Guidelines for Conference Organizers

Updated September 2021 
(click here to download PDF version)

Any individual (or group of individuals) wishing to submit a proposal to host a future ICMPC should ensure that the submission follows the Guidelines below. These guidelines are provided to assist conference organizers and to promote academic quality and organizational efficiency. They do not have the force of regulations, and freedom must always be given to the individual organizer to adapt to local and circumstantial conditions. The Guidelines should be regularly reviewed and updated in the light of experience. Future changes to these guidelines must be ratified by the Executive Committee of the ICMPC Advisory Board (the organizers of the three most recent meetings and the Presidents of APSCOM, ESCOM, and SMPC), requiring a simple majority decision.

I. QUALIFICATION FOR CANDIDACY AS AN ORGANIZER

(a) Any individual or group of individuals wishing to organize an ICMPC should have participated actively in a previous ICMPC and be a member of at least one of the participating regional societies (i.e., APSCOM, ESCOM, SMPC). 

(b) If more than one proposal is submitted for a particular year, the ICMPC Executive Committee may give preference to the most well-developed and detailed proposal, also taking into consideration issues related to cost, travel, facilities, environmental friendliness, and other factors that are likely to have an impact upon conference attendance, such as equal opportunities for participation irrespective of financial means.

(c) Budgetary planning must be carried out in collaboration between the conference organizers and the sponsoring society to ensure that the conference income and expenditures are balanced. Any cost overruns will be the responsibility of the sponsoring organization and host institution. 

II. CONFERENCE PROPOSAL

(a) Any individual wishing to be an organizer of ICMPC should submit a proposal to the current ICMPC Executive Committee members by email by the end of the year that is two and a half years prior to the proposed conference.

(b) The proposal by a prospective ICMPC organizer must be endorsed by the regional society associated with the region in which the conference is to be held prior to submitting a proposal to the ICMPC Executive Committee. 

(c) Once the proposal is approved by the ICMPC Executive Committee, the prospective organizer will present the proposal at the Business Meeting of the ICMPC held two years prior to the proposed conference dates (e.g., proposal presented at ICMPC12 in 2012 for the prospective organizer of ICMPC13 in 2014), receive feedback from those present (and through follow-up emails), and address any significant concerns raised in preparation for the proposed meeting.

(d) The proposal must address the following questions, providing detailed responses to each item. [Please read "III. PREPARATION FOR THE CONFERENCE" (below) before drafting the proposal.]

Q1. Where is/are the proposed conference site/s? What is/are the institutional host/s (university/ies or other academic institution/s)? Will virtual attendance be available?

Q2. Who will serve as the conference organizer and as active members of the core conference organization committee? For a multi-hub conference, provide the names of the hub organizers.

Q3. Who will serve as the program organizer and as active members of the core program committee? (This may be internal or external to host organization.)

Q4. What dates do you propose for the conference? (This conference has customarily been held early in the month of August, lasting up to 5 days.)

Q5. What is the closest readily accessible airport, railway station, bus station, and/or seaport to the conference site? What is the distance from these locations to the conference site and what other transportation options are available? (Please include associated costs for each.)

Q6. Please describe the conference site facilities. How many concurrent streams of presentations do you envision? How close to one another are the rooms in which these multiple sessions will be held? Are the facilities accessible for participants who may have mobility issues? Will there be fees associated with the use of these facilities? If necessary, answer this and following questions separately for different hubs.

Q7. Are there low-cost cafeterias, cafés, and/or restaurants that can accommodate various dietary needs in the vicinity of the conference site? If not, how will participant meals be arranged during the conference?

Q8. What accommodation possibilities are there in close proximity to the conference site? What is the anticipated cost per night for these accommodations (single/double)? Will there be a low-cost dorm-style option? (Past conferences have determined this to be very important to our attendees.) 

Q9. What awards for students and junior researchers are planned (e.g., Young Researcher Award, Travel Award, etc.)? Are any other arrangements proposed to increase support for and visibility of early career researchers?

Q10. What will be the internet address of the conference homepage/s)? 

Q11. Please provide an overall time schedule, including prospective timing of the Call for Papers, deadline for submissions, notice of acceptance, deadline for abstract and full paper for the Proceedings, and early registration deadline.

Q12. Are any features or arrangements proposed to increase inclusivity of participation irrespective of protective characteristics?

III. PREPARATION FOR THE CONFERENCE

(a) Physical Environment

1. A single building is desirable (and if applicable, at each hub location) with several differently sized rooms for presentations, with good circulation space and facilities for refreshments on-site. If multiple buildings are used, they must be close enough to allow participants to move from one to another within two to three minutes, with rare exception. 
    
2. Effective temperature control in all conference rooms (air-conditioning or heating) should be considered, according to climate and time of year of the proposed conference. Efficient use of temperature control is encouraged to reduce environmental impact.
    
3. The conference site should be close to a range of accommodations varying from hotel to economical, student-oriented hostel or dorm accommodations. 
    
4. Efficient arrangements are needed for lunch in facilities that are readily accessible from the conference site to allow maximum opportunities for participants to continue interactions. Lunch facilities need to accommodate a variety of dietary needs. The schedule should provide adequate time for participants to comfortably travel to dining facilities and back within the time period allotted to the lunch break. 
    
5. It is desirable to have free internet access for participants at the conference site. 
    
6. A well-run reception/office in the conference site should be readily available to participants who may have questions about printing posters, photocopies, and emergency medical/dental care. It is desirable to have a technology room where participants have computer access to work on their presentations and do printing if possible.
    
7. The level of access for participants with disabilities needs to be thoroughly researched, and a clear statement regarding access should be provided on the conference web site at least six months in advance of the conference dates. 
    
8. Given that flying represents the largest contribution to the greenhouse-gas emissions of conferences, the environmental efforts of organizers should focus on reducing flying by offering multiple conference locations (hubs) or virtual attendance and socializing options. Organizers are also asked to reduce the environmental impact in other ways such as avoiding plastic, paperless promotion, using biodegradable/recyclable materials, sustainable food choices, etc.

(b) Disposition of Conference Rooms

1. One room (at each location, if applicable) needs to be large enough to accommodate all ICMPC participants (at a given location) for keynotes and other large events. Rooms for parallel sessions should be large enough to accommodate expected demand. In addition to presentation rooms, there should be a large gathering space nearby where refreshments can be served efficiently to the entire delegation during the inter-session breaks.
    
2. All rooms for oral presentations must be equipped with a podium, microphone, data projector, large screen, speakers, and cables and adapters to be connected to audio-visual output computers that can be provided either by the organizer or by a presenter. Rooms should also be equipped with a voice amplification system. For multi-location conferences and those offering virtual attendance, each room additionally needs equipment for recording and/or live streaming audio-visual content as well as a means to facilitate discussion with remote participants. A head technician should be appointed (one for each hub, if applicable) who is responsible for this equipment, for international rehearsals in advance of the conference, and for instructing other technicians, one of whom should be allocated to each room. 
    
3. Each room for oral presentations must have a timekeeper who can ensure that each presenter honors the established time frame. While a chair of each session may serve this role, it is crucial that timekeeping in all rooms be consistently observed as participants frequently change rooms during parallel sessions. Talks should always begin and end at the advertised time, regardless of whether the preceding or following event is another talk, a break, or some other event. Speakers who do not stop at the end of their agreed time do so at the expense of their own question time. Organizers might wish to include room monitors and visible clocks as part of their staffing for the conference. Monitors can keep time for the presenters as well as help with any technical issues. The duration for other sessions (e.g., poster, demonstration) must also be clearly stated in the conference program and monitored appropriately.
    
4. Rooms for poster sessions must be spacious enough for a large number of participants, with room for participants to communicate with presenters, while allowing others to walk around easily. The room needs to be dedicated to posters all day so that participants can visit the posters outside of the designated poster session times. If the poster sessions are broken up into separate rooms (less desirable), those rooms should be very close together to allow easy circulation during the designated poster session time. At multi-location conferences and those with virtual attendance, posters should be displayed electronically in addition to their physical presence at the conference.
    
5. Conference organizers may wish to provide a business center where participants can access the internet and work on their presentations. Such rooms should have desktop or laptop computers (ideally both PC and Mac) that are networked to a printer.
    
6. It is desirable to have additional smaller rooms available for impromptu meetings requested by participants. At multi-location conferences, one of these rooms should be equipped for communication with other hubs.

(c) Timetabling and Structural Issues

1. All transactions of ICMPC will be in English. 
    
2. The maximum duration of the conference is 5 days. 
    
3. There are five standard session formats: oral sessions, poster sessions, symposia, workshops, and demonstrations. Wherever possible, paper sessions should be grouped thematically and include speakers from different geographical locations and career stages. Inclusion of alternative session formats requires approval from the Executive Committee of the ICMPC Advisory Board. Examples may include discussion fora, roundtable discussions or workshops to support early career researchers. 
    
4. All presentations (except invited keynote speakers) will be selected by the program committee through a process of blind peer reviews (see (e) below).
    
5. To minimize cancellations and last-minute schedule changes, the program should consist of presenters who pre-register for the conference by the early registration deadline, as specified on the conference web site.
    
6. ICMPC provides equal opportunities to each participant. The organizer may set the maximum number of papers to be presented by one participant, and state it clearly in the Call for Papers (e.g., one participant can present multiple papers as the first author only in different formats). 
    
7. Customarily, the conference allows up to five parallel sessions. For conferences offering virtual attendance and/or multi-locations, all talks should be made available as live streams and/or recordings to all registered participants. However, the number of parallel sessions should be as small as possible.
    
8. Posters should be presented as an attractive option for speakers (e.g., for those who have significant amounts of visual data or who prefer to interact with their audience on a one-to-one basis). Posters should be included in the program on equal standing with spoken papers. Sound examples for posters should be presented via headphones to avoid auditory interference with surrounding poster presentations. Electronic posters (or posters with additional electronic presentations) may be presented if the conference site allows; this may require the presenter to provide their own projector.
    
9. During poster sessions, no oral sessions (real or virtual) should take place. Posters are to be available beyond the allocated poster sessions to maximize the benefit of the poster presentation, keeping the posters available as long as possible.
    
10. Workshops provide an opportunity to demonstrate various practical aspects related to educational and therapeutic methods and settings. Workshops should be included in the program on equal standing with spoken papers. 
     
11. Demonstrations provide an opportunity to share a new or revised system of programming or equipment that can be useful in experiments or data analyses. Demonstrations should be included in the program on equal standing with spoken papers. 
     
12. There should be some invited keynote speakers, but not more than 1 per day. At multi-location conferences, one keynote per hub is encouraged but not required. Keynote speakers will normally be given 40-60 minutes in addition to time for questions and discussion. Other forms of invited sessions that are considered beneficial to ICMPC participants may also be included (e.g., symposia, tutorials, workshops, demonstrations). At multi-location conferences, no competing sessions shall be scheduled at the times of keynote presentations. Keynote speakers should be available for questions, following both real-time and delayed viewings. Organizers should keep in mind that since keynotes are presented without parallel sessions, each keynote address reduces the number of spoken papers slots by as many as 15 at a single-location conference (3 papers per 1.5 hour session x 5 parallel sessions).
     
13. Timeslots for regular oral presentations (including presentations within symposia) should be 30 minutes (20 for presentation and 7 for discussion, allowing 3 minutes for transition time for the next speaker or for participants to walk to a different room). At multi-location conferences, the breaks between talks should coincide internationally. Longer breaks (“coffee breaks”) should also be coordinated to allow for virtual socializing. If the number of accepted papers is too large, it may be necessary to reduce the duration of oral presentations to 20 minutes (15 for presentation + 3 for discussion, allowing 2 minutes for transition time). 
     
14. A symposium should consist of at least three presentations and one discussant. Preference will be given to symposia including speakers from different labs, countries, cultures, and/or disciplines. At multi-location conferences, symposia are encouraged to involve at least two hubs. Symposia should run on the same time scale as other spoken paper sessions to allow participants to move between sessions. In some circumstances, special symposia may be dedicated to highlight research from a particular region. 
     
15. The duration of workshops/demonstrations can be flexible, depending on their purpose and the availability of program slots.
     
16. The duration of the longer sessions (symposia, workshops, and demonstrations) should be set in order to minimize fatigue of participants (e.g., 90 to 120 minutes).
     
17. In addition to research sessions, a one-hour business meeting must be scheduled during the conference at a time when no research sessions are taking place. The business meeting should be run by the ICMPC Executive Committee members in collaboration with the conference organizer(s). All participants are encouraged to attend this meeting. A primary purpose of the meeting is to consider the location of future meetings and to receive input from participants on matters relevant to ICMPC. Any individual who wishes to add an item to the Business Meeting agenda should contact a member of the ICMPC Executive Committee (see icmpc.org) prior to the conference, so that time will be allocated in advance for that discussion. Items of business relevant to individual participating societies may also be addressed, but only after all matters relevant to ICMPC as a whole have been covered. 
     
18. At multi-location conferences, the program may be divided into 3.5 to 4 hours in the morning and 3.5 to 4 hours in the evening in order to maximize sessions shared with participants from geographically spaced locations. Every regular live presentation to a live audience should also be available to a remote audience, either in real time or after a delay of a few hours (depending on time differences, availability of rooms, and programming constraints). As far as possible, parallel sessions at a given hub should include parallel live and remote presentations between which conference participants can choose. 
     
19. At multi-location conferences, the main organizer is responsible for preparing a global 24-hour program in collaboration with hub organizers. Hub organizers are responsible for preparing their local program in collaboration with the main organizer. The details of this interaction should be planned in advance.

(d) Call for Papers

1. The initial announcement of the conference and Call for Papers should be issued approximately 12 months prior to the conference through electronic media including the official ICMPC website (http://icmpc.org), the electronic mailing lists of participating societies, and social media.
    
2. Announcements should include the following information:
    
   • Dates of and location/s for the conference
   • Presentation formats for submissions (e.g., oral presentations, poster presentations, symposia, workshops, demonstrations, see (c)-3 above)
   • Submission guidelines for each format of presentation (see Call for Papers of past conferences): the maximum number of words for the abstract (typically, 400), abstract formats (see (d)-3 below), suggested topic areas, and a submission deadline
   • Review process to be followed (see (e) below)
   • Important dates: deadline for abstract submission, notification of acceptance, early registration deadline
   • Awards (see (f) below)
   • Organizing Committee and Conference Advisory Board (see (i) below)
   • Participating Societies (see (i) below)
   • Sponsors (if applicable)
   • Opportunities for virtual presentation
      
3. All presentations should be selected based on the quality of the submission, evaluated on the basis of the structured abstract format, as delineated below:
    
   • Empirical research proposals for potential inclusion as an oral presentation, poster presentation, or oral presentation as part of a symposium must include the following sections: Background, Aims, Method, Results, Conclusions, Keywords, Topic areas, Preferred format of presentation (oral only, poster only, either oral or poster)
   • Theoretical research/review proposals for consideration as an oral presentation, poster presentation, or oral presentation as part of a symposium must include the following sections: Background, Aims, Main Contribution, Implications, Keywords, Topic areas, Preferred format of presentation (oral only, poster only, either oral or poster)
   • Workshops/Demonstrations proposals must include the following sections: Background, Aims, Short description of the activities, Implications, Specific value and meaning, Keywords, Topic areas.
   • Symposium proposals must include the following sections: the symposium organizer's clear description of the topical focus, its Aims, Main Contribution, and, Implications, followed by structured abstracts for each of the individual presentations to be included.

(e) Review Process and Notification

1. Individual submissions (oral, poster, workshop, demonstration). All submissions are blind reviewed by 2-3 referees, i.e., members of the Academic Review Committee (see (i) below). Using a 5-point scale, the criteria might be as follows:

   5 = excellent (Abstract is clear and logically organized. Originality is high. Significant contribution to ICMPC participantscan be expected.) 

   4 = good (Abstract is clear and logically organized. Originality may not necessarily be high, but significant contribution to ICMPC participants can be expected.)

   3 = adequate (Abstract is clear and logically organized. Originality may be mediocre, but a positive contribution to ICMPC participants can be expected.)

   2 = poor (A portion of abstract is not clear or it lacks logical flow. Originality is low, and this may not make good contribution to ICMPC participants.)

   1 = unacceptable (Abstract is neither comprehensible nor logically sound.)

   In addition to the numerical evaluation, referees should provide a brief comment (2-3 sentences) for the program committee, especially, when the evaluation is 3 or below. Acceptance for individual submissions should be offered to submissions receiving the average of 4 or higher points. Those with an average score of 3 to 4 may be accepted if there are remaining spaces within the program. Of the remaining, those with an average score above 2 could be accepted at the discretion of the organizer (e.g., if from a country with little history of work in this area to encourage development). Any paper receiving 1 from all reviewers should be rejected. The same evaluation procedure should be applied to all proposals, regardless of presentation format. 

2. Symposium. For each proposed symposium, every paper (including the organizer's statement and each individual speaker's abstract) must be blind reviewed by 2-3 referees, i.e., members of the Academic Review Committee (see (i) below), using the same 5-point scale delineated above 
   In addition to the numerical evaluation, referees should provide a brief comment (2-3 sentences) for the program committee, especially, when the evaluation is 3 or below. Acceptance for symposia should be offered to submissions receiving an average of 4 or greater. Those with an average score of 3 to 4 may be accepted, if there are remaining spaces within the program. Any symposium receiving an average score of less than 3 should be rejected. 
    
3. Notification. The conference organizer or the program committee chair must notify the first author (in case of individual submissions) or the symposium organizer of the outcome determined by the date specified in the Call for Papers by email or alternative electronic means. The notification must include:
    
   • A statement of Acceptance or Rejection of the submission
   • For those proposals accepted, providing the reviewers' comments in the notification may also be helpful as the author(s) prepare the presentations and full papers for inclusion in the conference proceedings.
   • If accepted, the deadline for the final abstract and the full paper (for the Proceedings), as well as the specific means of submission, must also be provided at this time. 
   • The first author (of multiple-authored presentations) and the symposium organizer (for symposia) must be reminded to forward the notification to co-authors or other presenters, respectively. Alternatively, the notification can be sent to all the authors.
   • If the notification will be delayed by more than a week, the conference organizer or the program committee chair must notify all first authors and symposium organizers about the delay and provide a reasonable estimate for when they will receive notification.

(f) Awards

1. The conference organizer will announce any awards being offered by participating societies or other bodies related to the conference, facilitating the administration of these awards as needed.
    
2. Two types of awards have been offered for participants since ICMPC9 (2006): Young Researcher Awards and Travel Awards. The organizer should explore external funds for the purpose of these awards at least a year before the meeting, so that the Call for Papers can include appropriate information (e.g., availability of awards, eligibility, selection process, notification) for these awards. For description of these awards (including past sponsors), see the Call for Papers for past conferences.

(g) Conference Publications

1. The Conference Program (containing timetable and a list of participants), Abstract Booklet (including title of each presentation, names of presenters, affiliations, and email addresses), and Conference Proceedings (containing full-length papers) should be made available to all participants. These publications may be in paper or electronic format or both. 
    
2. These should be included for all who pay the registration fee (see (h) below). 

(h) Registration Fee

1. The cost of conference registration should allow reductions for early booking and student participants, prorated according to United Nations Human Development Index. 
    
2. The registration fee should not cover the cost of the social program that goes beyond standard conference events and items. As stated in III(h).4 below, the ICMPC Executive Committee must be consulted concerning the appropriateness of registration fees and overall conference budget.
    
3. Individuals attending in their capacity as officials of sponsoring societies (e.g. SMPC, ESCOM, APSCOM) are not eligible for support from the registration fee; such support, if provided, should come directly from the sponsoring society. 
    
4. The Conference Advisory Board (see (i) below) is a source of advice related to budgetary planning and organizational issues. Members of the ICMPC Executive Committee (a subset of the entire ICMPC Advisory Board) will play a consultative role in determining the appropriate registration fee structure.

(i) Organization

1. Organizing Committee. This committee consists of a team of local individuals who will be actively involved in the planning, preparation, and execution of the conference (at each location, if applicable). The committee should ensure adequate secretarial (administrative) and technical support from the host institution/society. The names and affiliations of the members should appear on the conference website and in the program.

2. Conference Advisory Board. This committee provides a source of expert advice for the organizer. This should include ICMPC Executive Committee members (consisting of past ICMPC conference organizers and leaders of the regional societies) and any additional individuals whom the organizer wishes to appoint as advisors. In particular, the Conference Advisory Board should offer advice on acceptable fee levels for the conference (see (h) above). The past organizers in this advisory committee should be responsible for ensuring that relevant information and documentation from previous conferences (e.g. announcements, letters, publications, databases, budgets, etc.) are passed on to the successive conference organizers. The Conference Advisory Board will also provide a line of communication and oversight from the participating societies to the organizer and will ensure that the organizer is informed of relevant policies and procedures that might impact the conference. The Conference Advisory Board members can serve as reviewers if the organizer wishes them to do so. The names and affiliations of the members should appear on the conference website and in the program.

3. ICMPC Advisory Board. This committee consists of all past ICMPC organizers, who can be utilized as an additional resource in planning and decision-making. The Executive Committee of the ICMPC Advisory Board constitutes a subset of this Board and should serve as the first point of contact when addressing related queries. The names and affiliations of the members should appear on the conference website and in the program.

4. Program Committee. This committee should consist of a small number of senior researchers, chosen to assist the conference organizer in the responsibility of selecting papers based on the peer reviews, grouping them into thematic sessions, and constructing the timetable. It is the responsibility of the conference organizer to constitute the Program Committee and the Academic Review Committee. The Program Committee members can serve as reviewers if necessary. The names and affiliations of the members should appear on the conference website and in the program.

5. Academic Review Committee. This committee consists of a number of qualified researchers in related fields around the world who are willing to review submissions. Their qualification should include a recognized doctorate in a relevant area of research. In recent ICMPC meetings, the number of submissions has consistently exceeded 500. The organizer is responsible for recruiting enough researchers to conduct fair and equitable reviews (see (e) above) without overburdening any individual reviewer. Each proposal should be evaluated by 2 to 3 reviewers and each reviewer may be tasked with reviewing an average of 20 to 25 proposals. Using these figures, based on the number of submissions received, the organizer can calculate the number of members for his or her committee. The names and affiliations of the members should appear on the conference website and in the program.

6. Steering Committee. This committee organizes everything necessary during the conference. (This role can be served by the Organizing Committee.) The committee appoints appropriate persons (e.g., members of the host/participating society, students of the host institution, etc.) who are responsible for the tasks delineated below: 

• Registration officers. To be at the registration desk at all times during conference hours, not only to distribute registration materials but to handle various queries posed by participants. NOTE: A larger number of assistants is required during the first day of the conference.
   
• Equipment/technical support. To ensure proper functioning of equipment and to provide prompt attention to technical difficulties and queries. To be available at all times during which equipment is being used. To be available to speakers prior to their presentations for testing of connections and presentation materials. 
   
• Room monitors. To provide presenters with any help they might need. To prepare the room for sessions and to ensure the scheduled timing for the beginning and ending of each session is honored. Room monitors should remain in the room at all times during their assigned session(s). 
   
• Refreshment monitors. To ensure that between-session refreshments are ready at the required time and to solve any related problems. NOTE: refreshments must be set up in a way that a large number of people can be served within a very limited time frame.
   
• Session chairs. To introduce speakers (for oral sessions and symposia) and to help maintain the time schedule of the appointed session. The Steering Committee should appoint senior researchers to this role, at least for oral sessions, with specific directions concerning the responsibilities associated with this role. For symposia, at the discretion of the conference organizer, the symposium organizer can serve concurrently as the session chair. The names and affiliations of the members should appear on the conference website and in the program. 

(j) Other Issues

1. Sponsors/Supporters. In order to ensure high quality while holding registration fees to a reasonable level, it is essential that the organizer seek sponsorships and financial support from various sources. It is often necessary to begin exploring funding possibilities at least two years prior to the conference. At multi-location conferences, this applies to each hub (hubs should be financially independent). All the sponsors/supporters are listed in the past conference programs, and their names are a good starting point (see the past conference websites for lists of past sponsors).

2. Student volunteers. If there are not enough student helpers recruited locally, the organizer may recruit student volunteers from the host society or from those who will be attending the conference in exchange for a reduction in or waiver of the registration fee. If the organizer decides to do so, the announcement should be made as early as possible, so that all those who wish to participate have an equitable chance of having this opportunity and so that student volunteers can be implemented into the organization of the conference. Be sure to specify the number of hours required and how early such assistants need to arrive at the conference.

3. Electronic correspondence. After notification of acceptance, having electronic correspondence (e.g., a monthly or bi-monthly email) about the conference may be useful to send reminders for upcoming deadlines (e.g., early registration, final abstract/full-paper submission, booking accommodations/tours, etc.) and to update participants with any related information (e.g, availability of the preliminary or final program).

4. Cancellation of presentations. There will always be last-minute cancellations of a small number of presentations. The Program Committee should make every effort to update such information on the conference website, in the program (by means of correction sheet), and at the conference site (e.g., by means of bulletin board). Especially, it is important for the session chair to be informed of such cancellation prior to time frame for the scheduled session.

(k) Example of the Overall Timetable for Organizing an ICMPC

The prospective organizer may want to use the following tentative timetable as a basis for planning the conference.

• 4 years before the conference: The President of the associated regional society sends out a call for individuals interested in organizing ICMPC within that region to submit a proposal. 

• 3 years before the conference: The regional society endorses one proposal for the conference. (The Executive Committee of the ICMPC Advisory Board asks that the President of the regional society study the candidate's proposal very thoroughly before endorsing it, making necessary changes to strengthen the proposal, so that the ICMPC Executive Committee will not be placed in a position where a proposal might be disapproved.) 

• By 31 December (approximately 2 years and 8 months before the conference dates): The prospective organizer submits a proposal based on the present document. The Executive Committee may request clarifications and/or require further information related to the proposal. 

• By April (approximately 2 years and 4 months before the conference dates): The ICMPC Executive Committee will hope to approve the proposal. 

• At the business meeting of ICMPC (2 years before the conference): The organizer of the next conference will make an official announcement and discuss with other organizing members and leadership of the sponsoring society any questions or comments from the participants in attendance. The organizer should begin contacting potential keynote speakers for the conference and should begin exploring sponsors/supporters and services (e.g., catering, publishing).

• 1 year before the conference: The conference website is fully up and accessible, Call for Papers is publicly available and disseminated, and the organizer should promote the conference by sending emails to the participating societies, requesting that this information be passed on to all members. The conference organizer should form the Academic Review Committeewell in advance of the deadline for submissions. The Program Committee should monitor the number of submissions in each topic area during the submission period, so that it can inform the organizer if more reviewers need to be added in a particular topic area.

• 7 months before the conference: The submission process is closed, and the Program Committee assigns a certain number of submissions per reviewer. The reviewers must return their evaluations by the deadline established by the Program Committee.

• 6 months before the conference: The Program Committee will select proposals and notify authors of the results. At the time of notification, the format and the deadline for the final abstract or full paper must also be provided. The organizer is responsible for ensuring that the keynote speakers submit an abstract and/or full paper associated with their presentations. The Program Committee should generate a tentative program immediately after the selection process is completed.

• 3-4 months before the conference: The presenters will submit their final abstracts/full papers and register for the conference; the early registration deadline should be within this range of dates. The conference program should be nearly finalized at this point. However, some presenters may choose to withhold their registrations until travel funding is secured (or for some other reason). The Program Committee can generate a draft program, but they should anticipate some cancellations. The Program Committee should appoint session chairs during this time frame, so that the names of session chairs can be included in the printed program.

• 1-2 months before the conference: Printing the final program, final checking with various services (e.g., catering, banquet, social program).

• 1-2 weeks before the conference: All the materials to be included in participant registration packets should be delivered to the organizer. The Program Committee will continue to modify the online version of the conference program based on any last-minute cancellations received. Final checking with all the facilities to be used for presentations. (If there are any technical problems, the organizer will still have enough time to arrange for resolution at this point.) In multi-hub conferences: this will constitute an important opportunity for technical rehearsals between hubs and systematic rehearsal of troubleshooting procedures.

• Within 1 week of the conference: Final checking with the facilities and training helpers/volunteers to perform their responsibilities. 

• During the conference: The Program Committee should inform session chairs of any last-minute cancellations. 

• After the conference: The organizer may be asked to send proof of attendance to some participants and to send the Proceedings to people who paid the dues but could not attend or who wish to purchase a copy. The organizer should send formal thank you letters to all the sponsors/supporters/helpers. The organizer needs to finalize the conference budget and calculate descriptive statistics related to participants (e.g., the total number of participants registered by type (e.g. student vs. non-student), the number from each country/region, cancellation rate, etc.). The organizer should update the conference website so it is suitable for post-conference consultation. 

• After the post-conference management: The organizer should take a well-deserved vacation!