region

Information for Potential Hosts of CCSCNE Conferences

Introduction

This page provides information that we hope will help prospective hosts determine their ability to run a CCSCNE conference at their institution. The information is organized in the following sections:

• Why host a CCSCNE Conference?
• Commitment Expected from the Host
• Support Provided by the Board
• Facilities Required at the Host Institution
• Facilities Required Around the Host Institution
• Deadlines for proposing to host the conference
• How to Propose to Host the Conference

Why host a CCSCNE Conference?

CCSCNE is the Northeastern conference of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. It is the largest among CCSC conferences, and draws over 200 academics from the northeast to its annual conference. The benefits of hosting a CCSCNE conference are two-fold:

• It publicizes your institution in the northeast among Computer Science academics.
• The event enhances the visibility of your department within your institution.

Commitment Expected from the Host

The host is expected to provide the following for the conference:

• $1,000 in support for postage and photocopying conference flyers. The host is not expected to provide any additional monetary support for the conference.
• Typically, the host institution does not charge CCSC for the following:
• Use of its facilities including the lecture halls, the common area for vendors, the auditorium hall for keynote speeches and the banquet hall facilities.
• Overhead costs for security personnel during the conference, audio-visual staff, etc.
• Insurance costs. etc.
These are typically borne by the host institution.
• Hosting of two planning meetings of about 20 people from the board and conference committee, one in the Fall (in the first two weeks of September) and another in the Winter (in the first two weeks of January). Lunch should be provided at these meetings.
• The Conference committee, including members of the host institution are expected to register for the conference. The conference does not provide complementary registrations.

Support Provided by the Board

The CCSC board will meet with the hosts twice before the conference: once in the Fall (in the first two weeks of September) and again in the Winter (in the first two weeks of Januray). It will provide the following support to host institutions:

• At its Fall meeting, the board will visit the host institution and review the facilities at the host institution.
• The board will provide the following information from earlier conference(s): typical budget, (Friday dinner and Saturday lunch) menus,  approximate expected attendances at various events, etc.
• The board will help the conference chair(s) (usually the faculty member(s) who propose to host the conference at their institution) set up the conference committee. The board will help the conference chair recruit faculty from other institutions to serve on the committee.
• The board will pay for any costs over $1,000 incurred by the host institution for photocopying / mailing. Typically, previous hosts have covered all the expenses by themselves, and the board has not had to cover costs.

Individual officers of the CCSCNE Board will assist in the organization of the conference as follows:

• The Treasurer of the Board will receive all the bills ssociated with the conference (e.g., catering), and arrange to have them paid directly from CCSC.
• The Membership Secretary of the Board will, at the request of the conference chair/committee, send out email announcements of the conference to past attendees of the conference. The announcements may include Call for Papers, Call for Reviewers, Call for Session Chairs, and Call for Participation. The conference chair is responsible for mailing printed versions of the announcements.
• The Editor of the Board will be in charge of assembling the proceedings of the conference, as well as the registration of conference presenters, including handling their registration fees. (The registration chairs in the conference committee will handle the registration of non-presenting conference attendees). The editor will be able to provide the following information to the conference committee shortly after the camera-ready copy submission deadline (usually 10 weeks before the conference): The number of presenters registered for the conference, their audio-visual needs and their menu preferences for the Friday banquet. The conference chair will interact with the editor regarding audio-visual issues.
• Currently, all the registration fees for presenters as well as non-presenters are processed by the National Treasurer.
• The Webmaster will make available, at the request of the conference chair/committee, documents from the organization of previous conferences, such as acceptance and rejection letters, thank you notes to reviewers, etc.

Facilities Required at the Host Institution

The host institution should be able to provide the following facilities:

• Ideally, at least 4 lecture rooms where concurrent sessions can be held, each with a capacity of 40-60 people. However, if necessary, 1-2 rooms could be smaller (30-40 capacity). Preferably, these lecture rooms should be close together. These lecture rooms are required from noon on Friday till 2 PM on Saturday.
  1-3 rooms may also be needed on Friday Morning (9 AM - Noon) for workshops. These rooms need not be near the other facilities described in this document.
• The lecture rooms must have at least an overhead projector and a blackboard. LCD projectors (for computers) are preferable, as is internet connection.
• A hall or indoor area large enough to accommodate about 10 vendor tables, each around 9 feet long. Preferably, the 4 lecture halls mentioned above should be organized around this area, so that conference attendees will pass through it on their way from one session to the next. Typically, this is also the area where a table is set up to serve refreshments during breaks.
• Often, this is also the site where students present their posters on Friday evening. However, posters may be set up in a separate room where evening refreshments can be served. Typically, 20-30 posters (usually 6 feet x 4 feet each) are presented on Friday evening.
• An auditorium large enough to accommodate about 200 people, where the keynote speech is presented on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Preferably, this should be within a 5-minute walking distance of the lecture halls described earlier.
• A banquet hall to hold around 200 attendees for Friday banquet and Saturday Lunch. This need not be near the other facilities mentioned above.
• A Computing lab or labs that can comfortably seat 15 teams for the programming contest. This need not be near the other facilities mentioned above. It could also be at another institution nearby.
• Free parking for conference attendees: Around 100 parking spaces must be made available on Friday around noon and Saturday morning. Typically, Friday morning-noon parking is harder to arrange during the academic year.

Facilities Required Around the Host Institution

• The host institution should have 2-3 fairly inexpensive hotels/motels within a short distance of its campus. The hotels should be in safe neighborhoods. Typically, the conference reserves blocks of rooms for its attendees as follows:
• Thursday night: 30 - 40 rooms
• Friday night: 75 - 90 rooms
• Saturday night: 20 rooms
If the hotels are not within a short distance of the campus, it would be a plus if they provided free transportation to the campus.

Deadlines for Proposing to Host the Conference

The conference is typically held in one of the last two weekends of April, which is neither the Easter weekend, nor the Passover weekend.

• If you propose to host the conference in the year ''n", CCSC board would like to have a firm commitment from you by the January of the year "n minus 2". E,g. if you plan to host the conference in April 2004, CCSC board would like you to commit to it by January 2002 by contacting the chair of the board.
• You would have your conference committee in place by the January of the year "n minus 1". E.g., for the conferene in 2005, you will have most of your conference committee in place by January 2004. (The first publicity for your conference should occur at the SIGCSE conference of the year "n minus 1",  in this case, February 2004).
• You will prepare the budget for your conference by the January Board meeting of the year "n minus 1". The CCSCNE Treasurer will work with the conference chair in preparing the budget. This exercise will help the chair plan to apply for funds within the institution to cover the $1,000 commitment mentioned earlier.

How to Propose to Host the Conference

Please contact the chair of CCSCNE Board (chair@ccscne.org) in order to find out the next date available for hosting the conference. Please send the president an email briefly stating:

• your intent to host the conference;
• the year when you wish to host the conference;
• and that you agree to all the conditions and obligations stated in this document.