NPSS Conferences Committee Chair’s Report

NPSS AdCom Meeting

William W. MosesChair, NPSS Conferences Committee

2 March 2013

IEEE Global Conference BusinessIn 2012 IEEE…– Sponsored 1394 conferences (76% in R7-10)

729 financially sponsored approved (63% in R7-10) 665 technically co-sponsored approved (92% in R7-10)

– In 80 countries – Will partner with over 1000 non-IEEE entities

76% of all IEEE Conferences are co-sponsored. 89% of those are co-sponsored by a non-IEEE entity

– Estimated to have over 410,000 attendees 250k financially sponsored conferences 159k technically sponsored conferences

– Acquired 1255 conference proceedings2

Total Number of IEEE ConferencesIEEE Society/Council/Geographic Unit/Other – Sponsored/Co-Sponsored

3

• 5.5% Financially Sponsored Annual Growth Rate• 15% Technically Co-Sponsored Annual Growth Rate

• 5.5% Financially Sponsored Annual Growth Rate• 15% Technically Co-Sponsored Annual Growth Rate

Increased TCS Scrutiny

Conference QualityMany Quality Issues in Last Two Years– Inadequate review process– Content outside of conference or IEEE technical scope– “Pay-to-Publish” behavior (e.g., mostly no-shows)

Mostly Occurs In:– Rapidly developing portions of world– Technically Co-Sponsored conferences

Evoked High-Level Response from IEEE– Content from 10% of IEEE conferences screened– Revised conference approval process– Increased communication and training

4 Dealing With Problems EffectivelyDealing With Problems Effectively

What Can You Do?Run High Quality Conferences!

Vet Conferences Carefully Before Granting TCS

Don’t Grant TCS and Then Ignore

Require and Maintain“Direct and Substantial Involvement”

Pay Attention to Inquiries fromMeetings & Conferences

Pay Attention to Your Chapters

Don’t Promise that Content will be in Xplore

Report Suspicious Activity to tpii@ieee.org

5

Upcoming Changes:Plagiarism Detection Tool

CrossCheck supplied at no chargeFree support also availableVarious interfaces available– Batch processing– APIs for incorporating into other tools

Some restrictions apply…– Only content with IEEE copyright– Effort needed to analyze output

• Mandated by BoD — Will Be Coming!• Available Now — Contact Bill Hagen

• Mandated by BoD — Will Be Coming!• Available Now — Contact Bill Hagen

04/21/236 w.hagen@ieee.org

Upcoming Changes:Conference Web Site Language

Don’t say that conference publications“will be published in Xplore”

Say that they:“will be considered for publication in Xplore”or“will be submitted to Xplore of inclusion”

04/21/237

Upcoming Changes:Audit Requirement

Threshold for required conference audit increased from $100k to $250k

04/21/238

Upcoming Changes:Financial Tool / Conference Closing

Changing to transaction based process– Enter transactions into NetSuite

Cloud-based Quicken-like tool

– Upload supporting documentation– Closing becomes an email saying “I’m

done”

Will Not Be Rolled Out Until It Really Works!Will Not Be Rolled Out Until It Really Works!04/21/239

Upcoming Changes:Personal MCE Contact for Each OU

New Customer Relationship Teamin place

Contact Julie Amodeo (julie.amodeo@ieee.org)

04/21/2310

Get To Know Your Contact Person!Get To Know Your Contact Person!

Potential Change: Recovering Value from Technical Co-Sponsorship

Grew Out of “Value for TCS” Investigation by IEEE Conferences in 2011 & 2012Proposal Objectives:– Attach (Monetary) Value to IEEE Brand– Recover Existing Conference Processing &

Quality Assurance Costs– Adapt to Rapid Growth of TCS

Conference Would be Charged $1000 plus $15 per Conference Record PaperAd Hoc Group Discussing in 2013

8th Annual Panel of Conference Organizers 2013

POCO covers every aspect of IEEE ConferencesA Must-Attend for Both the Novice and Veteran Organizer

Agenda CoversStrategy session for volunteer leadership of sponsoring OUsBasics Session for New OrganizersHow-to WorkshopsConference Best Practices

POCO 2013Portland, OR

25-27 July 2013

12

The Conference Information Challenge

13

Technical Program Paper/

Peer Review

ReviewersAuthors

Pubs Production

Attendees

Registra-tion

Mktg & Promo

Conf. Web Site

Finance and

Acctng.

Banking

Vendors

Org. Comm

Property Mgmt.

Exhibitors

EventProgram

Event Mgmt.

Track Scheduling

Attendee Info

Budgeting

Registration Transactions

Payment A

uth.

Physical Payments

Space Planning

Room Block

IEEE Membership

Data Overload – Information Desert

Conf. Web Site

Conf. Web Site

Mktg & Promo

Mktg & Promo

Registra-tion

Registra-tion

Finance and

Acctng.

Finance and

Acctng.

BankingBanking

Paper/ Peer

Review

Paper/ Peer

Review

Technical

Program

Technical

Program

EventProgram

EventProgram

Property Mgmt.

Property Mgmt.

ICX – Bridging Information between the Conference, IEEE and Partners

14

Technical Program Paper/

Peer Review

Registra-tion

Mktg & Promo

Conf. Web Site

Finance and

Acctng.

Banking

EventProgram

ICX

Property Mgmt.

Concept – Organizer Workspace

15

IPR Office

Conf Publishing /In Control

CVent

3rd Party

Concept – IEEE OU Workspace

NetSuite Phase 1Completed

Cvent Membership Tool

Completed

NetSuite Phase 2

20132012

ICX Integrated Program Status Road Map

FEBJAN MAR APR JUNMAY JANDECNOVOCTSEPAUGJUL FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

• Cvent Membership Lookup• OU Workspaces• Publication Portal• Peer Review Tools• Membership Validation• ICX/NetSuite Financial Mgt• Society/Chapter Conference

Notifications

Peer Review Partners VettedConference Initation &

MOU ManagementCompleted

Cvent RFP Tool

Initiation & MOU Enhancements

Completed

Conference Publications

Release 1Completed

Conference Publications

Release 2

Target Informix Retirement

Ad Hocs Recently Created

Deriving appropriate value from TCS

Conference finances & finance tools– Budget creation & tracking tools

– Non-profit status outside of US

– International banking

Conference branding– Attendee-based view of IEEE portfolio

– Articulating why conferences matter

– Targeting new conference audiences18

04/21/2319

BACKUP

Recovering Appropriate Value From TCS

04/21/2320

Brief History

Grew Out of “Value for TCS” Investigation by Conferences in 2011 & 2012Proposal Objectives:– Attach (Monetary) Value to IEEE Brand– Recover Existing Conference Processing &

Quality Assurance Costs– Adapt to Rapid Growth of TCS

TAB & Conferences Briefed June & Nov. 2012

Split Vote in Conferences in Nov. 2012Proposal Being Refined for 2013– Briefing to / comments from TAB in Feb. 2013– Forming ad hoc working group

Feedback from Nov. 2012 Meetings

22 04/21/23

Motivation was UnclearConcern About the Finances– Confusion about who received the TCS fees– Desire for exceptions– Want “somebody else” to pay MCE costs

Concern About Longstanding Relationships– Offending organizers / losing partnerships– Lost publications income greater than TCS fee?

(both for OU and for IEEE)

Concerns ExpressedConcerns Expressed

Projected Number of Conferences

23

• 5.5% Financially Sponsored Annual Growth Rate• 15% Technically Co-Sponsored Annual Growth Rate

• 5.5% Financially Sponsored Annual Growth Rate• 15% Technically Co-Sponsored Annual Growth Rate

Financially Sponsored Conferences

24

IEEEMeetings &Conferences

$Proposal

Technically Co-Sponsored

IEEE OU

Conference

EventIncome

$ $Overhead

What are the Overhead Costs Associated with TCS?

Before technical co-sponsorship is approved, Staff verifies that the conference is being organized by valid not-for-profit organizations. IEEE conferences partner with ~1000 organizations annually. Verification is very time consuming in some countries, and 91% of TCS conferences are held outside the US.

Staff helps negotiate and generate MOUs for all conferences.

Staff monitors all TCS web sites for appropriate IEEE brand usage, conference sponsorship representations on websites, call for papers and promotional materials and incorrect and misleading Xplore® claims.

Staff responds to an average of 2 new inquiries per day regarding TCS conferences. These must be investigated and resolved.

We do in-depth quality checking on ~10% of the TCS conferences.

We are developing education and training materials to be used by all conference organizers.

25 04/21/23Real Costs, Rising as TCS RisesReal Costs, Rising as TCS Rises

Should All TCS Conferences Be Charged?

26 04/21/23

Who Should Decide Whether a Conference Is Charged?

27 04/21/23

The Conference Organizer

IEEE Staff at HQ

A Committee of High-Level IEEE Volunteers

The OU that Grants Technical Co-Sponsorship

Who Should Get the Benefit from the Additional Revenue?

28 04/21/23

The Conference

IEEE Staff at HQ

A Committee of High-Level IEEE Volunteers

The OUs that are Paying the MCE Overhead

Publication Income

29

IEEE OU

Conferences

Income from Xplore Access

$

Growing Slowly

Net Income / Paper Shrinking!

XploreExpenses

# GrowingRapidly

$PeriodicalsPapersPapers

Institutions

Main Action for this BoD Series: Assemble Ad Hoc to Discuss & Develop Proposal

30 04/21/23

Both Pro and Con Representatives

Work Issue Offline via Telecons

Readout at June BoD Series

Address Issues, SocializeAddress Issues, Socialize