Technically Cosponsored Conferences

John Vig VP, Publications, IEEE Sensors Council

November 2013 Baltimore, MD, USA

IEEE Policy 10.1.2Technical Co-Sponsorship

“Technical Co-Sponsorship/Technical Cooperation indicates direct and substantial involvement by the IEEE organizational unit solely in the organization of the technical program. The IEEE organizational unit has no financial involvement in the conference.”

04/19/232

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

04/19/233 Conference Activity through 30September2013

Top 8 TCSing Societies

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Society No. of TCS Conf’s

TCS Manuscrips

ComSoc 60 3,323 ~$500K

CAS 34 3,409

SMC-S 26 3,880

CS 39 2,721

EMB-S 16 3,804

EDS 24 2,905

CES 2 3,903

APS 10 3,082

Society Total 377 44,868

MGA & Other Total 356 50,969

Benefits of TCS

Extends IEEE influence and reachout

Good to have relationships with sister societies and conferences

Possibility of financial cosponsorship

IEL payout rarely mentioned; not widely known, but, it benefits some societies at the expense of other societies

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Downsides of TCS ConferencesTCS conference support is a significant expense

Papers result in IEL distribution to IEEE cosponsors (due to downloads & content) but negligible new revenues to IEEE

Distribution is a redistribution of IEL $$$; one society’s gain is another’s loss. (IEL pot determined by sales, not by the number of papers added to Xplore. Price increases are determined by library budgets, inflation & the competition; number of papers added is a 2nd order effect.)

Total IEEE conference attendance ~400K/y; has not grown in spite of growth in number of conferences.

Many TCS conferences compete with; provide alternatives to, FCS conferences; result in loss of IEEE conf attendees; loss of reg. fees.

Quality issues; reg. fees go to outside partners04/19/236

2007 vs. 2013 Conference Attendance

2013: “Estimating ~400,000 attendees― 236K financially sponsored conferences― 159K technically sponsored conferences”

2007:

Example: ComSoc TCS ConsequencesMore and more conferences but no increase in attendance

60 TCS conferences produce ~3,300 papers

IEL payout ~495K @$150 ave. per paper

Proposed fees = (60 x 1,000) + (3300 x 15) = 109.5K

If ComSoc decided to pay the fees, it would still gain 385K, or $6.4K per TCS conference (plus lower TAB Support $$$)

Authors want to publish in Xplore; publishing via TCS is good enough for many; TCS conf’s compete with FCS conf’s

If ComSoc were to discontinue TCSing a conference and, thereby, gain 10 to 15 additional registrants at its FCS conferences, it would come out ahead, financially

Big advantage of reg. fees gain over IEL payout is that reg. fees are a gain to both ComSoc and IEEE; IEL payout is a gain for ComSoc but a loss to the rest of S/C.

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Conferences Benefit from “IEEE,” TCS/FCS

IEEE brand name; w/o “IEEE,” attendance would be lower

IEEE Xplore and the continuing availability of proceedings

Customer support: >100K calls, e-mails per yr

Volunteer indemnification, insurance and liability coverage

Handling of reporting requirements (e.g., tax filings, compliance, recording of revenues and expenses…)

Resolution of legal issues, gov’t regulations, ITAR and OFAC

Problem resolution (visa issues, inter-country tax issues, attrition resolution, contract issues, physical security issues, emergency response issues, etc)

Contract review and suggestions for protection

Availability of banking services; timely processing of loans

Website (conference listing in Database, alerts, pubs listings…)

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Conferences Committee Proposal

Change way TCS conference expenses are funded

Currently, those who have no TCS conference pay the same % as the society with 60 TCS conferences

Proposal: $1K per TCS conference + $15/paper

Societies are free to pay the fees; fees need not affect outside partners; “it’s an internal IEEE matter”

TCS Fees << TCS IEL payouts

Some societies already charge a fee; $300- to 1K

04/19/2310

If Proposal Passes

Fairer allocation of costs; those with more TCS conferences will pay more towards the costs of TCS conference support

TAB Support amount will be reduced for all S/C (SC’s 2013 TAB Support = 104K)

Sensors Council gains

04/19/2311

Questions? Comments?

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