SIAM Activity Group officers may solicit proposals from members to run a conference, including proposals to run a conference outside North America. This information and proposal forms below may also be used by the steering committees of other established meetings such as Symposium on Discrete Algorithms and Data Mining.
SIAM Activity Groups can plan conferences outside North America. However, a conference cannot go outside North America for two consecutive conferences. Groups can collaborate with a local organization to take financial responsibility when the meeting is outside North America. This means finding an organization in the country where the conference is being held that can collect registration, sign contracts for services, pay invoices, and handle payment of any local taxes. One possibility is to partner with another professional society or university.
Proposals should be submitted to the SIAM Activity Group officers and the SIAM Director of Program and Services before the conference prior to the one being proposed so that proposals can be reviewed and costs associated with SIAM services estimated. Then approved proposals may be presented at the SIAM Activity Group business meeting. For a SIAM Activity Group that runs a biennial or triennial conference, proposals should be solicited at least six months before the business meeting at the prior conference and all proposals should be submitted three months before the business meeting.
There are two options for a SIAM Activity Group conference run with limited SIAM support or staff:
- SIAM takes financial responsibility, but volunteers provide some services at no cost. One example of this is a conference run at a university. A conference run primarily by local organizers with volunteer local support can sometimes be a less expensive way to run a conference. In this case SIAM would be involved in setting the registration fee structure and the budget. SIAM will use its conference management system and the SIAM website to handle the conference.
- Another organization takes financial responsibility and SIAM provides services at a fee. The organizers must use the SIAM conference management system and the SIAM website to handle the conference. Since another organization is taking financial responsibility they will need to budget to pay SIAM a fee for these services. Other services, such as marketing, can also be purchased at a fee.
If the conference has an established proceedings that is handled by SIAM, the policy is that SIAM will continue to handle the proceedings and will provide information to local organizers about any fees that should be included in the budget to cover the cost of the proceedings.
Proposals are subject to approval by the SIAM Activity Group Officers or conference steering committee, SIAM VP for Programs, and the SIAM Executive Director.
The proposal form should be completed and returned with a draft budget to the SIAM Director of Programs and Services.
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