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Manual for the
Organization of
INTERNATIONAL
BIOMETRIC
CONFERENCES
Revised:
June 1999
June 2002
August 2002
December 2009
October 2012
January 2013
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 1 of 177
Table of Contents
List of abbreviations ....................................................................................... 4
Foreword ............................................................................................................. 5
General Policies for IBCs ................................................................................... 6
Part 1: Bidding for an IBC ................................................................................ 10
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 10
1.2 Glossary................................................................................................. 10
1.3 IBS Bylaws Governing International Biometric Conferences ................. 10
1.4 Bidding Process ..................................................................................... 13
1.5 List of past IBCs..................................................................................... 14
1.6 Guide to a successful bid ....................................................................... 15
1.7 Roles of IBS Committees ....................................................................... 17
1.8 Guide to a successful conference .......................................................... 20
1.9 Reports from previous IBCs ................................................................... 21
Part 2: International Program Committee ....................................................... 22
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 22
2.2 Roles of IBS Committees and Expected Interactions ............................ 23
2.3 General Approach.................................................................................. 25
2.4 Overall timeline ...................................................................................... 28
2.5 Invited Scientific Program ...................................................................... 32
2.6 Short Courses ........................................................................................ 35
2.7 Contributed Program ............................................................................. 37
2.8 Conference Awards ............................................................................... 39
Part 3: Local Organizing Committee ............................................................... 41
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 41
3.2 Local Organizing Committee Overview .................................................. 41
LOC Executive Committee........................................................................... 42
LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee ................................................ 43
LOC Contributed Papers and Publications Committee ................................ 44
LOC Registration and Social Affairs Committee .......................................... 46
3.3 Local Organizing Committee timeline .................................................... 48
3.4 Finances and Conference Budget ......................................................... 55
Financial Outcome ....................................................................................... 59
3.5 Fundraising, Exhibitors, Sponsors and Advertisers ............................... 60
3.6 Scientific Program .................................................................................. 61
3.7 Timetabling ............................................................................................ 61
3.8 Registration............................................................................................ 63
3.9 Social Program ...................................................................................... 63
3.10
Logistics ............................................................................................. 64
3.11
Publicity .............................................................................................. 66
3.12
Accommodation and Catering ............................................................ 67
3.13
Conference Management Agencies ................................................... 68
3.14
International Business Office .............................................................. 70
3.15
IBC Conference Management System ............................................... 70
Part 4: Activity Plan .......................................................................................... 72
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
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Appendices (written in previous version-may wish to check on it after the
review process by CAC members finishes) ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix A: Invitation to Host ......................................................................... 77
Appendix B: Application to Host an IBC .......................................................... 78
Appendix C: Accommodations Form for IBC and Related Events ................... 81
Appendix D: Financial Guidance for LOC........................................................ 82
Appendix E: IBC2008 Attendee Evaluations. .................................................. 84
Appendix F Short Course Presenter Letter ................................................... 100
Appendix G: Short Course Proposal Invitation Template .............................. 103
Short Course Proposal Template............................................................... 107
Appendix H: Short Course Instructor Form ................................................... 110
Appendix I Call for Short Course Proposals .................................................. 112
Appendix J Short Course Evaluation Form ................................................... 115
Appendix K Call for Invited Session Proposals.............................................. 116
Appendix L: Short Course Checklist .............................................................. 117
Appendix M: General guidelines for preparing invited session proposals ..... 118
Appendix N: IPC chair to IPC members: Welcome ....................................... 120
Appendix O: IPC chair to IPC members: Draft call for sessions .................... 121
Appendix P: IPC chair to invited session proposer: Confirmation of receipt .. 123
Appendix Q: Summary of evaluation of invited proposals ............................. 124
Appendix R: IPC chair to IPC members: First selection ................................ 127
Appendix S: Example letters sent to invited session organizers ................... 130
Appendix T: Proposal for invited session form to be submitted for first
submissions or revised versions of it ............................................................. 136
Appendix U: IPC chair to invited session proposer: Confirmation of receipt.. 139
Appendix V: IPC chair to IPC members: Second round ................................ 140
Appendix W: Example letters sent to invited session organizers (extended
proposals) ..................................................................................................... 142
Appendix X: Methodological and substantive categories for abstract
submission (to be updated at every IBC) ...................................................... 144
Appendix Y: Acceptance and instruction messages for contributed sessions
...................................................................................................................... 144
Appendix Z: Letters for chairs of contributed sessions .................................. 150
Appendix AA: Sample Letters for Sponsorship ............................................. 155
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
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List of abbreviations
IBS
IBO
EB
ED
IBC
IBC n
IBC n+1
IPC
ISI
LOC
CAC
M
M-x
Y
Y-x
W
W-x
International Biometric Society
International Business Office of the International Biometric Society
Executive Board of the International Biometric Society
IBS Executive Director
International Biometric Conference
Current IBC being organized
Next IBC being organized
International Program Committee
International Statistical Institute
Local Organizing Committee
Conference Advisory Committee
Month at which the IBC is being organized
Period of time month minus x months from which the IBC is being
organized
Year at which the IBC is being organized
Period of time year minus x years from which the IBC is being
organized
Week at which the IBC is being organized
Period of time year minus x weeks from which the IBC is being
organized
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
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Foreword
International Biometric Conferences have been sponsored by the International
Biometric Society (IBS) since 1947 and represent one of the major activities of
the IBS. Since 1982, Conferences have been held every other year. This pattern
has been established to avoid overlap with the biennial meetings of the
International Statistical Institute. Dates and locations of these previous IBCs are
listed in Section 1.5.
This Manual has been written to help Conference Organizers in the planning and
conduct of International Biometric Conferences (IBCs) to ensure that the events
retain maximum value to the scientific community. It is hoped that this document
will ease their tasks and make their work more efficient.
The President of the International Biometric Society presides over the
International Biometric Conference held during their term as President.
The Local Organizing Committee and the International Program Committee for
each Conference have the important responsibilities of handling local
arrangements and establishing the Scientific Programs, respectively. In carrying
out these functions, these committees provide a valuable service for the IBS
membership. Appointment to these IPC and LOC Committees is contingent on
Committee Members' agreement to abide by the policies outlined in this Manual.
The Vice-President (Organizing President) of the IBS is responsible for the
formal liaisons between the IBS Executive Board (EB), the IBC International
Program Committee (IPC), the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), and the IBS
International Business Office (IBO). Close communication among these groups is
essential.
Oversight responsibility for all facets of an IBC resides with the elected
leadership of the IBS (i.e. the IBS Executive Board). Therefore, it is essential that
the IPC and LOC work closely with the IBS Executive Board providing continued
reporting and obtaining IBS Executive Board approvals where appropriate
(especially for contractual and financial commitments) as described in this
Manual.
An IBC is a complicated undertaking with a lot of facets, and as such it is very
difficult to assemble all details and responsibilities for any one person, unit or
committee (e.g., IPC, LOC, EB, etc.) under one heading. Therefore, it is
important that all those closely involved with an IBC read this Manual carefully, in
order to obtain as comprehensive a view as possible of their roles and
responsibilities.
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General Policies for IBCs
The following were recommended by the IBS Conference Advisory Committee
(CAC) or have been characteristic of recent Conferences. Occasionally local
conditions for a specific IBC might necessitate departures from this structure. In
such cases, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) should seek approval from
the IBS Executive Board for its proposed changes.
a. International Biometric Conferences should be held every two years, in
even numbered year, to avoid conflict with meetings of the International
Statistical Institute (see Section 1.4).
b. The location of IBCs should represent “diversity throughout the world” (see
Section 1.4). The desirable pattern for geographical sequencing is that
each set of three consecutive IBCs would include one in each of the three
IBS world groupings: North America; Europe; South America, Asia, Africa
and Australasia.
c. The incoming Vice-President (year Y-3) will serve as the Organizing
President of the IBC (year Y) see Section 1.3.
d. An International Program Committee (IPC) and a Local Organizing
Committee (LOC) must be appointed by the Organizing President at least
twelve (12) months before the immediately preceding IBC (see Section
1.3). The Organizing President establishes close liaison between these
two Chairs, typically by email, to ensure a successful Conference (see
Sections 2.2 and 2.3).
e. The Conference starts on Sunday evening with a reception. Full-day or
half-day short courses may be organized by the IPC and Education
Committee prior to or after the conference. The Education Committee will
work with the LOC on practical arrangements. Sessions begin Monday
morning with an opening ceremony, running through Friday afternoon.
Wednesday is reserved for sightseeing or scientific tours; a Wednesday
morning session is allowed, so long as it ends by 10:30. The Conference
dinner is on Thursday evening.
f. The IPC should issue a call for Invited Paper Sessions, published on the
IBS and IBC Web pages and in the Biometric Bulletin, at least two years in
advance of the conference. Between 15 and 20 Invited Paper Sessions
per Conference are organized, generally with 3 speakers and 1 discussant
per session. Generally, persons invited to organize sessions should be
members of the Society. The maximum numbers of Invited Speakers
should be 60 (see Sections 2.3 and 2.5). These Invited Paper Sessions
include the two Showcase Sessions for the journals of the society (item (g)
below and Section 2.1). The Invited Sessions Program should try to avoid
any overlap between the topics of the different sessions, so that a diverse
program that attracts people from different areas is offered to delegates.
g. The IPC should invite the editors of Biometrics and JABES to organize
Invited Paper Sessions. The Host Region/Network may also organize an
Invited Paper session.
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h. The IPC should invite International Institute (ISI) Representatives to
organize an invited paper session.
i. There will also be one invited session for young researchers, “Young
Statisticians Session.” It will be coordinated by a member of the society
named by the International Program Committee and Executive Board, in
close coordination with the Organizing President and Local Organizing
Committee Chair.
j. The possibility of having, besides the regular scientific program, one or
two keynote speakers could also be explored. There is the possibility of
having speakers that could make the conference even more attractive to
delegates. Limited funding possibilities should also be assessed so that
this could be seen as a joint effort made both by the local organizers and
the society itself. Other sponsoring possibilities (i.e., publishers,
Universities, research groups, etc) could also be explored. In order to
make delegates stay until the last session, one possibility may be to have
one of such speakers giving his/her talk at the end of the meeting, right
before its closing and after the awards ceremony.
k. The International Program Committee (IPC) is responsible for the content
and timing of the Invited Paper Sessions. Organization of Invited Paper
Sessions should be completed at least one year in advance of a
Conference. The Program of Invited Paper Sessions should appear on the
IBC Web pages and in the Biometric Bulletin at least six (6) months before
a Conference (see Sections 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5).
l. Joint Sessions with the Host Region or other scientific organizations may
be arranged.
m. The International Program Committee (IPC) Chair, in cooperation with the
Education Committee, should issue a call for Short Courses, published on
the IBS and IBC Web pages and in the Biometric Bulletin, at least 18
months in advance of the conference. Usually no more than 4 Short
Courses per conference are organized, with up to two presenters per
course (see Section 2.6).
n. A call for contributed papers, appropriately coordinated by the
International Program Committee (IPC) Chair, should be published on the
IBC Web pages and in the Biometric Bulletin about 9 months prior to the
Conference (see Sections 2.3 and 2.7)
o. Many Contributed Oral Presentation and Poster Sessions are organized.
The International Program Committee (IPC) and Local Organizing
Committee (LOC) work together to assemble and group the contributed
papers and poster presentations into appropriate Sessions (see Sections
2.3 and 2.7). It is the International Program Committee (IPC) Chair’s
responsibility to make sure that there is an appropriate coordination in
assembling the contributed program. If possible, time for discussion
should be allowed for after each presentation and not only at the end of a
given session, which could lead to having no or very limited tome for
discussion.
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p. The International Program Committee (IPC) and the Local Organizing
Committee (LOC) should obtain the schedule of IBS business meetings
from the IBO. Every effort must be made to ensure that Committee
Members will not be scheduled to speak when their Committee meets.
The Executive Board and Representative Council should meet both prior
to the start of the Conference and towards the end of the Conference (see
Section 3.2).
q. Representatives from the International Program Committees and from the
Local Organizing Committees for Conference Y and for Conference (Y+2)
should meet during Conference Y (see Section 2.4 and Part 4).
r. A Program, Proceedings Volumes and a List of Participants with complete
addresses are to be available at or before the time of registration as part
of the registration fee. The Proceedings Volumes contain copies of the
presentations by the Invited Speakers and copies of the abstracts of
contributed presentations. The program and list of participants should be
in hard copy; the proceedings should be on a CD. The Program and
Proceedings should be available on the IBS or IBC Web pages in advance
of the conference. A memento of the Conference is also provided at
registration, for example a tote bag or a brief case (see Sections 2.3 and
3.2).
s. The IBS takes full financial responsibility for IBCs (see Sections 1.3 and
3.4). A possibility to share the profit of an IBC with the LOC is not
excluded. (The Finance Committee of the IBS with the agreement of the
EB could offer 10 - 30 per cent of the profit of an IBC to the LOC
depending on the level of the profit and the costs related with the
organization.).
t. The Society covers travel and expenses for the President and travel
expenses for other Executive Board Members and for one representative
of the International Business Office, plus some expenses for these
officers. Committee Chairs should apply to the Organizing President for
support in attending the conference (see Section 3.4). However, if
possible, Committee Chairs’ expenses should be at least partially covered
by the Society.
u. The provision of any financial support for Invited Speakers does not have
to be included in the initial budget for the conference, but may be made
available depending on income received. Therefore the IPC should
ensure that all Invited Session Organizers are initially aware that funding
for Invited Speakers is unlikely to be available. Financial support is
certainly not available for Invited Session Organizers (see Sections 3.2
and 3.4).
v. The Local Organizing Committee for an IBC should raise funds through
registration fees and contributions from government and other agencies so
as to cover at least (see Sections 3.2 and 3.4):
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1. All meeting expenses (rooms, transport, printing, registration kit,
etc.).Opening Reception and (if possible) a Welcome Drink for all
registered participants.
2. Reimbursement towards expenses up to the amount of twice the
registration fee for the Chair of the International Program Committee of
IBC n and that of IBC n+1.
3. Travel grant (to cover the cost of a round-trip flight), plus
reimbursement towards expenses up to the amount of twice the
registration fee for the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee of the
IBC n+1.
4. Reduced registration fees should be offered for Students and
participants from special circumstance countries. Non-Members and/or
Late Registrant Members of the Society should pay more than the
regular registration fee (see Sections 1.6 and 3.4).
w. Each IBC is expected to be self-sustaining financially. The LOC may
request funding from the Society to cover initial expenses prior to any
other sources of income being available. This funding may be provided as
a grant or a loan to be repaid after the conference (see Section 3.4).
x. All International Program Committee and Local Organizing Committee
progress should be reported on a regular basis to the Executive Board
through the Organizing President. All financial items should be reported to
the Chair of the Finance Committee and the IBS Secretary/Treasurer (see
Sections 3.2 and 3.4) but also through the Organizing President.
y. All IBC contracts must be approved by the Executive Board and must be
signed by the Organizing President.
z. The role of the International Business Office should be made very clear.
They should never interfere with the scientific content, but should have a
general oversight role. In this way, they should be the administrative
counterpart to the Organizing President. They should be the co-guardians
of continuity from one IBC to another (Section 3.14).
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Part 1: Bidding for an IBC
1.1
Introduction
International Biometric Conferences (IBCs) are a primary activity of the
International Biometric Society (IBS). Obviously, a particular IBC occurs in a
particular geographical location.
Accordingly, the President of the IBS sends an invitation to host an IBC (see
Appendix A) to all Regional Presidents about five (5) years prior to the
Conference, so that, ideally, a decision on the location can be made at the
Conference held four (4) years in advance (i.e., Y-4). Part 1 of this Manual
should be attached to the invitation for information. The complete Manual will
always be available via the IBS Web pages.
The proposal should be made using the standard IBC proposal form (Appendix
B). It must be duly signed by a representative of those proposing the location and
by the President and/or Secretary of the applying Region/Network of the Society.
Proposals are submitted to the Chair of the Conference Advisory Committee, and
this committee then evaluates all proposals received, and makes
recommendations to the Executive Board based on this evaluation. A decision on
the venue is taken by the Executive Board, ideally four years prior to the event.
1.2
Glossary
International Biometric Conference (IBC)
Conference Advisory Committee (CAC)
International Program Committee (IPC)
Local Organizing Committee (LOC)
Education Committee
Organizing President
Executive Board (EB)
Finance Committee
International Business Office (IBO)
Special Circumstance Countries
1.3
IBS Bylaws Governing International Biometric Conferences
The basic rules of governing an IBC are defined in the Bylaws of the International
Biometric Society:
Section 9.8 Conference Advisory Committee
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“D. The Conference Advisory Committee shall be responsible for making
recommendations on policies relating to the timing, location and organization of
the International Biometric Conferences and shall maintain and regularly review
the Manual for the Organization of International Biometric Conferences.”
Section XI International Conferences
“IBS organizes on a regular basis a meeting called the International Biometric
Conference (IBC), with venue and date approved by the Executive Board.
Generally, IBCs are organized biennially, during each even-numbered year,
following the general policies described in the Manual for the Organization of
International Biometric Conferences.
The Conference Advisory Committee is responsible for proposing sites and dates
for the IBCs. Sites selected should reflect over time the membership’s
geographical diversity. Each conference is arranged by an International Program
Committee and a Local Organizing Committee. The society takes full financial
responsibility for IBCs. If the IBC incurs a loss, the IBS takes full responsibility.
If there is a surplus, it is shared between the local region(s) (30%) and IBS
(70%). Full details will be provided in the Conference Manual.
The president-elect is responsible for appointing the International Program
Committee for the biennial conference to be held during the year of his or her
term as outgoing president, namely the fourth year of his or her overall term of
office. For clarity, we refer to this person as the “organizing president.” The Local
Organizing Committee is determined by the hosting region(s). The chairs and
members of both these committees are confirmed by the Executive Board.
International Program Committee
It is charged with the planning and direction of the scientific facets of the
conference. The members of the committee are appointed by the organizing
president for that conference, in consultation with the International Program
Committee (IPC) chair, and include representatives of the overall scientific
interests and geographical spread of the society. It also includes a representative
from the Local Organizing Committee. To ensure adequate time for planning,
appointments to IPC are made up to12 months before the immediately preceding
IBC during which the International Program Committee is expected to meet.
Local Organizing Committee
It is charged with the planning and direction of all non-scientific program facets of
the conference including selection of venue. The Local Organizing Committee
(LOC) is responsible for planning and executing all financial aspects of the
conference, in conjunction with the secretary/treasurer and the Budget and
Finance Committee, and reports to the Executive Board via the organizing
president. For each IBC, the chair of the LOC is appointed at least three years
ahead and must be present at the immediately preceding IBC. The members of
the committee are approved by the Executive Board at least 18 months prior to
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
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the IBC and preferably in time for attendance at the immediately preceding IBC.
The LOC includes representatives of the hosting region(s). The LOC is expected
to work closely with the organizing president on all matters, with the
secretary/treasurer and Budget and Finance Committee on fiscal matters and
with the executive director on procedural matters.
All IPC and LOC progress is reported on a regular basis to the Executive Board.”
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1.4
Bidding Process
The invitation to host an International Biometric Conference should be circulated
by the IBS President about 5 years in advance of the intended conference date
(see Appendix A). The locations of IBCs should represent the geographical
diversity of the Society, with the preferred pattern for geographical sequencing
being that each set of three consecutive IBCs would include one in each of the
three IBS world groupings: North America; Europe; South America, Asia, Africa
and Australasia, and the rest of the world.
In addition to the general invitation sent to all Regional Presidents, the
Conference Advisory Committee is charged with identifying potential locations for
future IBCs (based on the locations for recent conferences), and encouraging the
development of proposals. This should also take account of the locations of
conferences being organized by other societies and groups (both international
and national), to avoid possible conflicts of both location and timing.
The proposal should be made using the standard IBC proposal form (Appendix
B), and submitted to the Chair of the Conference Advisory Committee, no later
than six (6) months after the issue of the invitation. The Chair of the Conference
Advisory Committee can be contacted for information and clarification related to
the bid during the preparation of any proposal.
On receipt of all proposals for a particular year, the Conference Advisory
Committee will evaluate each of the proposals, initially based only on the
submitted documentation. The Conference Advisory Committee will provide
initial feedback on each proposal within 3 months of receipt, and provide an initial
report to the Executive Board – this might include that certain proposals should
not be considered, primarily on grounds of location within the preferred sequence
(see above). Where it is considered appropriate, those making proposals will be
invited to present their (revised) proposal to the Conference Advisory Committee
during the conference being held four (4) years in advance of the proposed
conference.
Following this further evaluation of proposals, the Conference Advisory
Committee will make a recommendation to the Executive Board for the location
of the conference. The Executive Board will then reach a decision on the
location within 2 months of receiving the recommendation from the Conference
Advisory Committee.
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1.5
1947
1949
1953
1958
1963
1967
1970
1974
1976
1979
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
Dates and Locations of IBCs
05-06 Sep.
Aug. 30-Sept.2
Sept. 1-5
Aug. 28-Sept.2
Sept. 9-14
Aug. 20-25
Aug. 16-21
Aug. 25-30
Aug. 22-27
Aug. 6-10
Sept. 6-10
Sept. 2-8
July 27-Aug. 1
July 18-22
July 2-6
Dec. 7-11
Aug. 8-12
July 1-5
Dec. 14 - 18
July 2-7
July 21-26
July 11-16
July 16-21
July 13-18
Dec. 5-10
Aug. 26-31
July 5-11
Marine Biological Labs, Woods Hole, USA
University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Hotel Grande Bretagne, Bellagio, Italy
Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa, Canada
Gonville & Gaius College, Cambridge, England
Wentworth Convention Hotel, Sydney, Australia
Stadthallensale, Hanover, West Germany
Pedagogic Institute, Constanza, Romania
Sheraton Center, Boston, U.S.A.
Delphin Hotel, Guaruja, Brazil
University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Keio Plaza Intercontinental Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
University of Washington, Seattle, USA
University Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium
Hotel of Agricultural Cooperatives, Budapest, Hungary
University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
University of California, Berkeley, USA
University of Freiburg, Germany
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada
University College, Dublin, Ireland
UFSC, Florianópolis, Brazil
Kobe International Conference Center, Kobe, Japan
Florence, Italy
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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1.6
Guide to a successful bid
There is no single path to a successful bid, but the following are certainly worth
considering:
Location
A combination of relatively easy access from an international airport, an attractive
location that delegates will want to visit not only because of the conference. A
well-established public transportation system is beneficial, particularly between
the conference venue and the different hotels, and from the airport. Information
about anticipated flight costs from key parts of the world is helpful in evaluating
your bid.
Venue
Both dedicated conference centers and University based locations have been
successful in the past. Important that the rooms used for parallel scientific
sessions are located closely together, and close to other facilities (e.g. internet
access, meeting rooms, registration desk, refreshments), possibly including
some of the accommodation. Rooms for scientific sessions need to be of varying
sizes, but including some larger rooms (200-300 delegates). A few additional
rooms are needed for IBS business meetings during the conference and for the
Short Courses prior to the start of the conference. Good audiovisual provision is
absolutely essential.
Timing
Generally held in the summer (July, August), though December can be more
appropriate for conferences in the southern hemisphere. Be aware of the
different timings of academic terms in different parts of the world – clashes can
results in reduced delegate numbers. Check any possible conflicts with
conferences being organized by other societies/organizations – but sometimes
being in adjacent weeks and relatively close locations can be an advantage.
Conferences usually start on Sunday evening and finish on Friday afternoon.
Accommodation
A range of different accommodation categories is needed – some delegates will
be happy to stay in high-quality hotels, while others will need to find cheaper
accommodation. If based at a University, campus accommodation is a useful
option. Ideally, accommodation should be within walking distance of the
conference venue –if not, good public transportation should be available, or
conference-specific transportation needs to be provided
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Budget
The major costs will be the venue hire, provision of audiovisual facilities,
refreshments (including lunches), other social events, and any costs associated
with a Conference Management Agency. Other items to remember include
transport, publicity, local signage, printing, security, exhibition stands, and costs
associated with the IPC and LOC Chairs for this and the next conference.
The major income is from registration fees, but income from sponsorship and
exhibitors can be useful to offset some costs. Reduced registration fees are
required for Students and delegates from Special Circumstance Countries, with
increased fees allowed for late registrations. Getting a sensible balance between
the full fee and reduced fees is important – keeping the full fee as low as possible
to attract more delegates, but also keeping the reduced fee low enough to
encourage students and members from Special Circumstance Countries.
Over time we have had a problem with no-shows, especially for contributed
presentations and we may need to re-think the need to require some vesting.
Probably, submitters should either be required to have registered before
submitting, or have put down a deposit on registration. Then, if an individual
withdraws a few weeks before the program is finalized, they get the deposit back,
but if not, they sacrifice the deposit. Though we would hope that courtesy and
collegiality would induce people to withdraw in a timely manner, it seems we may
need some financial inducement.
The registration fee should include refreshments (including lunches) during the
four main days of the conference, the Opening Reception (Sunday evening),
printed program and electronic proceedings, delegate bag, badge, etc. The
reduced fee should be sufficient to at least cover these costs
Social Program
Although delegates are coming for the scientific program, the provision of an
attractive social program will be remembered! A range of excursions is usually
provided on the Wednesday of the conference, together with a program for
accompanying persons at other points during the week. The Conference Dinner
is held on the Thursday evening – make it memorable in terms of venue,
entertainment and, of course, food and drink - a local “flavor” will certainly be
remembered! Information about possible post-conference excursions will be
appreciated by delegates.
Local Organization
A core group of 8-12 local organizers is essential, led by the prospective Local
Organizing Committee Chair. It is increasingly common to now work with a
Conference Management Agency to provide the professional input – information
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about this should be a key part of the proposal. At least one person very familiar
with the venue is extremely helpful, though other members of the LOC might be
based in more distant locations. But do remember that the LOC will probably
need to meet on a few occasions. Involving local students has been helpful at
previous conferences, providing a valuable experience for the students as well as
reducing costs!
1.7
Roles of IBS Committees
Statutory Committees
The Bylaws of the International Biometric Society (see Section 1.3) specify
constituting an International Program Committee (IPC) and a Local Organizing
Committee (LOC).
International Program Committee (IPC)
The Chair and the Members of the IPC are appointed by the Organizing
President of the IBS and are approved by the IBS Executive Board (see Section
1.3). The Chair should ordinarily not be a member of the Host Region. The
Members of the IPC are appointed in consultation with the IPC Chair, and shall
include Members representative of the overall scientific interests and
geographical spread of the Society. It shall also include a representative of the
LOC.
General Responsibilities
The IPC is responsible for the Scientific Program (both Invited and Contributed)
and, in cooperation with the Education Committee, for the Short Course
Program. This includes identifying a set of topics, sessions and inviting
Organizers and Speakers representing the diverse interests of the Society with
particular emphasis on current research issues.
Specific Duties
Specific duties of the IPC include:
a. Prepare a call for Invited Paper Sessions. Encouraging the development
of suitable Invited Session proposals on current research topics,
representing the diverse interests of Society members. Evaluating and
selecting Invited Paper Sessions to be included in the Scientific Program.
b. Explain the basic rules to the Session Organizers and Speakers: length of
time available for a presentation, publication of talk (see Appendix M),
deadlines, and possibilities for financial support (if any) (see Section 2.5).
c. Coordinate the scheduling of Invited Sessions with the IBO and LOC to
avoid conflicts with planned business meetings (see Sections 2.3 and 3.2).
d. Prepare a call for Short Courses, in cooperation with the Education
Committee.
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e. Prepare a call for contributed papers and poster presentations, in
collaboration with the LOC. Working with the LOC to evaluate submitted
abstracts, build the contributed program, and schedule the Contributed
Sessions to avoid conflicts with the Invited Program and IBS business
meetings.
f. The IPC is responsible for and in charge of developing the invited
and contributed program. The LOC needs to help, but the IPC will have
both the responsibility and control. It is the IPC Chair’s responsibility to
make sure that there is an appropriate coordination in assembling the
contributed program. It is a requirement that the organizing president
and others are not to change this arrangement.
Local Organizing Committee (LOC)
The Host Region/Network is represented by the Local Organizing Committee
(LOC). The Chair and Members of the LOC are proposed by the Host
Region/Network, but appointed by the Organizing President and approved by the
IBS Executive Board. The Chair should be appointed three years prior to the IBC
and is expected to attend the immediately preceding IBC so as to observe
closely that prior Conference (see Sections 3.1 and 3.2). Ideally, the rest of the
LOC will also be appointed in time to enable its attendance at the prior IBC. One
member of the LOC is also appointed to be a Member of the IPC (see Sections
2.1 and 3.1).
The LOC may be made up of several subcommittees, as suggested in Section
3.2. Whether or not such subcommittees are formed is up to the LOC Chair and
the LOC itself. However, listed responsibilities and expectations of these
suggested subcommittees are part of the duties of the LOC.
The LOC may use the services of a Conference Management Agency (see
Section 3.13) to help with registration, brochure development, local
arrangements including accommodation, conference location, audio-visual
supplies and money management. In this Manual it is assumed that such an
agency has been engaged. If such an agency is not used, then the tasks become
the direct responsibility of the indicated committee. The use of a Conference
Management Agency does not absolve the LOC from overall responsibility; the
work of such agencies should be monitored and reviewed continuously in order
to carry out effectively the aims of the IBC.
Preliminary budget should contain financial details about hotels, social functions,
meeting facilities, printing, and conference services. If, subsequently, there is a
major increase (more than 10%) in the price of any of the items, then it should be
reviewed, approved and endorsed by the IBS Executive Board again. All
contracts (not just those with obvious financial implications) must be approved by
the IBS Executive Board and signed by the Organizing President. It is the
responsibility of Members of the LOC to disclose any direct or indirect
relationship of a personal or financial nature with any important prospective
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supplier of goods or services for an IBC. The IBS Executive Board has the right
to approve or decline such services on the basis of the disclosed and/or other
information.
Optional Local Organizing Committees
Beyond the two statutory committees, the Local Organizing Committee is free to
establish whatever committee structure it deems appropriate. See Part 3 for
suggested committees.
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1.8
Guide to a successful conference
There is no single path to a successful conference. Detailed and specific
guidelines, responsibilities, structures and organizational aspects are spelled out
in the rest of this manual – Part 2 for the IPC, Part 3 for the LOC. Some of these
will be obvious; others are less obvious immediately but are born out of hard
experience from earlier IBCs.
These are all designed to ensure a successful IBC of the stature expected by our
IBS membership. They should be implemented against the backdrop of the
following generalities that are key ingredients for a successful Conference:
a. A well-conceived program structure; attractive topics and speakers;
exhibition of books, software, etc.
b. Low registration fee by avoiding unnecessary formalities in the
organization. Special arrangements for students and for participants from
special circumstance countries (reduced fees, etc.).
c. Early planning by the IBS Executive Board, Representative Council,
Finance Committee, Host Region/Country, IPC and LOC. Frequent
communication between these groups.
d. The role of the International Business Office should be made very clear.
They should never interfere with the scientific content, but should have a
general oversight role. In this way, they should be the administrative
counterpart to the Organizing President. They should be the co-guardians
of continuity from one IBC to another (Section 3.14).
e. Regular information exchange between the IPC and the LOC, and with the
IBS Executive Board and the International Business Office.
f. Early and permanent information about conditions of registration and
about the scientific program through the Biometric Bulletin and IBC/IBS
Web pages.
g. Good and frequent communication with the Editor of the Biometric
Bulletin; agreement on the publication timetable and publicity.
h. Early set-up and frequent update of the IBC Web pages.
i. Prompt acknowledgment of receipt of registration, housing forms,
abstracts, etc., is essential.
j. Attractive conference facilities including space for posters, presentations
and committee meetings; high level technical equipment (projection,
sound intensity, etc.).
k. Lodging and meeting venues should be able to accommodate people with
disabilities, and, in addition, a sufficient number of non-smoking (i.e.,
never smoking) rooms should be available.
l. Good accommodation in different categories.
m. Interesting social programs and programs for accompanying persons.
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n. Setting up desks for different purposes during the Conference (e.g.,
scientific, registration, financial, social event, information, etc.); message
board for participants' use.
o. Providing computers, copying machines, telephone, e-mail facilities (at all
times).
p. Smooth registration procedures; help for special people with special
needs; avoid queues during the Conference (registration, receptions,
transport, etc.).
q. Communication with participants during the meeting (e.g., via a
newsletter).
r. A sense of humor; good weather; no accidents.
Remember:
•
Assistance at air- and railway terminals.
•
Information on local transportation, list of restaurants.
•
City maps.
•
Clearly visible orientation signs at the Conference venue.
•
Exchange of money facilities or information.
•
Refreshments between Sessions.
1.9
Reports from previous IBCs
See Appendix E for IBC2008 Attendee Evaluations.
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Part 2: International Program Committee
2.1
Introduction
The Chair and the Members of the IPC are appointed by the Organizing
President of the IBS and are approved by the IBS Executive Board (see Section
1.3). The Chair should ordinarily not be a member of the Host Region. The
Members of the IPC are appointed in consultation with the IPC Chair, and shall
include Members representative of the overall scientific interests and
geographical spread of the Society. It shall also include a representative of the
LOC.
General Responsibilities
The IPC is responsible for the Scientific Program (both Invited and Contributed)
and, in cooperation with the Education Committee, for the Short Course
Program. This includes identifying a set of topics, sessions and inviting
Organizers and Speakers representing the diverse interests of the Society with
particular emphasis on current research issues.
Specific Duties
Specific duties of the IPC include:
a. Prepare a call for Invited Paper Sessions. Encouraging the development
of suitable Invited Session proposals on current research topics,
representing the diverse interests of Society members. Evaluating and
selecting Invited Paper Sessions to be included in the Scientific Program.
b. Explain the basic rules to the Session Organizers and Speakers: length of
time available for a presentation, publication of talk (see Appendix M),
deadlines, and possibilities for financial support (if any) (see Sections 3.2
and 3.4).
c. Provide very detailed feedback about the reasons why a given invited
session proposal was not selected, or how organizers should restructure
their proposal for the next round. This will avoid a lot of problems with
people feeling being treated unfairly or people who did not correctly
understand what is expected (Section 2.5and Appendixes S, V and W).
d. Coordinate the scheduling of Invited Sessions with the IBO and LOC to
avoid conflicts with planned business meetings (see Section 3.2).
e. Prepare a call for Short Courses, in cooperation with the Education
Committee.
f. Arrange Showcase Sessions for the journals of the Society, in
collaboration with the corresponding Editors. These are considered as
part of the Invited Program, and the Journal Editors are fully responsible
for the selection of the speakers and discussants, and communication with
speakers.
g. The IPC is responsible for and in charge of developing the invited
and contributed program. The LOC needs to help, but the IPC will have
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both the responsibility and control. It is a requirement that the
organizing president and others are not to change this arrangement.
h. Prepare a call for contributed papers and poster presentations, in
collaboration with the LOC. Working with the LOC to evaluate submitted
abstracts, build the contributed program, and schedule the Contributed
Sessions to avoid conflicts with the Invited Program and IBS business
meetings. It is the IPC Chair’s responsibility to make sure that there is an
appropriate coordination in assembling the contributed program.
i. Work in cooperation with the International Business Office, whose role
should be made very clear. That is, the IBO should never interfere with the
scientific content, but should have a general oversight role. They should
be the administrative counterpart to the Organizing President and IPC
Chair. They should be the co-guardians of continuity from one IBC to
another (Section 3.14).
Although the IPC is a team, many day-to-day decisions will be taken by the IPC
chair, without consulting all members.
2.2
Roles of IBS Committees and Expected Interactions
The local organizing committee (LOC)
The chair and the members of the LOC are proposed by the host
region/network/group, but appointed by the organizing IBS president, and
approved by the IBS Executive Board. The chair should be appointed three years
prior to the IBC and is expected to attend the immediately preceding IBC so as to
observe closely that prior conference. One member of the IPC, often the chair, is
also appointed to be a member of the LOC.
The LOC is responsible for all the local arrangements, logistics, budget, fund
raising, announcements, registration, accommodation, communication with
presenters, proceedings production, social program, etc. Organization of the
Contributed Program is in collaboration with the IPC, as is organization of the
conference awards (Best Student Oral Presentation, Best Poster Presentation).
Satellite meeting committees
Sometimes, one or two-day satellite meetings are organized just prior to or
immediately after the IBC. These may be organized under the purview of the IBS
or be developed by other societies and groups. For those organized by the IBS,
one specific topic of methodology or application area is highlighted. Emphasis is
on plenary sessions in a workshop-type format, with room for discussion. The
current and organizing outgoing IBS presidents, together with the IPC and LOC
chairs search for a topic of general interest and contact a potential organizer. As
this is not part of the official IBC program, a separate local organizing committee
and scientific program committee will be appointed by the organizer of the
satellite meeting. Arguably, these committees could include the IPC and LOC
chairs of the IBC.
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Satellite conferences or workshops organized by other societies or groups can
be co-sponsored by the IBS, usually without a financial commitment or
administrative support. As for satellite meetings organized by the IBS, clarity and
care are needed in making arrangements.
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2.3
General Approach
Organization of final program
The final scheduling of invited, topic contributed and contributed oral sessions
can be done only once all contributed sessions are known. This involves
scientific as well as logistic issues and is therefore best done by the IPC chair in
collaboration with some LOC representative(s). Once a tentative program is
ready, it can be sent to a broader committee for comments and suggestions. This
may include LOC and IPC members, the current IBS president, and the
organizing outgoing IBS president. Some iteration may be needed before all
inconsistencies and logistic constraints have been resolved.
Some general guidelines useful when programming the sessions are:
a. Start with planning one invited session in each time slot. Some invited
speakers may have constraints, i.e., they do not attend the whole
conference. Although availability was asked at the moment of the final
submission of invited session proposals (see Section 2.5), some speakers
change plans.
b. Once invited sessions have been scheduled, contributed sessions can be
fitted into the program.
c. One should avoid simultaneous sessions on similar topics. Sessions on
similar methodologies or in similar application areas should be spread
over the entire conference week.
d. Whenever decisions and selections are made, the IPC chair should report
back to the IPC members.
e. Session chairs should be assigned prior to the conference. For invited
sessions, chairs are assigned by the session organizers. For contributed
sessions, invited speakers can be asked, as well as members from the
LOC and IPC. Potential chairs should be asked for their availability and
their willingness to chair. This is done by the LOC, in consultation with the
IPC chair.
f. For contributed sessions, time for discussion should be allowed for after
each presentation and not only at the end of a given session, which could
lead to having no or very limited tome for discussion.
g. One should always be prepared for cancellations of speakers. For invited
sessions, one can try to avoid this as much as possible, by asking for
confirmation of participation at the stage of acceptance of invited sessions
(Section 2.7). In case speakers in invited sessions withdraw (or fail to
register by a specified deadline), the IPC chair and the session organizer
try to find a replacement. Withdrawals in the contributed sessions can be
replaced by speakers who were assigned to the poster session (see
Section 2.7). Where contributed session speakers have not registered by
a specified deadline, they are replaced by papers from the poster
sessions.
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h. All program changes should be communicated to the LOC in order to
allow changes in the proceedings, if known in time. In case of last minute
cancellations, when no replacements can be found, session chairs should
stick to the programmed time schedule and should not move all
presentations in the session forwards.
Communication within the IPC
The activities of the IPC consist of focus periods of intensive activity separated
by long periods of inactivity. The main responsibilities are the first and second
selection of invited sessions (see Section 2.5), and assessment of contributed
abstracts. Every now and then the IPC chair can contact the full IPC for input on
very specific issues. Important issues for the IPC chair to keep in mind when
communicating to the full IPC include:
a. Have very strict guidelines on what exactly is expected from the members,
what information they should provide, in what format, etc.
b. Give clear and strict deadlines. Although some flexibility is often needed,
be strict with deadlines. It is useful to always send a reminder about one
week prior to the deadline.
c. Always ask confirmation of receipt of mails. Mails often get lost, especially
when sent to a large number of recipients.
d. If input is needed from the IPC members, the members should be asked
to send their comments to the IPC chair only (so no ‘reply all’), in order to
get independent views.
e. IPC members should understand that many decisions will be taken by the
IPC chair solely. It is impossible to run all decisions by the committee
members.
Communication with other committees and partners
Although the various partners involved in the organization of IBC have different
responsibilities (see Section 1.7), many of their tasks cannot be performed
without consultation of the other partners. It is therefore important to meet in
person, as much as possible. Ideally, the LOC chair and IPC chair will meet
several times in the context of statistical conferences such as the previous IBC
and regional conferences and workshops. If financial and scheduling constraints
restrict the number of in-person meetings, these should be replaced by
conference calls with materials available for reference should be scheduled. In
any case, several conference calls will be needed.
The site visit (Sections 2.4 and 3.10) is extremely important. Often, joint meetings
can be organized with the organizing outgoing IBS president, the current IBS
president, and a representative of the IBO.
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It is helpful if, within the LOC, persons are identified with specific key
responsibilities with regards to the scientific program, such that all
correspondence can be directed immediately to the right person.
Communication with organizers, speakers, etc.
It is important that communication with session organizers, speakers,
discussants, chairs be done at well-considered times. If too many emails are
sent, then they may not receive the necessary attention. Whenever input is
needed, specific guidelines should be given with respect to format of the input
and deadlines. Although some flexibility is recommended, guidelines should be
strictly followed and one should be careful not to create undesirable precedents.
For example, invited session proposals or abstract submissions more than a few
days past the deadline should not be accepted. Submissions not complying with
the pre-specified format should be sent back and re-submitted with a tight
deadline for re-submission.
The use of OASIS to manage all abstract submissions means that all direct
communication with authors is via this system. Records for each conference
should be retained for at least 1 year after the conference, and all abstracts
should be made available after the conference via the IBS web pages.
Production of conference proceedings
Once the program has been finalized within OASIS, the proceedings can go into
production. This is in an electronic format that allows easy identification and
access to the abstracts for each session, and, ideally, by author and/or topic.
This version of the proceedings can also be made available via the conference
Web pages, ideally at least two (2) months before the conference. It is no longer
considered appropriate to produce a printed hard copy of the conference
proceedings. At the conference, computer access to the proceedings should be
available.
The LOC prepares the program, and receives input from the IPC chair, and from
the organizing outgoing and current IBS presidents (e.g., welcome letters, etc.).
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2.4
Overall timeline
As indicated in Section 2.1, the main duties of the IPC are selection of invited
sessions, short courses (jointly with Education Committee), contributed
presentations (oral and poster), programming of the various sessions (jointly with
the LOC), and assignment of financial support (if available) for invited speakers .
The timeline presented below gives a general overview of the various activities of
the IPC. In later sections, the main tasks will be discussed separately in more
detail. In the following, “M” represents the Month of the IBC that is being
organized; “(M-12)” is a year preceding the IBC and so on.
(M-44) (no later than this date)
• The IBS Executive Board appoints the various committees (with
chairs).
(M-28) (or at a convenient time/place around this time)
• The Organizing President, LOC chair and IPC chair meet in person.
(M-25)
•
•
First contact with the members of the IPC (Section 2.5).
Call for invited session proposals (Section 2.5).
(M-24)
• Meetings at previous IBC: Organizing President, IPC chair, previous IPC
chair, LOC chair, previous LOC chair, joint meeting of previous IPC and
IPC.
(M-22)
• A reminder to the general call for invited session proposals (Section 2.5).
(M-20)
• Deadline for submitting proposals for invited sessions (Section 2.5).
(M-19)
• The file summarizing all submitted proposals is sent to the members of the
IPC (Section 2.5).
(M-18)
• A call for proposals for short courses (Section 2.6).
(M-17)
• First selection of invited sessions. Communication with proposers (Section
2.5).
(M-16)
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•
•
Meeting or conference call with Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC
chair.
Deadline for submitting short course proposals (Section 2.6).
(M-15)
• Deadline for submitting the extended proposals for invited sessions
(Section 2.5).
(M-14)
• The file summarizing all submitted proposals is sent to the members of the
IPC (Section 2.5).
• Final selection of short courses (Section 2.6).
(M-13)
• Final selection of invited sessions (Section 2.5).
(M-11)
• Meeting or conference call with Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC
chair .
(M-9)
• Start of submissions for contributed papers (Section 2.7).
(M-6)
• Deadline for abstract submission for contributed papers (Section 2.7).
(M-5)
• Site visit (Section 3.10).
• Selection of contributed papers and posters (Section 2.7).
(M-4)
• Meeting or conference call Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC chair.
• Contributed papers receive e-mail message of acceptance as either a
presentation or a poster (Section 2.7).
(M-3)
• Assignment of contributed papers to sessions (oral and poster) (Section
2.7).
(M-2)
• Selection of finalists for prizes (presentation, poster, student, etc.) (Section
2.8).
• Production of the proceedings of IBC (Sections 3.2 and 3.10).
(M-1)
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•
Conference call with Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC chair.
•
Select winners.
(M)
(M+2)
• Prepare and submit debriefing including suggested changes to procedures
and timing.
It may be convenient to include a separate timeline for the IPC Chair, so that
the specific duties key components of the conference organization is well
understood and a good coordination between the Organizing President, IPC,
LOC and IBO is maintained. It is important to mention that most, if not all, of the
specific IPC Chair duties should be closely coordinated with the Organizing
President. The specific duties the IPC Chair, in cooperation with the Organizing
President, should keep, in mind and time, include the following:
(M-28)
•
The Organizing President, LOC chair and IPC chair meet in person.
•
•
First contact with the members of the IPC.
Call for invited session proposals.
(M-25)
(M-24)
• Meetings at previous IBC: Organizing President, IPC chair, previous IPC
chair, LOC chair, previous LOC chair, joint meeting of previous IPC and
IPC.
(M-22)
• A reminder to the general call for invited session proposals.
(M-20)
• Deadline for submitting proposals for invited sessions.
(M-19)
• The file summarizing all submitted proposals is sent to the members of the
IPC.
(M-18)
• A call for proposals for short courses.
(M-17)
• First selection of invited sessions. Communication with proposers.
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(M-16)
• Meeting or conference call with Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC
chair.
• Deadline for submitting short course proposals.
(M-15)
• Deadline for submitting the extended proposals for invited sessions.
(M-14)
• The file summarizing all submitted proposals is sent to the members of the
IPC.
• Final selection of short courses.
(M-13)
• Final selection of invited sessions.
(M-11)
• Meeting or conference call with Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC
chair.
(M-9)
• Start of submissions for contributed papers.
(M-6)
• Deadline for abstract submission for contributed papers.
(M-5)
• Site visit.
• Selection of contributed papers and posters.
(M-4)
• Meeting or conference call Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC chair.
• Contributed papers receive e-mail message of acceptance as either a
presentation or a poster.
(M-3)
• Assignment of contributed papers to sessions (oral and poster).
(M-2)
• Selection of finalists for prizes (presentation, poster, student, etc.).
(M-1)
• Conference call with Organizing President, IPC chair, LOC chair.
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(M)
•
2.5
Select winners
Invited Scientific Program
The primary task of the IPC is the evaluation and selection of the invited scientific
program. As a general rule, between 15 and 20 Invited Paper Sessions should
be selected. The two Journal Showcase Sessions are considered as part of the
Invited Scientific Program. On Monday and Friday of the Conference, 3 sessions
are scheduled, and on Tuesday and Thursday, 4 sessions are planned.
General Guidelines
A general call for invited session proposals is made, followed by at most two
rounds of evaluation and selection by the entire IPC. The choice of invited
speakers is crucial for the success of the meeting. It is therefore important to
start the selection procedure early such that the risk of promising speakers being
unavailable is reduced as much as possible. It is very important that session
proposals include information as to why this session would attract a relevant
number of potential IBC delegates and, specially, why the proposed topic would
be of interest/relevance to the IBS.
Submission Process
Call for proposals
In (M-25) there is a first contact with the members of the IPC. This also serves as
formal check for the correctness of email addresses (see Appendix N). Members
are also asked about their planned attendance at the previous IBC. When
attendance is high, a meeting in person of the full IPC may be useful, and a joint
meeting with the members of the previous IPC can be considered. Once email
addresses have been confirmed, a draft version of the call for invited session
proposals is sent to all members of the IPC, asking for comments and
suggestions on how to distribute the announcement (see Appendix K). The final
version of the call for invited session proposals is ready before the previous IBC
starts, and is distributed in various ways:
a. Inclusion in conference material for the previous IBC attendees (contact
previous LOC chair)
b. Preliminary website of IBC (contact LOC chair)
c. Next issue of Biometric Bulletin (contact editor of Biometric Bulletin)
d. General email to all IBS members (contact IBO)
e. Statistics mailing lists, including allstat
The deadline for submission is (M-20). It is important to have sufficient time
between the first call and this deadline, because distribution can take long, e.g.,
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publication in the Biometric Bulletin. This implies that the call for proposals needs
to be prepared sufficiently early and that a reminder to the deadline should be
sent out in (M-22).
During the previous IBC conference, the IPC meets jointly with the previous IPC.
Procedures for selection of sessions are discussed and agreed upon.
Furthermore, the current conference scientific program is evaluated and
conclusions are drawn with respect to future IBC’s.
First selection
The deadline for submitting proposals for invited sessions is (M-20). Everyone
submitting a proposal receives a confirmation, with a brief explanation of the
selection procedure that will follow (see Appendix O). In cases where the
proposals do not contain sufficient information for the IPC to be able to do a fair
comparison, more information is asked from the proposer. The IPC chair
combines all proposals in one uniform format (see Appendix P). Each proposed
session is assigned a unique number, as well as the name of the proposer. This
way, confusion is avoided amongst IPC members during discussion of the
various proposals.
The file summarizing all submitted proposals is sent to the members of the IPC.
The aim of the first selection is twofold. First, it is important to eliminate in an
early stage proposals, which are not promising. Second, feedback can be given
to proposers about how to further improve their session. Also, similar sessions
can be combined into single sessions. The IPC Chair should provide very
detailed feedback about the reasons why a given invited session proposal was
not selected, or how organizers should restructure their proposal for the next
round. This will avoid a lot of problems with people feeling being treated unfairly
or people who did not correctly understand what is expected (Section 2.5and
Appendixes S, V and W). It is therefore important to give the members strict
guidelines (see Appendix Q) on priorities of IBS, as well as on general policies
that will be applied during the selection:
a. General procedure, with some details about the second round of selection
that will follow.
b. Focus on a broad range of areas, with respect to methodology as well as
area of application.
c. Geographical spread in speakers within sessions.
d. What about multiple submissions from same people?
e. What about organizers presenting themselves in their session? A general
recommendation is that invited session organizers should not, in general,
be speakers in that session. The main idea is that invited sessions should
not be a vehicle for self-promotion of organizers and/or collaborators.
f. Should the session include a tutorial introductory talk as the first paper
presented in that session?
g. Uniformity in structure between sessions.
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IPC members are asked to submit their grades and comments by the end of (M18). A reminder is sent one week before. Once all comments have been
received, the IPC chair summarizes all information, based on which the following
categories are constructed:
a. Sessions for which the proposer is asked to resubmit a full proposal, with
all speaker information, titles, abstracts, discussants, etc.
b. Sets of sessions for which the proposers are asked to combine their
sessions and to resubmit a full proposal, with all speaker information,
titles, abstracts, discussants, etc.
c. Sessions which are not considered any further
All proposers receive a letter (see Appendix R) in which the decision of the
committee is communicated and in which some personalized feedback is given,
helping them to further improve the session. The final decision is also
communicated to the full IPC, as well as to the Organizing President. The
proposers who are invited to resubmit an extended proposal receive detailed
guidelines for doing this (see Appendix R):
a. A uniform format is required
b. Speakers and discussants need to confirm participation. Although it can
never be completely avoided, this helps reducing the number of speakers
which withdraw their presentation once the session has been approved.
c. Discourage that organizers would be discussant, speaker, or co-author in
their own session.
d. The abstracts of the presentations are the ones that will be included in the
conference proceedings, once the session has been selected. This is to
avoid that the abstracts that eventually will be presented at the conference
would differ completely from the abstracts that have been approved by the
IPC.
In order to facilitate a uniform format for all proposals, containing all necessary
information, all proposers who are invited to re-submit an extended proposal
receive a Word template for preparing the proposal (see Appendix S). The
deadline for re-submitting is (M-15).
Second selection
Everyone submitting a proposal receives a confirmation, with a brief explanation
of the selection procedure that will follow (see Appendix T). In cases where the
proposals are not according to the format in the Word template, or in cases
where some information is still missing, proposers are contacted and asked to
complete the documents. The IPC chair combines all proposals which are again
assigned a unique number, as well as the name of the proposer.
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A file summarizing all submitted proposals is sent to the members of the IPC,
with some further guidelines for the second selection procedure (see Appendix
U). Committee members are asked to submit their grades by (M-13). A reminder
is sent one week before. Once all grades have been received, the IPC chair
summarizes all information, and the final selection of the invited sessions is
made. Some further negotiation with organizers about specific aspects of their
session may be necessary before formally approving the session. This may
include the fact that organizers should be provide with very detailed feedback
about the reasons why a given invited session proposal was finally not selected.
This will avoid a lot of problems with people feeling being treated unfairly or
people who did not correctly understand what is expected (Section 2.5and
Appendixes S, V and W).
All proposers receive a letter in which the decision of the committee is
communicated (see Appendix V). The final decision is also communicated to the
full IPC, as well as to the Organizing President. The actual scheduling of the
invited sessions in the full program cannot be done until the selection of the
contributed sessions has been finalized (see Sections 1.7 and 2.7). The Invited
Sessions Program should try to avoid any overlap between the topics of the
different sessions, so that a diverse program that attracts people from different
areas is offered to delegates.
2.6
Short Courses
Solicitation and selection of short courses is conducted by the IPC Chair in
conjunction with the Education Committee and the LOC Chair (or their
representative).
In (M-18), either in person or by conference call, the Organizing President meets
with the chairs of the Education Committee, IPC and the LOC representative on
the IPC. They discuss some logistic aspects of the short courses (number of
courses, full or half days, etc.), and a number of potential short course topics is
identified, possibly also with potential presenters. Potential Short Course topics
should be identified on the basis of being attractive and providing valuable
education to a significant number of IBS members likely to attend the conference.
In addition, chairs of the Education Committee, IPC and LOC representative on
the IPC may decide to consider cancelling a given course because of not having
attracted a minimum number of, for example, between 15-20, participants that
can guarantee its appropriate funding.
The IPC Chair sends a general call for short course proposals, via the IBS Web
page and email, plus specific approaches to those presenters identified in this
discussion (see Appendixes G and I). The deadline for receiving proposals is (M16).
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All short course proposals should be prepared using the template provided
(Appendix G).
All short course proposals received should be evaluated by a minimum of five
individuals, including the Chairs of the Education Committee and IPC, the LOC
representative on the IPC, with other evaluators drawn from the IPC and
Education Committee. The final selection of Short Courses to be presented
should be made by the Organizing President and the Chairs of the Education
Committee and IPC, and LOC representative on the IPC, based on these
evaluations.
The Chair of the Education Committee notifies all proposers of the decisions
taken by (M-14). All further correspondence with the short course presenters is
done by the IBO.
(M-18)
• A call for proposals for short courses (Section 2.1 and Appendix I).
(M-16)
• Deadline for submitting short course proposals (Section 2.4).
(M-14)
• Final selection of short courses (Section 2.4).
Finances
Accounting for the short courses is done separately from the rest of the IBC.
Losses are the responsibility of the Society. Profits from the short courses are
usually to be divided among three parties, with indicative split: (1) the Education
Committee (50%), (2) the International Biometric Society (40%), and (3) the
Local Organizing Committee (10%).
Financial support is partially provided to short course presenters (Appendixes F
and G). The Short Course Program is designed to provide education and training
to delegates and where possible to raise funds for further educational initiatives
within the IBS. Therefore, costs should be kept as low as possible. Organizers
may offer short course presenters to pay for the expenses of the cost of two
nights’ accommodation plus travel expenses for each course instructor (up to a
maximum of two instructors per course). The cheapest available economy class
airfares, appropriate to particular itineraries, should be sought and bookings
should be made as far in advance as possible. In addition and given that
presenters usually stay for the whole meeting and, in most cases, they present
their work in one of the contributed session, presenters could be ask to pay for
the regular registration fee conference and, thus, waiving its payment for
presenters is not recommended in general . Moreover, if presenters are able to
fund, some or all, of their own travel and accommodation then this would be
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much appreciated by IBS. Reimbursement of expenses will be handled by the
IBS Office and presenters should keep receipts and tickets to submit with their
claim (Appendixes F and G). Finally, conference organizers may decide to
consider cancelling a given course because of not having attracted a minimum
number of, for example, between 15-20, participants that can guarantee its
appropriate funding.
2.7
Contributed Program
Oral Sessions and Poster Sessions
The contributed program consists of two parts: Oral presentations and poster
presentations. Abstracts for both are submitted online, between (M-9) and (M-6).
Development and maintenance of an online abstract submission system, and
hence collection of all abstracts, is the responsibility of the IBO – the current
system being used is OASIS. The IPC is responsible for and in charge of
developing the invited and contributed program. The LOC needs to help, but
the IPC will have both the responsibility and control. It is a requirement that the
organizing president and others are not to change this arrangement.
Therefore, the IPC is responsible for the assessment of abstracts, and, jointly
with the LOC, for the assignment of abstracts to sessions. Moreover, it is the IPC
Chair’s responsibility to make sure that there is an appropriate coordination in
assembling the contributed program.
Assessment Process
Submitters can indicate a preference for oral or poster presentation, and must
select one methodological and one application-area identifier from a prespecified list (see Appendix W). These identifiers are used to help organize
abstracts into sessions.
Unless an abstract is extremely inappropriate (e.g., no relation to biometry,
socially inappropriate) all abstracts are accepted either as an oral or a poster
presentation. For many presenters, funding will depend on acceptance of their
paper for oral presentation. Hence, one should aim for a maximum number of
oral presentations, which may imply that no tutorials can be included in the
scientific program.
Depending on the submission number, and on the number of parallel sessions
that the conference venue can accommodate, some papers submitted for oral
presentation need to be transferred to the poster program. It is important to
identify the most appropriate form of presentation for each submitted abstract –
and to promote the value of the poster sessions within the conference.
Given the large number of submissions an efficient selection procedure is
needed. Based on the areas of expertise of IPC members, each will be allocated
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a set of abstracts to evaluate and score, including a recommendation of the best
format in which each abstract should be presented, taking account also of the
preference indicated by the presenting author.
Based on these evaluations a group comprised of the IPC Chair, LOC
representative on the IPC, and additional members of the IPC and LOC as
appropriate, should build coherent contributed oral and poster sessions. The
Organizing President should be kept informed of the development of this
contributed scientific program.
All authors of contributed abstracts should be informed of the decision about their
abstract by (M-4) see Appendix X, which must be before the deadline for Early
Bird registration. The allocation of abstracts to contributed oral and poster
sessions should be completed by (M-3), so that the complete conference
scientific program can then be published. Over time we have had a problem with
no-shows, especially for contributed presentations and we may need to re-think
the need to require some vesting. Probably, submitters should either be required
to have registered before submitting, or have put down a deposit on registration.
Then, if an individual withdraws a few weeks before the program is finalized, they
get the deposit back, but if not, they sacrifice the deposit. Though we would hope
that courtesy and collegiality would induce people to withdraw in a timely
manner, it seems we may need some financial inducement.
General Guidelines
Clear, objective selection criteria will facilitate the task and provide a basis for
communication with those moved to poster presentations. For example,
submissions with the same authors, but in permuted order, can easily be
detected. One policy could then be to select one of those papers as oral
presentation, and allocate the others to the poster sessions. Abstracts on topics
that are poorly suited for oral presentation (for example, a highly mathematical
development) should be put in a poster session.
During the selection process, it is important to keep the following issues in mind:
a. Contributed oral presentations will be grouped in themed sessions. Hence,
it is important to first select themes for sessions and only afterwards,
papers are selected based on the session themes. If first papers are
selected, one may have too few papers to fill a complete session, or too
many to fill one session only. A first selection of themes can be based on
the methodological and substantive categories authors indicated at the
time of submission. Popular themes can be assigned to multiple sessions.
b. One should aim for balance in methodology, for balance in application
area, but also for geographical representation.
c. There is no a real standard about the number of parallel sessions or the
number of parallel sessions/invited sessions to be scheduled on a given
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time period. The LOC should try to work this out in close collaboration with
the IPC Chair and the Organizing President, taken into account the
number of invited sessions, the number of contributed sessions, as well as
the room availability for each specific time period.
d. If possible, time for discussion should be allowed for after each
presentation and not only at the end of a given session, which could lead
to having no or very limited tome for discussion.
Communication to Authors
At this stage, it is also important to provide authors with technical details, such as
length of presentations, multi-media issues, sizes of poster boards, requirements
for attending their poster, etc. This information should also be available on the
conference website (see Appendix X).
Scheduling and Session Chairs
Scheduling of the contributed sessions in the full program should be done
simultaneously with the scheduling of the invited sessions (see Sections 1.7 and
2.5), and taking account of any IBS Business Meetings. The Invited Sessions
and Contributed Sessions Programs should try to avoid any overlap between the
topics of the different sessions, so that a diverse program that attracts people
from different areas is offered to delegates. If possible, time for discussion should
be allowed for after each presentation and not only at the end of a given session.
If possible, poster sessions should be scheduled at a time where no oral
sessions are being held, or combined with lunchtime (e.g., starting, say, 30
minutes after lunch starts) or coffee break periods. Authors of papers presented
as posters should stay ready for interaction with delegates at the times previously
announced for this purpose by the organization (e.g., for about 45-60 minutes for
each poster). It would be highly desirable if the status of posters is upgrades,
possibly by urging LOC to make sure they are located with plenty of space and
light, near refreshments, etc. Kobe was quite excellent in this regard.
Session chairs for Contributed Sessions should be selected from the Invited
Speakers, members of the LOC and IPC, and those submitting contributed
abstracts, ideally allocating chairs to sessions with topics in which they have
some expertise (See Appendix Y).
2.8
Conference Awards
There are currently two categories of Conference Awards associated with the
scientific program:
Best Oral Presentation(s) by a Student Delegate
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Student authors wishing to be considered for the award are required to submit a
draft presentation approximately 6 weeks before the conference. Where more
than 12 presentations are submitted, some prior assessment of these draft
presentations is needed by a sub-committee of three members of the IPC, to
select a short-list of no more than 12, to be identified in the conference program.
These 12 presentations (maximum) should then be evaluated during the
conference by at least two of the three members of this sub-committee.
Best Poster Presentation(s)
All authors of poster presentations are eligible to be considered for this award,
but need to indicate that they wish to be considered. A sub-committee of three
members drawn from the IPC and LOC evaluates all posters identified in this
way. All identified posters need to be evaluated by all three members of the subcommittee.
Final Practical Recommendations
It may be a good idea to keep a pool of the papers selected as poster
presentations to be moved to oral presentations in cases where authors having
papers selected for oral presentations decide not to attend the meeting at the last
moment. In this way, the number of papers not being presented as oral
presentations due to cancellations would be reduced. One possibility is that
papers selected as poster presentations would be kept as reserve papers for oral
presentations in case cancellations occur. Authors of these papers should be
appropriately informed, so that they are ready to move their papers from poster
to oral presentations. Finally, in order to try to avoid the issue of having several
papers not being presented at the previous meetings, authors presenting papers
should have register by a given deadline and, if they have not done so, their
papers would be eliminated from the scientific program.
As a final and general recommendation, we mention that the Invited Sessions
and Contributed Sessions Programs should try to avoid any overlap between the
topics of the different sessions, so that a diverse program that attracts people
from different areas is offered to delegates. Having too many sessions on the
same topic or different topics of potential interest to delegates scheduled at the
same time should be avoided as much as possible.
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Part 3: Local Organizing Committee
3.1
Introduction
The Host Region/Network is represented by the Local Organizing Committee
(LOC). The Chair and Members of the LOC are proposed by the Host
Region/Network, but appointed by the Organizing President and approved by the
IBS Executive Board. The Chair should be appointed three years prior to the IBC
and is expected to attend the immediately preceding IBC so as to observe
closely that prior Conference (see Sections 1.3, 2.2 and 2.3). Ideally, the rest of
the LOC will also be appointed in time to enable its attendance at the prior IBC.
One member of the LOC is also appointed to be a Member of the IPC.
The LOC has a number of distinct functions, and it may be appropriate to have
identified sub-committees associated within each of these functions. Possible
LOC subcommittees are suggested in Section 3.2. Whether or not such
subcommittees are formed is up to the LOC Chair and other members. However,
listed responsibilities and expectations of these suggested subcommittees help
to identify the different functions of the LOC.
The LOC may use the services of a Conference Management Agency (see
Section 3.13) to help with registration, brochure development, local
arrangements including accommodation, conference venue, audio-visual support
and financial management. In this Manual it is assumed that such an agency has
been engaged. If such an agency is not used, then the tasks become the direct
responsibility of the indicated committee. The use of a Conference Management
Agency does not absolve the LOC from any responsibility; the work of such
agencies should be monitored and reviewed continuously in order to carry out
effectively the aims of the IBC.
The preliminary budget should contain financial details about hotels, social
functions, meeting facilities, printing, and conference services. If, subsequently,
there is a major increase (more than 10%) in the price of any of the items, then it
should be reviewed, approved and endorsed by the IBS Executive Board again.
All contracts (not just those with obvious financial implications) must be approved
by the IBS Executive Board and signed by the Organizing President. It is the
responsibility of Members of the LOC to disclose any direct or indirect
relationship of a personal or financial nature with any important prospective
supplier of goods or services for an IBC. The IBS Executive Board has the right
to approve or decline such services on the basis of the disclosed and/or other
information.
3.2
Local Organizing Committee Overview
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Beyond the two statutory committees, the Local Organizing Committee is free to
establish whatever committee structure it deems appropriate. The following
committees are suggested as possibilities. Local preferences and conditions will
dictate the number and nature of the sub- committees required, and even if any
are required at all. The key objective of this section is to identify the many tasks
that have to be carried out.
LOC Executive Committee
General Responsibilities
The LOC Executive Committee has the overall responsibility for arranging a
successful Conference. The Chair of the LOC is also the Chair of the LOC
Executive Committee.
Specific Duties
Specific duties of the LOC Executive Committee include:
a. Overall planning and direction of all (non-scientific) program facets of the
Conference, including selection of venue.
b. Development and adherence to a schedule of all-key steps and events
(see Sections 1.7, 2.3 and 2.4).
c. Definition of responsibilities for all LOC members/sub-committees.
d. Direction of Conference Management Agency tasks (if applicable).
e. Liaising with and providing interim reports to the IBS Executive Board,
Host Region/Network, IPC and the International Business Office. The role
of the International Business Office should be made very clear. They
should never interfere with the scientific content, but should have a
general oversight role. In this way, they should be the administrative
counterpart to the Organizing President. They should be the co-guardians
of continuity from one IBC to another (Section 3.14).
f. Oversee all sub-committees and their activities.
g. In collaboration with the Organizing President, IPC and LOC Chair,
Education Committee responsible for Short Courses selection and IBO,
revision of the conference manual and submit their recommendations to
the CAC Chair for their implementation in the new version of the manual.
The working style of the LOC Executive Committee will vary according to the
nature of the Host Region/Network, the Members of the Committee and the
resources available. However, there is no substitute for attention to detail. The
specific tasks of each committee must be monitored and followed. If there is lack
of output, it is the LOC Executive Committee that has to take appropriate action.
The type of action will depend upon the nature and urgency of the problem, the
people involved and the available alternatives.
Early in the planning stage, the LOC Executive Committee should ask for and
approve specific policy recommendations from each of the committees. These
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should be collected and be made available to the IBS Executive Board, the IPC
and Members of the Committees. Policy issues will be discussed under each of
the committee headings. Examples of policy issues are: categories of registration
fees; financial support for Speakers; whether payment of registration fees will be
a requirement for an abstract to be accepted; deadlines for abstracts, invited
papers; whether Speakers who have not met the deadline for submission of their
papers will be sponsored, etc. Over time we have had a problem with no-shows,
especially for contributed presentations and we may need to re-think the need to
require some vesting. Probably, submitters should either be required to have
registered before submitting, or have put down a deposit on registration. Then, if
an individual withdraws a few weeks before the program is finalized, they get the
deposit back, but if not, they sacrifice the deposit. Though we would hope that
courtesy and collegiality would induce people to withdraw in a timely manner, it
seems we may need some financial inducement.
LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee
General Responsibilities
The LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee is responsible for planning and
executing all financial aspects of the Conference; in particular, timely and
successful raising of contributed funds. All budgetary records should minimally
be expressed in both USD currency and the local currency being used in the
conference planning. It is important that close links be maintained at all times
with the IBS Secretary/Treasurer.
Specific Duties
Specific duties of the LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee include:
a. Develop a budget for approval by the IBS Executive Board and by the IBS
Finance Committee.
b. Return to the IBS Executive Board for new approvals of budget line items
that are subsequently increased in cost by more than 10% of that
originally approved.
c. Identify and raise funds from a variety of sources such as local firms,
pharmaceutical firms, research organizations, government agencies,
computer software or hardware firms, publishers, elected officials,
university administration and other sources.
d. Sufficient technology and staffing for Audio/Visual needs must be
budgeted and provided at the conference.
e. Determine the mix of funds to be raised: registration fees, IBS, grants from
government and non-government agencies, contribution by Regions,
exhibitors, other societies.
f. Oversee activities of the Conference Management Agency in the
collection and distribution of funds.
g. Maintain a book-keeping system according to accepted accounting
practices.
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h. Ensure that all moneys received and disbursed are properly accounted for
and reported by the close of the IBS fiscal year
i. Maintain close contact with the IBS Finance Committee and the IBS
Secretary/Treasurer.
j. Develop a schedule for accomplishing all tasks and keep the IBS
Executive Board and IBS Finance Committee informed of all progress and
problems.
k. Provide all information as required by the IBS Auditor.
The LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee have a challenging task: Most of
the expenses for an International Biometric Conference must be raised by the
Local Organizing Committee of the Host Region. The problem is compounded by
a timing problem: grants and other appeals typically must be made at least one
year before the Conference when the program is still in an embryonic stage so
that it is difficult to make an appeal on the basis of the coming Conference. There
will also be large forthcoming variation in the capabilities of Regions to raise
funds; the feasibility of the comments below must be evaluated by the LOC.
The LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee must work closely with the IPC
in deciding if any contribution in living expenses of Invited Speakers can be
made. They must also work together with the Organizing President and IBO to
find grants for Invited Speakers with financial difficulties. The IPC must inform the
Invited Session Organizers about this issue.
The final financial statement should have detailed information of moneys
received and expended. While no independent external audit is routinely
required, all transactions should be documented to the extent that an audit could
be conducted should one be requested. A sample of the level of detail required in
the final financial report is given in Appendix D.
The LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee for the 1994 IBC made some
very helpful suggestions as an addendum to their final financial report. These
Comments and Recommendations are provided in Appendix W.
LOC Contributed Papers and Publications Committee
General Responsibilities
The LOC Contributed Papers and Publications Committee is responsible for local
aspects of the scientific Program. The Chair is ordinarily also a member of the
IPC. The LOC Contributed Papers and Publications Committee is responsible
for arranging and executing all aspects needed for successful, innovative
Contributed Paper Sessions, maintaining liaison with the IPC, publishing
announcements and other publicity materials, producing the Program, developing
the electronic Proceedings, and producing a list of participants.
Specific Duties
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a. Collaborate with IPC to assemble and group contributed papers abstracts,
and organize and schedule Contributed Paper Sessions. However, the
IPC is responsible for and in charge of developing the invited and
contributed program. The LOC needs to help, but the IPC will have both
the responsibility and control. It is a requirement that the organizing
president and others are not to change this arrangement.
b. Oversee that meeting rooms have very good to excellent sight lines.
c. Direct and oversee the Conference Management Agency (if any) in
scheduling Programs (both contributed and invited) and in making room
assignments. Prepare venue: take care of audio-visual needs (e.g., high
ceilings for presentations with visual material), informal discussion areas,
and contiguity to Invited Paper Sessions.
d. Direct and execute the publication of a Program before the meeting.
e. Arrange for the publication of an electronic Conference Proceedings
containing all abstracts.
f. Arrange for exhibitions. Coordinate work with the exhibitors and the
Exhibit display agencies.
g. Arrange and schedule Poster Sessions.
h. Keep Session Organizers and Speakers (Invited, Contributed and Poster
presenters) informed of all progress and problems.
i. Coordinate scheduling with speakers who are also involved in IBS
Business Meetings so that those administrative meetings do not overlap
with presentations.
Just as the IPC is the key in planning a successful Conference, so the LOC
Contributed Papers and Publications Committee is the key in the successful
execution of the scientific part of the Conference. A series of issues will now be
addressed. It cannot be stressed enough that prompt response to
correspondence is absolutely essential.
Invited Speakers
In cooperation with the IPC, Invited Session Organizers should be advised about
length of sessions, and final abstract submission deadlines. In cooperation with
the LOC Finance and Fund Raising Committee and the IPC, the Invited
Speakers should be informed about the amount and method of sponsoring (if
any, see Section 3.4).
Contributed Papers
Deadlines for abstracts should be set realistically and firmly. The template for
contributed abstract submission should be made available via the conference
web-pages. It is important to ask contributors for their preference of presentation
type (Oral, Poster, Either) as part of the submission process.
Sessions
Conference participants judge the success of a Conference in part by the
smoothness with which it is run. A key element is the running of the Sessions. A
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small degree of paranoia and attention to detail will pay rich rewards. Here are
some suggestions.
a. Send all participants instructions and suggested guidelines for
presentations. Good presentation materials (such as well-done slide
presentations) are crucial to the success of a talk.
b. Send written instructions to all Speakers indicating the time of their
Session, time by which presentations have to be uploaded and the name
of the Session Chair.
c. Make sure that all speakers in oral sessions have uploaded their
presentation in the required format (usually PowerPoint or pdf) in sufficient
time prior to their session.
d. Have Sessions start and end on time without exception.
e. Do not permit the Chair of a Contributed Paper Session to deviate from or
rearrange the printed Program; if a Speaker does not show up, wait until
the next Speaker is due; be careful in granting the previous Speaker extra
time, as this frequently creates bad feelings and a charge of favoritism.
f. List outside the door of each Session the presentations for that Session
and the current Speaker. This can be done easily by having one person
responsible for a Session who quickly indicates the next Speaker when
the current Speaker is finished.
g. Use wireless microphones; this way the Speaker's voice will be tracked
upon turning to look at (say) an overhead.
h. Send poster presenters information indicating when their poster should be
put up, when they should be present at their poster, and when it can be
taken down.
LOC Registration and Social Affairs Committee
General Responsibilities
The LOC Registration and Social Affairs Committee is responsible for the
successful planning and coordination of all non-technical aspects of the local
arrangements.
Specific Duties
Specific duties of the LOC Registration and Social Affairs Committee include:
a. Develop all information needed for brochures announcing the Conference,
registration information, social affairs information and tourist information,
in collaboration with the other committees (and the Conference
Management Agency) See Sections 3.3 and 3.13.
b. Direct and oversee the Conference Management Agency in designing,
printing, mailing announcements and setting the IBC Web pages of the
Conference.
c. Plan and oversee the arrangement for lodging, including off-site hotels.
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d. Direct and oversee all arrangements for transportation, refreshments,
staffing at information desks, special needs involving diet, language, and
disabilities.
e. Identify volunteers to help during registration.
f. Assist the Chair of the LOC in keeping track of the schedule of all key
items.
g. Select social activities (and dates and times) sponsored by the
Conference.
h. Arrange for pre-, during and post-conference tours; scientific tours,
opening mixer, banquet and other social activities.
i. (If relevant) Oversee the Conference Management Agency in planning,
coordinating and executing all social activities, including:
•
negotiation of fees for social activities;
•
development of information to be included with the registration
form;
•
ensuring that activities happen as planned;
•
identification of and solving problems.
j. Arrange for a Message Board for participants to use during the
Conference.
k. Develop and assign space for administrative meetings in coordination with
the Organizing President of the IBS and with the Chair of the IPC.
l. Develop a schedule for accomplishing all tasks and keep the LOC
Executive Committee informed of progress and problems.
m. Remind the LOC of all agreements and contracts including those for a
Conference Management Agency (if applicable) and all outside facilities
requiring the approval and signature of an IBS Executive Officer.
Additional Comments
The LOC Registration and Social Affairs Committee sets the tone for a
Conference in subtle ways. For most participants, most contacts with the
Conference will involve activities and 'products' of this committee. Some
examples are:
a. The clarity of a Registration Form will determine a participant's initial
reaction to the Conference.
b. Promptness of response in correspondence with the Conference.
c. Availability and quality of transportation to, during, and from the
Conference site.
d. Efficiency in the processing of applications before and during the
Conference; prompt reconfirmation of all communications especially
registration, hotel reservations, and abstracts is essential.
e. Quality of lodging and food: both content and presentation.
f. Communication during the Conference.
g. Social events: quality, interest, and reasonableness of price.
h. Overall helpfulness and cordiality during the Conference.
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3.3
Local Organizing Committee timeline
This tabular overview by time and area of activity from 48 months prior to the
proposed conference date captures all the information from the above sections
The months before the Conference are indicated in the left-hand column. Next to
this column you will find a column in which you fill in the dates which apply to
your Conference. Remember that these are suggested dates only. To preserve
space, several key 'players' are coded as follows:
The following major categories will be found useful in assigning or grouping
tasks:
1
=
Financial/business
2
=
Fund raising
3
=
Contributed papers
4
=
Invited papers
5
=
Program/Sessions/Exhibitors
6
=
Registration/housing
7
=
Social affairs
8
=
Publicity/public relations
MONTHS
BEFORE
ACTIVITY
a) Pre-Conference Activities:
(M-48)-(M-36) - Reserve meeting space, investigates accommodation
possibilities.
- Set up LOC committee structure (if required).
- Select Conference Management Agency (if applicable).
- Submit Progress Report to Organizing President.
(M-36)-(M-24) - Begin meeting regularly.
- Define policy for subsidy of participants granted from IBC
budget, coordinates with International Program Committee (1,4).
- Develop preliminary budget in consultation with IBS
Secretary/Treasurer, corresponds with International Program
Committee about expenses (1).
- Sign contract with Conference Management Agency (1) after
approval from IBS EB.
- Begin to develop applications for sponsors (2); identifies sources
of support (2).
- Develop Conference logo and stationary.
- Develop draft registration and abstract template (3).
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- Contact travel bureaus; selects an official carrier for special
airfare (6).
- Set up Web pages of the IBS with the relevant information.
- Contact Editor of Biometric Bulletin for deadline (8).
- First information to Biometric Bulletin (8).
- Start submission of quarterly Progress Reports to IBS EB via
Organizing President.
(M-24)
- Update budget, registration fees, deadlines (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) in
consultation with IBS Secretary/Treasurer and for final approval
by IBS EB.
- Contact local dignitaries for role (7).
- First formal announcement on the Web pages and in Biometric
Bulletin (8).
(M-19)
- Final selection of Conference location.
- Identify exhibit space, space manager (5).
- Second formal announcement, registration forms and
Conference information on the Web pages and in Biometric
Bulletin (6,7,8).
- Announcement of IBC in other scientific outlets (e.g., AMSTAT
NEWS, LIAISON) (8).
(M-18)-(M-15) - Communicate with Session Organizers, Speakers about
financial conditions, contingencies (1).
- Review status of finance (1).
- Contact sources for support (2).
- Submit grant applications (2).
- Finalize grant applications.
- Send prospectus to potential contributors, exhibitors (2,1,5).
- Develop day-by-day activity schedule (5).
- Call for papers, General information, Registration, Abstract
forms on the Web pages and in Biometric Bulletin (6,3,8).
- Identify rooms for Sessions, audiovisual, poster boards, etc. (5).
- Communicate with Executive Board (EB) of the IBS about
meeting rooms (5).
- Finalize arrangements with housing agencies (6).
- Test registration procedures including forms for office record
keeping (6).
- Make arrangements for food, reception, banquet, etc. (6,7).
- Identify Conference materials: labels, mementos, local
guidebooks, etc. (6,7).
- Send news items to Web pages and Biometric Bulletin (8).
(M-15)
- Prepare detailed time schedule (5).
- Finalize social event calendar including contracts with tour
operators (7,6).
(M-12)
- Contact potential sponsors again (2).
- Contact exhibitors (5).
- Begin processing registration (6).
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(M-10)
(M-8)
(M-6)
(M-4)
(M-3)
- Order Conference materials (6).
- Remind printer of incoming work (3).
- Begin to process abstracts, communicates with authors (3).
- Begin to process papers by Invited Speakers (4).
- Obtain commitments from exhibitors; determines needs for
space, equipment, utilities (5).
- Continue processing registration (6).
- Send registration form, program material to Web pages and
Biometric Bulletin (8).
- Start submission of bi-monthly Activity Reports to IBS EB via
Organizing President.
- Begin to evaluate, assemble and group abstracts (3,4,5).
- Invite Chairs for Contributed Paper Session’s (3).
- Correspond with registrants, applicants (6).
- Report to IBS EB.
- Closing date for abstracts (3).
- Final evaluation and grouping of abstracts (3,4,5).
- Begin to lay out detailed program, room assignments, times
(5,3,4,7).
- Show preliminary Program to exhibitors (5).
- Take walking tour of Conference site with preliminary Program in
hand; notes potential problems (5,6,7,8).
- Identify volunteers to help with registration, Conference (6,3,4).
- Formulate transportation plans: to Conference / from airports,
trains.
- Arrange parking (permits, locations) during Conference (6).
- Have all signs laid out and ordered or prepared (6,5,3,4).
- Monitor tour reservations; identifies problems (7).
- Send Invited Sessions Program and final detailed information
(Registration Form, Abstract Form, visas, official carrier, etc.) to
Web pages and Biometric Bulletin (8).
- Report to IBS EB.
- Last chance to visualize major problems and to do something
about it (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
- Review finances and rescale operation (1,2).
- Complete organization of abstracts (3).
- Send reminders to Invited Speakers (4).
- Continue registrations (6).
- Send Conference status reports to Web pages and Biometric
Bulletin (8).
- Start submission of monthly Progress Reports to IBS EB via
Organizing President.
- Final check of money-flow during Conference (1).
- Final appeal to sponsors if necessary (2).
- Program laid out in detail (5).
- Exhibitors ready (5).
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(M-2)
(M-1)
WEEK
(W-1)
- Check on housing, catering and transport (6,7).
- Dignitaries reminded (7,8).
- Information to local papers, radio stations, television stations (8).
- Report to IBS EB.
- Check on feasibility of short courses based on minimum number
of participants registered for it (1).
- Inform Members of EB, Representative Council and IBS
Committees of meeting dates and places (5).
- Check on printing status of abstracts and invited papers (3).
- Final assembly of invited papers, Program to printers (4,5,6).
- Report to IBS EB.
- See activities for Month 3 and Month 2.
- Start with payment procedure for participants sponsored from
Conference budget (1).
- Audiovisual material available and working. Backup available
(5).
- Communications in place, including Conference Newsletter
(8,7).
- List of Participants to printers.
b) Conference Activities:
DAY
Day 1/Sun.
Day 2/Mon.
Day 3/Tues.
Day 4/Wed.
Day 5/Thurs.
- Makes sure everything is in place (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
- Starts with registration.
- Begins payments to people sponsored from Conference budget
(1).
- Monitors Invited and Contributed Paper Sessions: equipment,
signs, personnel (3,4,5).
- Troubleshoot: food, housing, refreshments, transportation, and
communication (6,7,8).
- Monitors all activities, takes care of problems (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
- Chance to catch breath, take care of problems (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
- Monitors all activities, takes care of problems (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
- Meets with IBS EB and Chair of LOC of n+1 IBC
c) Post-Conference Activities
WEEK
(W+1)
- Begin paying bills (1).
- "Thank you" to volunteers, dignitaries, special people (5,6,7,8).
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MONTHS
(M+1)
- Initial accounting (1).
- Report to sponsoring agencies, including copies of Program and
Proceedings (2,3,4,5).
- Synopsis of Conference to Web pages and Biometric Bulletin,
including pictures (8).
- Preliminary Report to IBS EB and IBS Secretary/Treasurer
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
(M+2)
- Organizing President, IPC and LOC Chair, Education Committee
responsible for Short Courses selection and IBO revise the
conference manual and submit their recommendations to the
CAC Chair for their implementation in the new version of the
manual.
(M+3)
- All bills should be paid by now (1).
- Final Report to IBS EB and IBS Secretary/Treasurer
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
It may be convenient to include a separate timeline for the LOC Chair, so that the
specific duties key components of the conference organization is well understood
and a good coordination between the Organizing President, IPC, LOC and IBO is
maintained. The specific duties the LOC Chair, in cooperation with the
Organizing President and IPC Chair should keep, in mind and time, include the
following:
(M-48)-(M-36) - Set up LOC committee structure (if required).
- Select Conference Management Agency (if applicable).
- Submit Progress Report to Organizing President.
(M-36)-(M-24) - Define policy for subsidy of participants granted from IBC
budget, coordinates with International Program Committee.
- Develop preliminary budget in consultation with IBS
Secretary/Treasurer, corresponds with International Program
Committee about expenses.
- Sign contract with Conference Management Agency after
approval from IBS EB.
- Contact travel bureaus; selects an official carrier for special
airfare.
- Contact Editor of Biometric Bulletin for deadline.
- First information to Biometric Bulletin.
- Start submission of quarterly Progress Reports to IBS EB via
Organizing President.
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(M-28)
- The Organizing President, LOC chair and IPC chair meet in
person.
(M-24)
- Update budget, registration fees, deadlines in consultation with
IBS Secretary/Treasurer and for final approval by IBS EB.
- Meetings at previous IBC: Organizing President, IPC chair,
previous IPC chair, LOC chair, previous LOC chair, joint meeting
of previous IPC and IPC.
- Contact local dignitaries for role.
- First formal announcement on the Web pages and in Biometric
Bulletin.
(M-19)
- Final selection of Conference location.
- Identify exhibit space, space manager.
- Second formal announcement, registration forms and
Conference information on the Web pages and in Biometric
Bulletin.
- Announcement of IBC in other scientific outlets (e.g., AMSTAT
NEWS, LIAISON)
(M-18)-(M-15) - Review status of finance.
- Contact sources for support.
- Submit grant applications.
- Finalize grant applications.
- Send prospectus to potential contributors, exhibitors.
- Develop day-by-day activity schedule.
- Call for papers, General information, Registration, Abstract
forms on the Web pages and in Biometric Bulletin.
- Communicate with Executive Board (EB) of the IBS about
meeting rooms.
- Finalize arrangements with housing agencies.
- Send news items to Web pages and Biometric Bulletin (8).
- Meeting or conference call with Organizing President and IPC
chair.
(M-15)
- Prepare detailed time schedule.
- Finalize social event calendar including contracts with tour
operators.
(M-12)
- Contact potential sponsors again.
- Contact exhibitors.
- Begin processing registration.
- Order Conference materials.
(M-11)
- Meeting or conference call with Organizing President and IPC
chair.
(M-10)
- Remind printer of incoming work.
- Obtain commitments from exhibitors; determines needs for
space, equipment, utilities.
- Continue processing registration.
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(M-8)
(M-6)
(M-4)
(M-3)
(M-2)
(M-1)
M+1)
- Send registration form, program material to Web pages and
Biometric Bulletin.
- Start submission of bi-monthly Activity Reports to IBS EB via
Organizing President.
- Correspond with registrants, applicants.
- Report to IBS EB.
- Begin to lay out detailed program, room assignments, times.
- Show preliminary Program to exhibitors.
- Take walking tour of Conference site with preliminary Program in
hand; notes potential problems.
- Identify volunteers to help with registration, Conference.
- Formulate transportation plans: to Conference / from airports,
trains.
- Arrange parking (permits, locations) during Conference.
- Have all signs laid out and ordered or prepared.
- Monitor tour reservations; identifies problems.
- Send Invited Sessions Program and final detailed information
(Registration Form, Abstract Form, visas, official carrier, etc.) to
Web pages and Biometric Bulletin.
- Report to IBS EB.
- Last chance to visualize major problems and to do something
about it.
- Meeting or conference call Organizing President and IPC chair.
- Review finances and rescale operation.
- Complete organization of abstracts.
- Continue registrations.
- Send Conference status reports to Web pages and Biometric
Bulletin.
- Start submission of monthly Progress Reports to IBS EB via
Organizing President.
- Final check of money-flow during Conference.
- Final appeal to sponsors if necessary.
- Program laid out in detail.
- Check on housing, catering and transport.
- Dignitaries reminded.
- Information to local papers, radio stations, television stations.
- Report to IBS EB.
- Check on feasibility of short courses based on minimum number
of participants registered for it.
- Check on printing status of abstracts and invited papers.
- Final assembly of invited papers, Program to printers.
- Report to IBS EB.
- See activities for Month 3 and Month 2.
- Conference call with Organizing President and IPC chair.
- Initial accounting.
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- Report to sponsoring agencies, including copies of Program and
Proceedings.
- Synopsis of Conference to Web pages and Biometric Bulletin,
including pictures.
- Preliminary Report to IBS EB and IBS Secretary/Treasurer.
(M+2)
- Organizing President, IPC and LOC Chair, Education
Committee responsible for Short Courses selection and IBO
revise the conference manual and submit their recommendations
to the CAC Chair for their implementation in the new version of
the manual.
(M+3)
- All bills should be paid by now.
- Final Report to IBS EB and IBS Secretary/Treasurer.
3.4
Finances and Conference Budget
The following information is designed to help prepare and maintain the budget of
the Conference and keep costs to a minimum. As noted earlier, an IBC is an
official Conference of the IBS and the IBS takes full financial responsibility. So,
any contracts must be approved by the IBS Executive Board and signed by the
Organizing President. Where appropriate, IBS prior approval of a budgetary line
item can serve as being equivalent to its contract implementation. Failure to
obtain these approvals absolves the IBS from the responsibility of any adverse
fallout of such contracts. Therefore, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) plays
a critical role with respect to financial matters. This Section is intended to provide
some guidance on financial issues.
Budget
A preliminary budget should be prepared at least two years prior to the
Conference and no later than the preceding IBC. This should give detailed
information about anticipated sources of income expenses. A sample preliminary
budget is given in Appendix D.
Income
Sources of income include the following, listed in typically decreasing importance
based on previous IBCs:
a. Registration fees.
b. International Biometric Society grants.
c. Grants from government agencies.
d. Donations from non-government agencies.
e. Contributions by the Host Region.
f. Exhibitors.
g. Short Courses.
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h. Others.
The IBS loan, lodging fees, tour fees, and banquet fees are not included in the
above list. These latter items are considered 'pass-through' items. An exception
exists when some other source of income is used to subsidize one of these
items. For example, part of the registration fee may be used to subsidize the
banquet.
All participants, regardless of role in the Conference, must pay the registration
fee. The following registration fee category and structure was previously
approved by the IBS Council:
(BRF = Basic Registration Fee, MSF = Membership Fee for IBS, without
additional regional fee)
Regular Member of the IBS
Non-Members of the IBS
Early registration
BRF
BRF + MSF
Late registration
BRF + MSF
BRF + MSF + MSF
Students and participants from special circumstance countries should pay a
reduced registration fee in each category, where the basic reduced fee should
cover the variable cost per delegate (covering refreshments and meals,
conference program, electronic proceedings, badge and bags).
As a way of having specific number about delegates attending the previous
conferences, we provide some general information about this in the following
items:
1. Dublin, Ireland (IBC 2008): 932 delegates and 59 accompanying
persons.
Delegate Type
IBS Member, Early Bird Fee
Non-Member, Early Bird Fee
Student IBS Member, Early Bird Fee
Student Non-Member, Early Bird Fee
IBS Member, Full Fee
Non-Member, Full Fee
Student IBS Member, Full Fee
Student Non-Member, Full Fee
Delegates from special Circumstance
Countries
Committee Member, Fee Waived
Exhibitor, Fee Waived
Short Course Presenter, Fee Waived
Numbers
383
146
56
103
65
62
3
13
82
Percentage
41.09%
15.67%
6.01%
11.05%
6.97%
6.65%
0.32%
1.39%
8.80%
0
14
2
0.00%
1.50%
0.21%
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Speaker Day Rate
Total
3
932
Accompanying Person’s Fee
Accompanying person
Total
59
59
0.32%
2. Florianópolis, Brazil (IBC 2010): 808 delegates and 84 accompanying
persons.
Delegate Type
IBS Member, Early Bird Fee
Non-Member, Early Bird Fee
Student IBS Member, Early Bird Fee
Student Non-Member, Early Bird Fee
IBS Member, Full Fee
Non-Member, Full Fee
Student IBS Member, Full Fee
Student Non-Member, Full Fee
Delegates from special Circumstance
Countries
Total
Accompanying Person’s Fee
Accompanying person
Total
Numbers
165
67
54
191
21
22
8
17
263
Percentage
20.42%
8.29%
6.68%
23.64%
2.60%
2.72%
1.00%
2.10%
32.55%
808
84
84
Expenses
Expenses usually include the following:
a. Hire of venue (including equipment, electricity, etc.).
b. Badges and registration kits.
c. Printing (announcements, Programs, letters, etc.).
d. Production of electronic proceedings
e. Mailing, FAX, telephone, e-mail costs.
f. Technology and staffing for Audio/Visual needs.
g. Publicity and advertising.
h. Conference Management Agency fees.
i. Staff costs.
j. Opening Ceremony and reception.
k. Refreshments during breaks.
l. Daily transport (shuttle buses if needed).
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m. (If necessary) Reimbursement towards expenses up to the amount of
twice the registration fee for the Chair of the International Program
Committee of IBC n and that of IBC n+1
n. (If necessary) Travel grant (for round-trip flights) plus reimbursement
towards expenses up to the amount of twice the registration fee for the
Chair of the Local Organizing Committee of the IBC n+1.
o. Partial financial support for short course presenters (Appendixes F and G).
p. Contingencies.
Registration fees and other incomes should cover all meeting expenses (rooms,
transport, printing, registration kit, (if necessary) reimbursement of contributions
to expenses for the Chair of the International Program Committee of IBC n and
that of IBC n+1; travel grant plus reimbursement of a contribution to expenses for
the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee of the IBC n+1.
Invited Speakers and IBS Committee Chairs are not awarded financial support
routinely. IBS Committee Chairs with financial difficulties should contact the
Organizing President to ascertain if funding may be available. However, if
possible, Committee Chairs’ expenses should be at least partially covered by the
Society. The LOC may decide that it has funds available to support Invited
Speakers. It is important that the Organizing President, the Awards Fund
Committee, the IPC and the LOC keep in communication with each other as to
which participants are receiving financial support from other sources.
All Invited Session Organizers are considered voluntary positions and are not
supported from the Conference budget or by the IBS.
Members of all IBS Committees, including the LOC and IPC, give their services
on a voluntary basis and cannot receive remuneration for these services.
Any allocation of funds to participants from special circumstance countries should
be administered by the Awards Fund Committee.
The costs of the Opening Reception are included in the registration fee. Costs of
the banquet and sightseeing events are paid as optional add-on extras by
participants.
Accounting
It is imperative that a valid accounting system be set up. A paper trail for all
moneys received and disbursed must be maintained. (See Section 3.2 and
Appendix D for details on required financial statements). This includes obtaining
receipts from Speakers or other persons receiving any support. Although no
formal independent financial audit is routinely carried out, the LOC will be
required to provide requested financial documentation to the IBS Finance
Committee and to the IBS Secretary/Treasurer. The LOC Finance and Fund
Raising Committee must also consider early in the planning process the method
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of awarding the grants to the Speakers, if applicable. For example, if it is decided
to grant Speakers at the Conference by (say) check, will it be possible to cash
the check at the Conference location?
How to Control Costs
It is difficult to give advice that will be universally valid. Included here are some
suggestions that have worked for previous Conferences.
a. Speakers and/or other sponsored persons are often able to defray all their
expenses. They should be encouraged to do so.
b. Conference organizers should consider cancelling a given short course
because of not having attracted a minimum number of that can guarantee
its appropriate funding.
c. Some Host Regions may find it easy to cover lodging but difficult to
contribute to living expenses. Some flexibility should be allowed.
d. Potential contributors may not be able to give cash but may be able to
sponsor a Speaker or an IBC Organizer to make a visit before or after the
Conference. This may be true for government agencies as well as
industrial firms.
e. A Conference Management Agency is very advantageous but can also be
very expensive. It may be possible to use current staff associated with the
Host Region, to use students to earn course credits or to use students to
work one day during the Conference for deferment or reduction of the
registration fee.
f. Government or university agencies may not be able to provide cash
support but may be able to help in kind. Examples: permitting all
correspondence to be sent under the agency's mail program, sponsoring
the Opening Reception, providing free facilities for the final banquet,
hosting a cocktail party for the Session Organizers and Speakers,
providing free audio-visual support, or helping out with dormitory space,
free scientific tours, donation of tourist materials such as maps, brochures,
souvenirs. With a little creativity, many expenses can be reduced.
g. Many hotels provide complementary suites/rooms for every x (typically x =
50) rooms booked. These complementary rooms are to be allocated by
the IBS Executive Board.
h. Airfares can be substantially reduced by scheduling trips at least one
month in advance and/or by having the trip straddle a weekend. An added
benefit is that the participant is at the Conference for a longer time participants should be strongly discouraged from only coming for the day
of their presentation.
Financial Outcome
The IBS takes full financial responsibility for IBCs (see Section 1.3), but each IBC
is expected to be self-sustaining financially. Where an IBC makes a surplus,
there is a possibility to share this surplus with the Host Region/Network. The
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Finance Committee of the IBS, with the agreement of the EB could offer 10 - 30
per cent of the profit of an IBC to the LOC depending on the overall level of the
surplus and the costs related with the organization.
3.5
Fundraising, Exhibitors, Sponsors and Advertisers
Obtaining additional income through a variety of fundraising routes will help you
to keep the registration costs as low as possible. At most previous conferences,
the identification and contacting of potential exhibitors, sponsors and advertisers
has entirely been the responsibility of members of the LOC, but for IBC2010 the
Executive Officers tried to take a more society-focused approach, with the aim of
developing a network of potential exhibitors, sponsors and advertisers that would
provide a starting point for any future conference. The ideal approach probably
combines input from the LOC to identify and contact local/national organizations,
with input from an IBS sub-committee (probably involving members of the
Finance Committee and EB) to contact a regular list of international
organizations.
A list of the organizations included as Exhibitors, Sponsors or Advertisers is
included in Appendix AA.
For IBCs there are generally two types of Exhibitor that might be interested in
attending the conference – Publishers and Software companies. These will need
to have booths/stands located close to the refreshment/poster presentation areas
during the conference, so that they get plenty of custom. The rates for these
stands should cover any costs involved in providing the stands, plus the
equivalent of the best sponsorship package. This package should include a
conference registration for one (or two) representatives from the exhibitor –
additional conference registrations can be purchased by the exhibitor.
The Society and LOC for the next IBC may also require stands, the cost of which
needs to be covered within the conference budget.
The range of possible Sponsors is slightly greater – including local Universities,
Commercial Companies (e.g., Pharmaceuticals), and Government Agencies. In
some cases these may need to sponsor some particular activity, rather than just
being a general conference sponsor. Possible activities include refreshments
during the conference, transport, conference materials, conference awards,
drinks at the Opening Reception or Conference Dinner. It has previously been
considered inappropriate for there to be any sponsorship of the scientific
sessions of the conference. One approach is to define a number of levels of
sponsorship package, including different levels of exposure for the sponsor
depending on the level of sponsorship (and involving one or more of the
sponsorship activities).
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Information about sponsors should be included in the conference program and
promoted clearly around the conference venue.
Sponsors might also want to advertise in the Conference Program – this also
provides opportunities for smaller organizations to be promoted to the conference
delegates. Sometimes this has taken the form of the inclusion of fliers or leaflets
within the conference materials given to each delegate.
Templates used at previous conferences for contacting Exhibitors, Sponsors and
Advertisers are included in Appendix BBB.
Ideally these organizations need to be contacted as early as possible – this helps
in setting the registration fees. In practice, organizations are often unwilling to
commit very early. But also be aware that you need to contact them early
enough to ensure that the IBC is included in their promotions budget for the
financial year in which the conference is taking place. It is probably best to have
one person in the LOC with an overall responsibility for this component of the
conference organization.
3.6
Scientific Program
Details of the activities associated with the development of the Scientific Program
are given in Part 2 of this Manual. The LOC are involved through having a
representative on the IPC, and, through collaboration, in arranging the contents
of the Contributed Oral and Poster Sessions, and in arranging the scheduling of
the Scientific Sessions, including allocation of Invited and Contributed Oral
Sessions to time slots during the Conference. They are also involved in the
practical arrangements for the Short Courses, and in the assessment of
contributed presentations and posters for the Conference Awards.
See Sections 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 for more details.
3.7
Timetabling
The general pattern that has evolved for IBCs is for there to be 14 sets of parallel
scientific sessions during the conference, three on the Monday, four on the
Tuesday, four on the Thursday and three on the Friday. These are
supplemented by the Opening Ceremony (including the Presidential Address) as
the first session on the Monday, and a short Closing Ceremony (including the
presentation of Conference Awards and a presentation about the next IBC) as
the last session on Friday. The Invited Sessions Program should try to avoid any
overlap between the topics of the different sessions, so that a diverse program
that attracts people from different areas is offered to delegates.
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In Dublin, a single set of parallel scientific sessions was organized on the
Wednesday morning prior to the social activities, with the conference finishing at
lunchtime on the Friday. In Florianópolis, there was a joint meeting of the
Brazilian and Argentinean Regions of the IBS, on Wednesday morning. So there
is certainly some flexibility to this overall pattern.
At the past few conferences there has been an Awards Ceremony and some
special session (associated with the particular conference) on the Tuesday
evening, and the Conference Dinner is traditionally held on the Thursday
evening.
Conventionally, each set of parallel sessions lasts for 105 minutes. This allows
for the presentation of 6 contributed papers per session, each paper being
allowed 15 minutes for presentation with 2.5 minutes for questions and the
changeover of speakers. It has generally been considered that Invited Sessions
should therefore have no more than 4 speakers, and the pattern of 3 speakers
plus a discussant has been shown to work well within these time constraints.
Alongside these sessions, you need to include refreshment breaks (between
sessions), lunch breaks, and times when posters are to be viewed. A number of
different approaches have been taken – running a small poster session in parallel
with the parallel oral sessions (on a topic that is different to all those included in
the parallel oral sessions), having poster sessions alongside a relatively lengthy
lunch break, or even having a complete set of parallel sessions completely
devoted to poster presentations. The best option will depend on the space and
facilities within the conference venue, and, of course, the number of posters to be
presented. But whatever the option chosen, it is important to emphasize that the
posters are an important part of the conference activity. If possible, poster
sessions should be scheduled at a time where no oral sessions are being held,
or combined with lunchtime (e.g., starting, say, 30 minutes after lunch starts) or
coffee break periods. Authors of papers presented as posters should stay ready
for interaction with delegates at the times previously announced for this purpose
by the organization (e.g., for about 45-60 minutes for each poster).
Other issues that will affect the timing of the conference sessions will include
arrangements for meals at the conference hotels and for lunch at the conference,
the provision of transport between the hotels/accommodation and conference
venue, and the timing of any social activities that are planned, most particularly
the Conference Dinner. It is clearly important to ensure that delegates feel that
they have sufficient time to return to their accommodation after the end of the
conference sessions and get to the Conference Dinner without having to miss the
end of the scientific sessions. The timing of the start of the conference (Monday
morning) should allow time for Registration, and the timing of the end of the
conference should reflect any likely expectations that delegates might have for
leaving the conference location on the Friday. We certainly want to avoid having
the Opening or Closing Ceremonies being fairly empty because delegates have
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been unable to get to the conference in time, or have to leave to catch flights
home.
Finally, and as an aside, we would like to mention that Appendix Y contains
example letters sent to speakers and poster presenters at previous conferences
give some ideas about how these time and space constraints have been
managed in the past.
3.8
Registration
The general pattern has been for on-site Conference Registration Desk to be
open for a period leading up to the Welcome Reception on the Sunday evening
at the start of the conference. Sometimes the Registration Desk has been open
for a longer period on the Sunday, but generally it does not get busy until midafternoon. It is clearly important for this to be well organized, making it easy for
delegates to collect their conference materials, and to check on tickets for the
various social activities they may have booked.
The Registration Desk will need to be staffed throughout the conference (some
delegates will only attend for part of the conference), and should act as the main
source of information for delegates throughout the conference.
Some delegates will need to obtain signed official receipts for their conference
registration when at the conference, and delegates from some parts of the world
expect and need certificates to confirm their participation at the conference, and
in specific activities. Whether these are provided by default for all delegates, or
just in response to requests, is up to the conference organizers.
Over time we have had a problem with no-shows, especially for contributed
presentations and we may need to re-think the need to require some vesting.
Probably, submitters should either be required to have registered before
submitting, or have put down a deposit on registration. Then, if an individual
withdraws a few weeks before the program is finalized, they get the deposit back,
but if not, they sacrifice the deposit. Though we would hope that courtesy and
collegiality would induce people to withdraw in a timely manner, it seems we may
need some financial inducement.
3.9
Social Program
Social program at previous conferences have been very varied in content. There
are some fairly standard components: a Welcome Reception on the Sunday
evening with drinks and snacks, and sometimes involving some background
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entertainment; a range of Conference Excursions on the Wednesday, usually
ranging from a Conference Hike to coach trips to local tourist attractions, usually
all including lunch; a Conference Dinner on the Thursday evening (which it is
hoped most delegates will be able to attend).
The Welcome Reception has conventionally been included in the Conference
Registration fee, as we want all delegates to attend. The other social activities
are usually bookable separately, for an additional cost for each activity. The
excursions on the Wednesday might last all day or only part of the day,
depending on what the LOC consider to be appropriate and viable social
activities. All day excursions should usually include provision of lunch (included
in the cost if possible). All details related to the Wednesday excursions should be
fully disclosed and commonly this will require obtaining information in addition to
that provided by the tour company's standard communication. For example, will
there be a “shopping stop?” and, if so, how long will it be?
At some conferences there have been additional, general social activities on the
Monday and/or Tuesday evenings, and even occasionally on the Friday evening
at the end of the conference.
There are usually some additional social activities associated with the
governance of the society – the costs for these should not be included in the
conference budget but paid for directly by the society, as they are for specific
members of the society and not general conference delegates. These events
have previously included receptions for Representative Council and Standing
Committee members, for members of the Editorial Boards of Biometrics and
JABES, and for contributors to the Biometric Bulletin, and for Regional Officers.
On some occasions there have been dinners arranged for the society Award
winners (including Honorary Life Members).
Along with the within-conference catering (see below), many delegates memories
of a conference will be of the social events, so whilst the scientific program is the
main reason for attending a conference, it is important to have a good program of
social activities to leave a lasting impression on the delegates!
3.10 Logistics
It is extremely helpful during the course of the IBC preparations to organize a two
or three day site visit to the conference site to discuss logistical and scientific
issues and to set up a timeline leading up to the IBC. A visit about 4 or 5 months
prior to the conference allows for sufficient lead time to implement suggested
changes. Visitors should include the organizing outgoing IBS president, the IPC
chair, the Executive Director, and maybe the current IBS president, visit the
conference site and meet with the local organizers, with a representative of the
host university and with a representative of the conference organization firm (if
one has been retained). Previous site visits have shown to be extremely
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important, useful and helpful for a successful conference organization. In
addition, organization and possibly conduct of the contributed abstract review
can be accomplished.
The last half year prior to the conference is very demanding. Good collaboration
and understanding among all partners involved is necessary, and the site visit is
essential.
Site visit activities should include:
a. A visit to the conference location or locations, including the registration
area, auditoria where presentations occur, computer rooms, rooms for
coffee breaks and lunch, rooms for committee meetings, for poster display
and exhibitors, secretarial support, photocopying, the council and
Executive Board meeting(s), a room always available to the EB and the
IBO, etc. Rooms should be identified for specific types of sessions. For
example, invited sessions are expected to have bigger audiences.
b. Meeting of all partners: It is important to have at least one meeting with all
partners involved in the organization of the conference present. Everyone
can report on his/her progress, and input and guidelines can be given by
all others, from various perspectives.
c. Visit of accommodation for guests: Hotels, university rooms, student
accommodation, etc.
d. Lodging and meeting venues should be able to accommodate people with
disabilities, and, in addition, a sufficient number of non-smoking (i.e.,
never smoking) rooms should be available.
e. Sufficient technology and staffing for Audio/Visual needs must be
appropriately assessed at the proposed conference venue.
f. Oversee that meeting rooms have very good to excellent sight lines.
g. Assignment of financial support: The requests from invited speakers and
discussants for financial support are discussed, and amounts of support
are decided about (see Section 3.2).
h. Contributed program: Based on the submitted contributed abstracts, a list
of themes for contributed sessions is composed, and first selection of
abstracts can be done. In case the selection cannot be finalized during the
site visit, procedures for further selection should be developed.
i. Program schedule: A first draft of the complete program (invited, topic
contributed, and contributed sessions; see Section 2.3 and 2.4) should be
prepared.
j. Conference proceedings: A general format for the conference proceedings
should be discussed (see Section 2.3 and 2.4).
k. Time schedule: The time schedule for the entire conference should be laid
out. Timing of the sessions, timing of social program, the opening and
closing sessions, etc.
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3.11 Publicity
Biometric Bulletin
The Biometric Bulletin began publication in 1984. It is a great help to all involved
with the planning and execution of International Biometric Conferences (IBCs) as
it provides a means of reaching all of the members of the International Biometric
Society on a routine basis. The International Program Committee (IPC) can use
the Biometric Bulletin to announce topics and Organizers of Sessions and finally
the Speakers. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) can provide general
information about the Conference and also forms for registration and abstracts.
Editors of the Biometric Bulletin have been very helpful in providing advice and
guidelines.
The Biometric Bulletin is generally published quarterly (by calendar year). You
should note the following pattern, which seems to be working well. A series of
articles about the n+1-st International Biometric Conference begins to appear in
the Biometric Bulletin about six months after the n-th Conference, typically in the
fourth issue (October-December) of the year of the n-th Conference, i.e., about
21 months before the next Conference. Each succeeding issue contains some
information about the coming Conference. A typical pattern (for a Northern
Hemisphere summer IBC) could be:
(M-21)
(Fourth issue). First announcement indicating region, dates,
organizers and special features. Photographs (glossy, black and
white) can be reproduced in the Biometric Bulletin.
(M-18)
(First issue). More information about the Host Region and the
Host City.
(M-15)
(Second issue). More general information: broad description of
the structure of the Program; some information about social
activities.
(M-12)
(Third issue). Registration form insert, call for contributed papers,
information about accommodations including alternatives, meals,
information about excursions and tours so that the registration
form can be filled out, deadlines for early registration, refund
policies. Speakers and titles of invited papers are published.
(M-9)
(Fourth issue). The Program material and registration forms are
reproduced once more. Another article of general interest may be
included. Reference should be made to the fact that the previous
issue of the Biometric Bulletin contained the abstract form for
contributed papers.
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(M-6)
(First issue). Final call for contributed papers (if deadline permits).
Registration form included once more, pictures of the Host Region
can be reproduced.
(M-3)
(Second issue). Brief report on status of registrations, contributed
papers. Information about the region continues to be useful.
(M+3)
(Fourth issue). Summary information about the Conference.
For planning purposes, it should be noted that the Editor needs the material for a
particular issue before the start of the time period covered by an issue. For
example, material for the fourth issue (October-December) must be with the
Editor before November 1.
Publicity Via the Internet
Today, the use of the internet is one of the most efficient ways of sending and
receiving information on a Conference: it is quick, reliable, interactive and cost
saving. Its early set-up and continuous updating are of utmost importance.
Other Publicity
Although the Biometric Bulletin and the Internet are the primary means for
dissemination of information, other means should not be neglected. At the local
level, there are newspapers, television and radio stations. At the regional or
national level, there are, in addition to the above, newsletters, newsletters of
organizations with similar or complementary aims. At a more international level,
there are statistical societies and journals that publish information about
forthcoming meetings. Some examples are:
a. Adolphe Quetelet Society (Biometrie-Praximetrie).
b. American Statistical Association (AMSTAT NEWS).
c. Bernoulli Society.
d. Institute of Mathematical Statistics.
e. International Society of Clinical Biostatistics.
f. International Statistical Institute.
g. Statistical Society of Canada (LIAISON).
h. Statistica Neerlandia.
i. Royal Statistical Society.
Press releases on the Conferences scientific and social programs should be sent
eighteen months, twelve months and six months prior to the Conference to each
of these organizations. In addition, the Editor of the Biometric Bulletin maintains a
list of Regional and National Correspondents; these persons can be contacted
for information about suitable publications in their Region.
3.12 Accommodation and Catering
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In identifying hotels and accommodation for the conference it is important to
remember that there will be delegates across a wide range of financial positions.
Some delegates will want to stay in good hotels, while others will be quite happy
with University residences or similar standards of accommodation. It is therefore
important to provide access to a range of different hotels and other
accommodation. This can often be best done through the Conference
Management Agency or an associate, allowing the block booking of a number of
rooms at each location. This clearly encourages interactions between
conference delegates.
Issues to be aware of include the distance from each hotel/accommodation to the
conference venue – it may be necessary to provide transport to and from the
conference venue at the start and end of each day, a cost that probably has to be
included within the general conference costs, rather than passed on to individual
delegates – and any constraints at each hotel on the timing of meals. Lodging
and meeting venues should be able to accommodate people with disabilities,
and, in addition, a sufficient number of non-smoking (i.e., never smoking) rooms
should be available.
The provision of lunches during the conference is also worthy of considerable
thought. What you are able to provide will certainly depend on the venue. A
sandwich lunch is fine if the weather is good and there is plenty of space around
the conference venue in which to sit and eat. A sit-down lunch can be great, but
does require much more space (and cost?) and will usually take much longer,
impacting on the rest of the conference timetable. Therefore, this issue should be
appropriately assessed by conference organizers, as to whether an outside or
inside sandwich lunch is most adequate. As already noted, the quality of
conference lunches will be an abiding memory for some delegates, whether good
or bad!
3.13 Conference Management Agencies
Recent IBCs have made use of a Conference Management Agency. Such an
agency provides a set of services to the LOC. An alternative to engaging the
services of a Conference Management Agency solely is to utilize the services of
the IBS International Business Office possibly in conjunction with a local
Conference Management Agency. Both avenues come at a cost. The LOC
should negotiate the most cost-effective route for its IBC.
It is the responsibility of the LOC to determine which of the many activities should
be contracted out to the International Business Office, which to a local
Conference Management Agency, and which will be done directly by the LOC
itself. These contracts must have the final approval of the IBS Executive Board
(see Sections 3.2 and 3.4).
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Conference Management Agency
A Conference Management Agency may be contracted by the LOC to provide a
set of specific services in the managing of the IBC. The major advantage of such
an office is that a professional approach is provided to the local organizers in
arranging the Conference. A disadvantage is that services come at a fairly steep
price. In selecting a Conference Management Agency consider, at least, these
criteria:
a. Track record, longevity of the agency. Have other conferences managed
by this agency been comparable to an International Biometric
Conference?
b. Ask for names and permission to contact previous customers.
c. Request samples of materials provided such as registration reports,
registration receipts, stationary, financial statements.
d. Obtain a detailed listing of available services. Find out which services are
contracted out. Does the agency do its own form development or is this
subcontracted; if so, who is the subcontractor?
e. Determine degree of automation available; computer services.
f. Ask about deadlines and turn-around times. For example, can an updated
list of registrants be produced on the second day of the Conference? Can
a sorted list be produced by, e.g., country?
g. Since large sums of money will be involved, ask about the agency's
accounting system. Find out about financing policies; for example, can
Speakers be financed at registration; can money be used for local food
expenses, entertainment? Be sure the organization is bonded and
insured; ask for a copy of its certificate of insurance.
•
Be sure to understand the pricing structure; usually there is a
cost per conference participant with, in addition, a minimum if
the anticipated number of participants is not reached. Determine
what the fee includes; for example, are supplies such as
stamps, stationary included in the fee or are they extra?
•
Find out who will be assigned to your Conference.
•
How many other conferences will the agency (and in particular,
your contact person) be handling during the coming years
leading up to the IBC.
The following contains a sampling of services that a Conference Management
Agency can provide; most of the services in this list will have to be provided by
the LOC in one way or another and is therefore a useful checklist for you.
a. Development of Conference budget.
b. Arrangement for meeting facilities and housing.
c. Payroll for Conference employees.
d. Planning of meals and receptions.
e. Scheduling of travel, tours and special events.
f. Arrangement for special equipment and audio-visual needs.
g. Responsibility for the printing of Program and Proceedings Volume.
h. Design, print and mail brochures, flyers, and registration materials.
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i.
j.
Set up and update an IBC Web page.
Pre-registration and on-site assistance including fee collection,
confirmation and mailing of receipts, rosters, nametag.
k. Handling of administrative paperwork to pay bills incurred by the Program.
l. Design and compilation of Conference evaluation.
m. Comprehensive financial statements that detail all income and expenses
of the Program.
3.14 International Business Office
The International Business Office can handle many functions previously handled
solely by the LOC or a local Conference Management Agency. Some such
functions that might be the responsibility of the International Business Office
could include but are not limited to:
a. Assistance in the development of the Conference budget.
b. Design, printing and mailing of brochures, flyers and other promotional
material.
c. Collection of registration information and fees, financial reporting.
d. Compilation of Program and Proceedings Volume.
However, there are some functions, especially those that require knowledge of
local activities that would likely still be best handled locally. Some of these could
include but are not limited to:
a. Planning of social events.
b. Arrangements for meeting facilities and housing.
c. Arrangements for meeting equipment and audiovisual needs.
d. Arrangements for transportation.
The role of the International Business Office should be made very clear. They
should never interfere with the scientific content, but should have a general
oversight role. In this way, they should be the administrative counterpart to the
Organizing President, IPC Chair and LOC Chair. They should be the coguardians of continuity from one IBC to another (Section 3.14). It is very
important for a successful conference that the IBO works, in close cooperation
with the Organizing President, IPC Chair and LOC Chair, in keeping the timeline
described for each of these key participants (Sections 2.4 and 3.7, as well as
Part 4).
3.15 IBC Conference Management System
The IBC Conference abstract management system is a web-based, centralized
application to manage the submission, distribution, review and management of
abstracts and papers. IBS conducts a better international conference by
automating the intensive process of managing abstracts, while providing
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conference attendees, authors, reviewers, etc. access to all conference
information on-line. By providing an on-line, centralized location for the collection,
management, and review of abstracts and papers, IBS is able to improve our
speed of communication and offer a better service that more accurately and
time/cost effectively manages speakers’ abstract submissions.
The abstract management system is a sophisticated tool that enables IBS to
tailor the submission form to meet the specific needs of the IBC. For example, we
can manage authors and reviewers, send as many bulk emails as often and as
frequently as required and also set automated email responses. The control
panel automatically enables and disables publicly accessible components of the
abstract submission site depending on what stage the conference is in (e.g. call
for abstracts, the review process, communicating with successful authors, etc.).
This gives IBS staff and the conference organizing/planning committees full
control over our conference abstract submissions from anywhere in the world.
The abstract submission site enables speakers to submit abstracts and/or papers
from anywhere in the world. We are also able to automatically communicate with
abstract reviewers and invite them to log-in and review documents that have
been assigned to them. Once all abstracts/papers have been accepted/rejected,
we are able to export final data in a variety of formats. The data is easily able to
integrate with existing conference software, databases, etc. that may already be
in use. By collecting information electronically we can easily prepare conference
proceedings on-line, on CD-ROM, and/or output to print. In addition, real-time
reporting allows IBS staff and committees to see the precise status of conference
abstract submissions.
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Part 4: Activity Plan
This tabular overview by time and area of activity from 60 months prior to the
proposed conference date captures all the information from the above sections
The months before the Conference are indicated in the left-hand column. Next to
this column you will find a column in which you fill in the dates which apply to
your Conference. Remember that these are suggested dates only. To preserve
space, several key 'players' are coded as follows:
The following major categories will be found useful in assigning or grouping
tasks:
1
=
Financial/business
2
=
Fund raising
3
=
Contributed papers
4
=
Invited papers
5
=
Program/Sessions/Exhibitors
6
=
Registration/housing
7
=
Social affairs
8
=
Publicity/public relations
Key Conference activities coded by font as follows: by the Host Region, Local
Organizing Committee (LOC), International Program Committee (IPC), and IBS
Executive Board (IBS EB), Representative Council (Rep Council) and the
Conference Advisory Committee (CAC).
MONTHS
BY
ACTIVITY
a) Pre-Conference Activities:
60
President IBS: Invites Regional Presidents to host an IBC.
60-48
CAC:
Submits the received applications to Council for
decision.
48
IBS EB: Makes decision, selects date and location.
48-36
Exec Board: Approves Chair and Members of LOC nominated by
the Organizing President.
LOC:
Reserves meeting space, investigates
accommodation possibilities. Sets up committee structure.
Selects Conference Management Agency (if applicable). Contact
printers for Proceedings. Submits Progress Report to Organizing
President.
36-24
IBS EB: Approves Chair and Members of IPC nominated by the
Organizing President.
LOC:
Begins meeting monthly. Defines policy for subsidy of
participants granted from IBC budget, coordinates with
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24
19
18 - 15
15
International Program Committee (1,4). Develops preliminary
budget in consultation with IBS Secretary/Treasurer, corresponds
with International Program Committee about expenses (1). Signs
contract with Conference Management Agency (1) after approval
from IBS EB. Begins to develop applications for sponsors (2);
identifies sources of support (2). Develops Conference logo and
stationary. Develops draft registration and abstract form (3).
Contacts travel bureaus; selects an official carrier for special
airfare (6). Sets up Web pages of the IBS with the relevant
information. Contacts Editor of Biometric Bulletin for deadline (8).
First information to Biometric Bulletin (8). Starts submission of
quarterly Progress Reports to IBS EB via Organizing President.
IPC:
Selects number and topics for Sessions, identifies
Session Organizers. Corresponds with LOC.
LOC:
Updates budget, registration fees, deadlines
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) in consultation with IBS Secretary/Treasurer and
for final approval by IBS EB. Contacts local dignitaries for role (7).
First formal announcement on the Web pages and in Biometric
Bulletin (8).
IPC:
Prepares list of names of Speakers submitted by
Session Organizers.
LOC:
Final selection of Conference location. Identifies
exhibit space, space manager (5). Second formal announcement,
registration forms and Conference information on the Web pages
and in Biometric Bulletin (6,7,8). Announcement of IBC in other
scientific outlets (e.g., AMSTAT NEWS, LIAISON (8).
IPC:
Identifies Speakers and Sessions; proposes schedule
for Sessions to IBS EB for approval.
LOC:
Communicates with Session Organizers, Speakers
about financial conditions, contingencies (1). Reviews status of
finance (1). Contacts sources for support (2). Submits grant
applications (2). Finalizes grant applications. Sends prospectus to
potential contributors, exhibitors (2,1,5). Develops day-by-day
activity schedule (5). Call for papers, General information,
Registration, Abstract forms on the Web pages and in Biometric
Bulletin (6,3,8). Identifies rooms for Sessions, audiovisual, poster
boards, and etc. (5). Communicates with IPC about meeting
rooms (5). Finalizes arrangements with housing agencies (6).
Tests registration procedures including forms for office record
keeping (6). Make arrangements for food, reception, banquet, etc.
(6,7). Identifies Conference materials: labels, mementos, local
guidebooks, etc. (6,7). Sends news items to Web pages and
Biometric Bulletin (8).
IPC:
Reminds Speakers of paper deadlines, format for
papers and length (4).
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12
10
8
6
4
3
LOC:
Prepares detailed time schedule (5). Finalizes social
event calendar including contracts with tour operators (7,6).
IBS EB: Reviews preparations with IPC and LOC.
IPC:
Finalizes the Program of Invited Paper Sessions.
Solves last minute glitches. Communicates with LOC.
LOC:
Contacts potential sponsors again (2). Contacts
exhibitors (5). Begins processing registration (6). Orders
Conference materials (6).
IPC:
Closes collection of invited papers.
LOC:
Reminds printer of incoming work (3). Begins to
process abstracts, communicates with authors (3). Begins to
process papers by Invited Speakers (4). Obtains commitments
from exhibitors; determines needs for space, equipment, utilities
(5). Continues processing registration (6). Sends registration
form, program material to Web pages and Biometric Bulletin (8).
Starts submission of bi-monthly Activity Reports to IBS EB via
Organizing President.
LOC:
Begins to evaluate, assemble and group abstracts
(3,4,5). Invites Chairs for Contributed Paper Session’s (3).
Corresponds with registrants, applicants (6). Reports to IBS EB.
LOC:
Closing date for abstracts (3). Final evaluation and
grouping of abstracts (3,4,5). Begins to lay out detailed program,
room assignments, times (5,3,4,7). Shows preliminary Program to
exhibitors (5). Takes walking tour of Conference site with
preliminary Program in hand; notes potential problems (5,6,7,8).
Identifies volunteers to help with registration, Conference (6,3,4).
Formulates transportation plans: to Conference / from airports,
trains. Arranges parking (permits, locations) during Conference
(6). Has all signs laid out and ordered or prepared (6,5,3,4).
Monitors tour reservations; identifies problems (7). Sends Invited
Sessions Program and final detailed information (Registration
Form, Abstract Form, visas, official carrier, etc.) to Web pages
and Biometric Bulletin (8). Reports to IBS EB.
LOC:
Last chance to visualize major problems and to do
something about it (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8). Reviews finances and
rescale operation (1,2). Completes organization of abstracts (3).
Sends reminders to Invited Speakers (4). Continues registrations
(6). Sends Conference status reports to Web pages and Biometric
Bulletin (8). Starts submission of monthly Progress Reports to IBS
EB via Organizing President.
IPC :
Reminds Organizers/Speakers of absolutely final
deadlines for manuscript (4). Solves last-minute problems with
Organizers, Speakers (4). Reports to IBS EB.
LOC:
Final check of money-flow during Conference (1).
Final appeal to sponsors if necessary (2). Program laid out in
detail (5). Exhibitors ready (5). Checks on housing, catering and
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2
1
WEEK
1
transport (6,7). Dignitaries reminded (7,8). Information to local
papers, radio stations, television stations (8). Reports to IBS EB.
IPC:
Problem-solving mode.
LOC:
Informs Members of Council and IBS Committees of
meeting dates and places (5). Checks on printing status of
abstracts and invited papers (3). Final assembly of invited papers,
Program to printers (4,5,6). Reports to IBS EB.
IPC:
Problem-solving mode.
LOC:
See activities for Month 3 and Month 2.
LOC:
Starts with payment procedure for participants
sponsored from Conference budget (1). Audiovisual material
available and working. Backup available (5). Communications in
place, including Conference Newsletter (8,7). List of Participants
to printers.
b) Conference Activities:
DAY
Day 1
IBS EB:
Meets informally. Reviews schedule of Committee
meetings.
(Sunday)
IPC:
Assures that Speakers will show up (4,3).
LOC:
Makes sure everything is in place (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
Starts with registration.
Day 2
IBS EB:
Opening Session; continues meetings.
(Monday)
IPC:
Attends and monitors Sessions.
LOC:
Begins payments to people sponsored from
Conference budget (1). Monitors Invited and Contributed Paper
Sessions: equipment, signs, personnel (3,4,5). Troubleshoot:
food, housing, refreshments, transportation, and communication
(6,7,8).
Day 3
IBS EB:
Continues meeting.
(Tuesday)
IPC:
Continues monitoring.
LOC:
Monitors all activities, takes care of problems
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
Day 4
LOC:
Chance to catch breath, take care of problems
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
(Wednesday) IBS EB:
Continues meeting (if necessary).
Day 5
IBS EB:
Continues meeting.
(Thursday)
Rep Council: Holds its meeting.
IPC:
Continues monitoring.
LOC:
Monitors all activities, takes care of problems
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
IBS EB:
Final meetings.
LOC:
Meets with IBS EB and Chair of LOC of n+1 IBC
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 75 of 177
c) Post-Conference Activities
WEEK
1
MONTHS
1
2
3
IPC:
"Thank you" to Session Organizers/Speakers.
LOC:
Begins paying bills (1). "Thank you" to volunteers,
dignitaries, special people (5,6,7,8).
LOC:
Initial accounting (1). Reports to sponsoring agencies,
including copies of Program and Proceedings (2,3,4,5). Synopsis
of Conference to Web pages and Biometric Bulletin, including
pictures (8). Preliminary Report to IBS EB and IBS
Secretary/Treasurer (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
Organizing President, IPC and LOC Chair, Education Committee
responsible for Short Courses selection and IBO revise the
conference manual and submit their recommendations to the
CAC Chair for their implementation in the new version of the
manual.
LOC:
All bills should be paid by now (1). Final Report to IBS
EB and IBS Secretary/Treasurer (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 76 of 177
Appendix A: Invitation to Host
To:
Regional Presidents
From: IBS Chair of the Conference Advisory Committee (CAC)
Subject: Invitation to Host XXVIII International Biometric Conference
It is my pleasure to invite you to host the XXVII International Biometric
Conference (IBC) in 2016. The IBC is a primary activity of the Society and is a
showcase event for the profession. It is considered an honor to host our premier
event, which is also an important revenue source for the IBS and potentially the
hosting region.
Extensive information about the IBC and how one goes about submitting a
proposal is contained in the Conference Manual which is available in the
attached file, or by contacting the IBO at regions@tibs.org.
As you will recall, IBC 2006 was in Montreal, Canada; IBC 2008 in Dublin,
Ireland; IBC 2010 in Florianópolis, Brazil;IBC 2012 in Kobe, Japan; and Council
recently approved holding the IBC 2014 in Florence, Italy.
According to the Bylaws, responsibility for selection of the dates and locations of
the IBC rests with the Conference Advisory Committee (CAC). The selection is to
be made five years prior to the event. Thus I am soliciting proposals now, with a
due date of June 1, 2012, for evaluation by the CAC during the remainder of
2012 and final discussion and resolution during the 2012 IBC in Kobe.
Please forward your proposals to the Chair of the Conference Advisory
Committee <insert data here>at <insert data here>, with copies to the
International Business Office at regions@tibs.org. Copies of previous
successful proposals may be obtained from the Business Office upon request.
cc: IBS Executive Board
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 77 of 177
Appendix B: Application to Host an IBC
A. Details of the Proposed Site
1 Date of the event:
2 Country:
3 City:
4 Venue (please give address):
5 Estimated number of participants:
Estimated number of accompanying persons:
6 Is the proposed venue a purpose-built Conference
center?
7 a. Can all the activities (Conference, exhibition, and other
meetings) be accommodated in one location?
If not, please give details of the different sites and
transport arrangements:
b. Can all the scientific sessions be located in the same
building?
If not, please give details.
8 Where is the venue located in relation to the city centre,
accommodation and airport? Please provide details
showing the distance of relative locations and details of
transport arrangements (if necessary) between venue
and accommodation:
9
10
11
Yes / No
Yes / No
Yes / No
Details of auditoria for the Conference Sessions (number
and capacities):
Area available for exhibition (in square meters):
What technical aids are available (normally Email
facilities, overhead and slide projectors, computing
equipment may be required, and perhaps video with
monitors or projectors):
B. Accommodation and Travel (current prices in USD)
1 Summarize accommodation available (number and
categories of hotels, number of rooms and approximate
room costs, location relative to the Conference venue):
2
Estimation of the possible increase of prices in USD by
the time of the Conference:
Approximate costs of lowest cost return air-fare from
Conference city to:
Estimation of the possible increase of prices in USD by
the time of the Conference:
Boston
Frankfurt
London
Portland (Oregon)
Sydney
Sao Paulo
$
$
$
$
$
$
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 78 of 177
Tokyo
Washington
Zurich
(add other cities if you wish).
C. Budget of the Conference (current prices in USD)
1 Income:
Registration fee x number of participants
Accompanying persons registration fee x number of
persons
Student registration fee x number of persons
IBS grant (8000 USD)
Grants from government agencies
Donations from non-government agencies
Contribution by Region
Exhibitors
Others.
2 Expenditures:
Hire of venue (including equipment, electricity, etc.)
Badges and registration kits
Printing (announcements, Proceedings, Programs,
letters, etc.)
Mailing, FAX, telephone, e-mail costs
Publicity and advertising
Conference Management Agency fees
Staff costs
Opening Ceremony and receptions
Refreshments during breaks
Daily transport (shuttle buses if needed)
(If necessary) Reimbursement towards expenses up to
the amount of twice the registration fee (comparable to
the amount of the registration, in year 2000 USD 250) for
the Chair of the International Program Committee of IBC
n and that of IBC n+1 (2 persons x [USD 500])
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
(If necessary) Travel grant (in year 2000 for budget
purposes: USD 1500) plus reimbursement towards
expenses up to the amount of twice the registration fee
(comparable to the amount of the registration, in year
2000 USD 250) for the Chair of the Local Organizing
Committee of the IBC n+1 (1 person x [USD 1500 for
travel + USD 500 towards expenses]).
$
(If financial circumstances permit, and financial
assistance is requested) Reimbursement towards
expenses up to the amount of twice the registration fee
(comparable to the amount of the registration, in year
2000 USD 250) to the Invited Speakers (normally 30
Speakers x [USD 500 towards expenses]).
$
Contingencies
Others (give details).
$
$
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 79 of 177
3
4
5
Total income:
Total expenditures:
Total profit:
Local currency: __________ USD= __________
Estimation of the possible increase of prices in USD by
the time of the Conference:
Summarize expected inflation pattern:
Summarize expected support (financial and/or other) from
local organizations:
D. Local Restrictions
1 Are there visa requirements?
2
3
4
$
$
$
$
Yes / No
If YES, please give details:
What currency would be used for the Conference
accounting?
Please supply details of foreign visitors banking needs
and restrictions if applicable:
Health restrictions (vaccination, etc.):
E. Local Organization
1 Proposed Chairman of Local Organizing Committee:
Please give name, position and full address with phone,
FAX, E-mail:
2 Proposed Local Organizing Committee Members and
their relationship/links to IBS:
3 Will a professional Conference Management Agency be
involved in staging the event? If so, give details of the
Agency, services offered and approximate costs:
F. Tours and Social Excursions (list separately with today’s USD prices if possible)
Attach additional information if required.
G. Other Important Facts
Attach additional information if required.
H. Name and signature of proposer:
Name
Title
I. Name and signature of IBS Regional President:
Name
Title
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 80 of 177
Appendix C: Accommodations Form for IBC and Related Events
Please complete and return by <insert data here> to the IBS at ibs@tibs.org or
fax to ++ 202-216-9646. Please do not contact the hotel directly. The IBS has
secured a room block and is dealing directly with the hotel.
Satellite Meeting: <insert data here>
Short Courses: <insert data here>
IBC <insert data here> Scientific Program <insert data here>
Hotel: <insert data here>
Telephone: ++<insert data here>
Fax: ++-<insert data here>
Web: <insert data here>
Name:__________________________________________________________
Arrival: ______________________________________
Departure: ____________________________________
The hotel has a limited number of rooms with two beds, so any details that will
help us assign the correct room type are helpful.
# of people in room __________________
Please check your needs:
_____
One bed
_____
Two beds
_____
Smoking
_____
Nonsmoking
Expenses:
____ I have secured my own funding and will pay my hotel directly.
____ Please have IBS pay my hotel expenses directly.
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 81 of 177
Appendix D: Financial Guidance for LOC
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 82 of 177
Manual for the Organization of IBS International Biometric Conferences
Page 83 of 177
Appendix E: IBC2008 Attendee Evaluations.
XXIVth International Biometric Conference Evaluation
Survey distributed via email to 927 Conference Attendees
Response rate of 24.24% from 223 respondents
1.
What is your membership status?
Regular Member
Associate Member
Student Member
SCC Member
Corporate Member
Institutional Member
Non-member
64.57%
4.48%
7.62%
0.45%
0.45%
0%
22.42%
2.
How many International Biometric Conferences have you attended (including IBC Dublin
2008)?
1
45.50%
3-Feb
27.03%
6-Apr
21.17%
7+
6.31%
3.
How did you learn about the conference?
Attended Previous IBC
23.29%
Through Biometric Bulletin
19.63%
At Other IBS Meetings
6.39%
Through Regional Newsletter
13.70%
Directly Via Internet
15.07%
Other (please specify)
21.92%
4.
Regarding the session presentations, did the content in the 20 invited sessions, 6 special
sessions, 57 contributed sessions, and 12 Poster sessions provide you the BREADTH of
presentations that you anticipated?
Yes
91.32%
No
1.83%
Other (please specify)
6.85%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
“But emphasis was more of theoretical aspects of methodologies rather than their application”
“Some similar sessions clashed. Gosset session shouldn't have had parallel sessions”
“I would have preferred more practice oriented sessions”
“Talks on completely different subjects were put in the same session”
“Too much technical statistics too little interesting applications with new ideas”
“Too broad and too many parallel sessions”
“Very good collection of invited sessions and special sessions.”
“Some methodological invited sessions would have been interesting to open the view of statistical
methods”
“It was really splendid and it is really helping me in my research area”
Page 84 of 177
5.
Regarding the session presentations, did the content in the 20 invited sessions, 6 special
sessions, 57 contributed sessions, and 12 Poster sessions provide you the DEPTH of
presentations that you anticipated?
Yes
83.64%
No
10.00%
Other (please specify)
6.36%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
“Overall excellent content and value”
“Invited sessions very general”
“Most talks were rather simple application examples of theory rather than studies of real life
problems”
“The time was too short - presentations should have been more selected and longer - 30 mins”
“Less presentations and therefore more time going deeper in the story would be beneficial. Present
more of the data! Not so many heavy formulas!”
“Some invited speakers were very interesting when presenting a general and synthetic view of
theme (but in a too short time) where others speak only on their own works.”
“I really enjoyed these sessions and the ability to talk with the presenters without being rushed.
6.
Were the sessions organised in a logical manner, allowing easy access to all topics of
interest?
Yes
No
Not applicable
Invited and Special Sessions
86.98%
12.09%
0.93%
Contributed Oral Sessions
78.60%
19.53%
1.86%
Contributed Poster Sessions
76.59%
13.66%
9.76%
Overall
89.85%
7.61%
2.54%
7a.
Comments: Invited and Special Sessions
Many sessions of interest were in parallel (4 similar responses)
Student session was in too small a room and clashed
The Gosset session hall was too small.
Not enough room!
Cox Lecture room was too small
The Student sessions were in small rooms
Obviously popular topics should have been plenary
Well presented, however remained very theoretical
7b.
Comments: Contributed Oral Sessions
Some talks didn't conform to the theme
Some interesting sessions were parallel
You had joint authors on in different sessions
Same people were scheduled at the same time.
Introductory, review sessions needed
Some strange sessions with no common topic
Too short to become interesting
Some related session ran simultaneously.
Were Ok but not balanced to environment and climate
7c.
Comments: Contributed Poster Sessions
Problematic when at same time as talks
Difficult to attend: conflicts with oral/invited
Page 85 of 177
Presenters not present near their posters (2 similar responses)
Most posters did not provide handouts
No list of posters was available
In corridors with public access
Poster discussion interfered with nearby lectures
I would prefer a separate day for all posters.
Many of the posters were of poor quality
Not all were assessed for awards
7d.
Comments: Overall
Lecture rooms too far apart to move options
There were some slightly odd juxtaposition.
Some sessions were a mix of topics without theme
Audience size for some sessions wrongly predicted
Some interesting sessions were parallel (2 similar responses)
It was hard to find some of the theatres quickly
8.
Was the time allocated to sessions/presentations ADEQUATE?
Yes
No
Not applicable Did not answer
91.48%
4.93%
0%
8
81.17%
14.35%
0.45%
9
72.20%
7.62%
12.11%
18
9.
Was the time allocated to sessions/presentations APPROPRIATE?
Yes
No
Not applicable Did not answer
74.89%
4.48%
0.45%
45
69.51%
10.31%
0.90%
43
62.33%
5.83%
9.87%
49
10.
Did the scheduling of parallel sessions provide you with the opportunity to attend all the
sessions you were interested in?
Yes
34.70%
No
43.84%
Not applicable
1.37%
Other (please specify)
20.09%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
Some of the parallel sessions were very related (4 similar responses)
You can never satisfy everyone's particular interests
A little time between sessions in order to change the room
No! Since infectious diseases are a subfield of ecology, they should not have been scheduled for
the same time as ecology sessions. I spent about half the conference dashing from one session to
another and half sitting about waiting for an interesting session.
Inevitably, some interesting talks were given at the same time.
Some genetics/microarray sessions clashed
Less is more; even fewer sessions would provide an attractive program
Not at all. This was the weakest point concerning the 2008 IBC.
I couldn't attend Sir David Cox session. This shouldn't have any parallel sessions
Some clashes between biological and environmental sessions
Page 86 of 177
Somehow my interests (spatial / ecological) often seemed scheduled to clash, while there were
several sessions where I didn't have interests - but I know you can't please everyone!
Student session…. should not have had any parallel sessions.
11.
Did you find that the new organisation of the Poster Sessions (grouped into identified
topics, and scheduled in parallel with Oral Sessions, with presenters to be present
throughout the timetabled sessions) helped to make this part of the conference more
accessible and useful?
Yes
60.00%
No
13.95%
Not applicable
11.16%
Other (please specify)
14.88%
Yes
60.00%
No
13.95%
Not applicable
11.16%
Other (please specify)
14.88%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
In competition with oral sessions meant hardly anyone went to the posters until the last 1/2 of the
session when the oral session room became too hot
No: the organization was good, but too often there was little time due to the oral presentations
Have poster sessions early with presenters there
I would prefer separate poster sessions
Nice for topics to be grouped, but hard to get there during concurrent oral sessions
I very much liked this categorization of the poster sessions.
Keep all posters up for entire time of conference
Poster sessions did not succeed because people prefer attending an oral presentation specially the
first day of the meeting
No, I think it is better to have the poster sessions during specially allocated time.
This organisation should have been better advertised
Posters could not be viewed enough because the hurry to catch the oral presentations might be
more appropriate to have poster session separate like an hour at morning and an hour at afternoon
so every one can have the time to join the poster sessions
I presented a poster and I found that most traffic and discussion took place in the coffee breaks.
That is the proper time to be with your poster!
This was a good idea
My problem, I tend to relax in between sessions and forget about the posters
As a poster presenter myself, I feel that having the poster sessions in parallel reduced attendance
during the period that I was actually present at my poster. The posters seemed to be much busier
during coffee breaks than during the specified sessions.
NO I hardly ever looked at a poster except when waiting to go to a session
I propose an oral presentation for posters session with 5 minutes to each to present its poster. The
rooms of the poster sessions should be welcoming.
Yes, I found this to be really useful for discussion and questions
Page 87 of 177
12. Which committee meetings did you attend? Check all that apply.
Executive Committee 12 July
Biometric Bulletin Correspondents 13 July
Education Committee 13 July
General Officer Nominating Committee13 July
Biometrics Associate Editors 14 July
Strategic Plan Committee 14 July
Regional/National Group Officers Meeting 14 July
Editorial Advisory Committee 14 July
Committee on Communications 14 July
Club of Presidents 15 July
Finance Committee 15 July
LOC 2010 15 July
JABES Management Committee 15 July
Conference Advisory Committee 15 July
Awards Fund Committee 15 July
Biometric Bulletin Editorial Board 15 July
IPC 2008 + IPC 2010 Chair/Short Course Coordinator 15 July
Executive Committee 17 July
JABES Associate Editors 17 July
IPC 2010 + IPC2008 Chair/ Short Course Coordinator 17 July
Joint Meeting LOC 2008 and LOC 2010 18 July
Executive Committee 18 July
Not applicable
3.21%
3.85%
3.85%
2.56%
8.33%
3.21%
7.05%
4.49%
1.92%
1.28%
1.92%
2.56%
0.64%
1.92%
0%
1.28%
1.92%
3.21%
2.56%
3.21%
1.92%
1.92%
68.59%
Note: Multiple answers per participant possible. Percentages added may exceed 100 since a
participant may select more than one answer for this question.
13: If you were a Session Presenter was the presentation upload process smooth and adequate?
Yes
47.17%
No
2.83%
Not applicable
42.45%
Other (please specify)
7.55%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
I had to convert a dvi file to a pdf file and to do so, I had to log in to a computer in the US and
almost did not get it done in time. Email and internet access did not work well from a personal
laptop.
Yes. This part was superb.
I followed the online instructions, but when I checked, my talk wasn't there. Thankfully, I had a
copy.
No, difficult to find upload centre and too few staff. They send you away and tell you to come again
later.
Some talks were not there and uploaded at the last moment.
It was clear at the start of the session, but following previous speakers my icon was 'lost'
Though I uploaded pre-conference, I had to go in person to redo it at the conference. No big
hassle, but could have been easier.
Session chair did not have my presentation even though I had uploaded it a few days earlier
A small problem in the deadline for Internet uploading before the conference: it wasn't fully clear if
"Friday Midnight" meant at the end of the day in Thursday or at the end of the day in Friday
Page 88 of 177
No. I uploaded my pdf on the website before the specified deadline, but the PC in the lecture
theatre did not have my presentation, and I had to copy it from my USB memory stick.
Problems with the availability of the web site at several occasions
14.
If you were a Poster Presenter, was the poster display process smooth and adequate?
Yes
22.05%
No
2.56%
Not applicable
72.82%
Other (please specify)
2.56%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
It was difficult to find information about the required poster size
Preferable to announce format as portrait (not landscape) further in advance than 6 weeks
Difficult to find any responsible organizer
Poster board size was a problem, otherwise excellent.
How to hang the posters was not immediately apparent.
15.
If you submitted an Abstract, was the Abstract Submission Process smooth and adequate?
Yes
64.93%
No
2.84%
Not applicable
29.38%
Other (please specify)
2.84%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
I only did learn that I got upgraded to presentation after checking the program 4 days prior to the
conference. At least an email should have been sent.
The web submission system should have a cancel option in case for mistakenly submitting twice.
There was confusion about whether LaTeX or Word should be used.
Having a deadline of 12 NOON did not make sense particularly for North American people.
I suspect invited session organisers could be given more feedback on this, as I was repeated
asked to re-upload
Problems with the availability of the web site at several occasions
16.
If you submitted an Abstract, was the Review/Session Allocation process smooth and
adequate?
Yes
58.88%
No
2.34%
Not applicable
31.31%
Other (please specify)
7.48%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
The decision to allocate abstracts to posters or contributed sessions was not transparent
Not especially: in my session there was a clear dichotomy between two types of talks (design of
experiments [A] vs optimal design of experiments [B]) and yet they were all mixed up, like this
ABABBA. There was a similar problem with talks in other sessions seeming totally out of place.
Acceptance should be determined sooner for summer conferences in the northern hemisphere. I
had to purchase a fairly expensive ticket because I did not find out about acceptance until late
March.
Page 89 of 177
I was surprised when I was not given an oral presentation, but later there was a vacancy.
Yes, but the rules for presentations were given very late for students who were participating to the
students awards (around only one week before the deadline)
I was put on the reserve list for oral presenting, but had to read in the program that I indeed had got
a oral presentation. I would have appreciated a mail on this
2 abstracts were accepted for oral presentation, but I had to choose which one I would give (should
have been clear in advance)
Review OK, session allocation leads to some very heterogeneous sessions.
I do not understand the criterions used
Not clear why presentation requests were given posters, especially when traveling a long distance
to give a talk. This discourages people from coming.
I submitted a contributed talk but was first placed in a poster session. I can accept not to be
accepted as oral presenter but not to be placed in poster session without first being asked.
I was first on reserve for oral session, but no one told me when I actually was changed to oral
session. It was fine since I could look that up in the final program, but maybe we could be notified
by e-mail when that happens if it's not too difficult to do.
It was inappropriate for the scores for submitted papers to be made available, although this was
corrected later.
Page 90 of 177
17.
Did the memory stick you received at the conference and Meeting Abstracts on the
IBS website provide a more user-friendly way to access the meeting materials than the
more traditional printed book of abstracts?
Yes
58.60%
No
21.86%
Other (please specify)
19.53%
Pertinent Responses from “Other” category
I found it very difficult to choose talks on the basis of titles only and found it difficult to get
enough access to computers to make an informed choice based on abstracts. The
advance access to session information and abstracts was helpful though.
Book of abstracts needed as well as the memory stick
The memory stick crashed my computer...
Yes, but would have been good to have been accessible before conference
No, I like to have a direct access on the material during the session
I did not have a laptop with me to view the material on the memory stick
Helpful to take away, but much easier to browse a paper copy at the conference
Not user friendly but better for the "after-conference"
Cannot quickly open the mem stick in a meeting hall to see something without a PC. Mem
stick suitable for proceedings, not abstracts.
Participants should receive both a paper book with abstracts and a memory key.
I prefer printed book that I can read anywhere during the conference
It makes sense because only a fraction of abstracts is of interest to each attendee
I'd prefer a book to keep on the shelf
Yes, once you got home, but not during the conference. The printed book allows you to
access the abstracts more readily during the conference as I hadn't bought my laptop with
me. I ended up basing my session choice on the session title and the talk titles alone, and
because of this missed a couple of interesting talks.
For what reason was the use of the stick restricted to the abstracts; would have been great
to have a gift that could be used for other things. After I copied the files to my computer,
the stick was worthless
I appreciate the possibility to create an own program
Website ok for looking in advance. Prefer booklet on site.
I had no laptop to make use of the stick, so I could not read any abstracts. I usually write
notes on the space on the page of relevant abstract, so I could not do this.
The abstracts are important in order to choose the "correct" session to attend. It's not that
easy to look it up in the memory stick!
I did not use the memory stick but I find a waste of money the book of abstracts
I missed the book of abstracts. In practice it was too difficult to get access to the computer
files.
I am in favour of this as more environmentally friendly, but a little less convenient at the
meeting itself.
I had a problem with it, but thought in principle it was a great idea
Page 91 of 177
I can understand the need to save paper, but it is much easier to access printed material
It is not easy, when you are on place, to choose the session to listened even if some
terminals were available.
Paper at least can be recycled. Many conferences are now giving memory sticks which is
wasteful.
That was really useful
It was very good. Congratulations!
18.
Please rank the following meeting attributes according to their importance. Rank
from 1 to 8, with a Rank of 1 signifying most important and a Rank of 8 signifying
least important.
Responses / ranks:
Weighted Rank/(Score)
Overall scientific content
1 (1459)
Invited Session Topics
2 (1322)
Networking Opportunities
3 (1143)
Location
4 (1041)
Total cost to attend
5 (960)
Venue
6 (651)
Social Programme
7 (517)
Catering
8 (503)
19.
Please rate the following aspects of the conference venue using a four-point scale:
Excellent, Good, Satisfactory, and Poor.
Excellent
Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Location
36.11%
45.83%
14.81%
3.24%
Accessibility
25.70%
44.39%
25.70%
4.21%
Suitability
26.42%
58.02%
12.26%
3.30%
Audio-Visual
32.87%
51.85%
13.89%
1.39%
Catering
4.69%
17.37%
32.39%
45.54%
Page 92 of 177
Total
216
214
212
216
213
20.
Do you consider that the conference registration fee represented value for money?
Yes
47.06%
No
32.84%
Other (please specify)
20.10%
“Other” and pertinent feedback:
Of the 41 respondents to “Other”, 14 mentioned the conference’s high expense as a
downside; 5 rated the catering as a disappointment. In addition to the 14 in the count
mentioned above, some other feedback that also mentioned expenses and other items
included:
I enjoyed the meeting but it is the most expensive I have ever attended. Given that invited
speakers were not paid expenses or even given registration waiver, where does all the
money go? ISCB is much cheaper despite them supporting invited speakers.
I found the conference very frustrating, it was not expensive, but I would have gladly paid
more for better conference. The overall quality of the talks and presentations was quite
low. I was shocked, actually - no comparison to the JSM in the US. I was hoping for a
better meeting, actually, because the smaller size (~ 1000) participants left the possibility
for a more intimate forum than the JSM.
It seemed relatively expensive - I know a number of people who did not attend because of
cost
Conference fee too expensive; area with cheaper accommodation: a 3star in other location
than 4star in Dublin
I do think it was too expensive and one specific issue was the expensive (I assume) and
unnecessary provision of buses to take people to their hotels: why should everybody pay
for this? It is socially irresponsible not to support the very good public transport system in
Dublin.
Euro was too strong at that time.
…Venue was very hot when lots of people were in a session. Also, could not see in some
venues when you were at the back
Incredibly expensive, ridiculous that the fee didn't include the conference dinner (so I didn't
attend it), accommodation (Glenomena) was appalling given the price (e.g. bin not emptied
all week, nothing cleaned, no tea/coffee in rooms), accompanying person's fee was
incredibly expensive and included almost nothing (my guest didn't use this)
The conference dinner was very expensive. Possibly there was some sales resistance
which led to the initial reduction in price of €20. It was also claimed (I don't have
confirmation of its veracity) that people who booked their accommodation direct with UCD
got a substantial discount. The Wednesday daytime tours were good value for money.
The conference was very expensive as were the lodgings and the conference tours. I
found that I could obtain rooms at the same hotel cheaper on the internet than through the
conference and that the same was true for the tours.
As in other opportunities it is hard to pay for Latin-American people with Latin-American
salaries
Scientifically sessions fine, but special events and trips were disappointing.
The 'Accompanying Persons' charge was extortionate: people perhaps got 40 Euro of
value for a charge of over 100 Euro
21.
Was attending the conference of benefit to you?
Yes
91.63%
Page 93 of 177
No
Other (please specify)
4.19%
4.19%
It should have been but the venue was bad for making contacts and was too far away from
civilisation
Not much benefit (see 22.) but I hope IBS can do better in 2010
Yes. However I would hesitate to go to another one. There are other pretty good
conferences with good scientific content (e.g. JSM, ENAR) and networking opportunities
but that are much less expensive.
Of some benefit although very expensive, considering I didn’t even have to travel to it.
Marginally compared with other conferences
There is always something to learn
Yes, this international conference that I have attended twice now is great because it is so
important to network with those outside of the United States
Not really from a purely scientific point of view, just meeting colleagues
Yes I picked up some good ideas on some problems I encounter quite often in practice
22.
What suggestions do you have to enhance future conferences?
University facilities are often pretty pathetic like these were.
Really try to keep the costs down. Dublin is an attractive venue but a) it is awfully
expensive and b) we weren't in Dublin! Taking a few people from my grant has blown a
massive hole in my conference budget for the next three years. No conference is worth
that much. We don't need (more) bags and other toys and find somewhere that doesn't
force you to use in-house (and bad) catering.
See above about conference buses, though I admit they may be needed in some cities but
not Dublin which has an excellent bus service to the University.
No catering, no pen drive, smaller costs.
Scientific sessions were excellent. but the conference would have benefited from better
ventilated session rooms.
Videoing some of the sessions (e.g. the Student session would have been great to have
online afterwards). These could even be streamed live. Moving to Web 2.0: encourage
blogging, have a Friendfeed room for discussions during and after the conference. Not
sending out the feedback form 3 months after the meeting.
The overview time schedule should contain some more keywords and some more
information of the presenter such that it is easier to select the right talks
More time between sessions to talk with other attendees, and allow for travel/walking
distance to tour buses.
The society should make some funds available to sponsor / support delegates from Special
Circumstances Countries.
Less expensive conference dinner, more economic entertainment at conference dinner.
Try to decrease costs
Better ventilation of venue
Lunch could be better
Page 94 of 177
(Continued: 22. What suggestions do you have to enhance future conferences? )
I thought the venue was very good for the talks and meeting people. It was amazing that it
all seemed to go very smoothly with such a large group of people. I liked that all the talks
were very close to one another even though there were 6 or 7 talks going on at any one
time. I loved the session on Gosset. I found the student accommodation lacking.
Sometimes the lift wasn't working and there wasn't really any comfort in the rooms
allocated. Every morning was a battle at the student union cafe with the international
teenagers getting their breakfasts. The food wasn't very good. It was a long walk to get to
an alternative restaurant - or else a trip into town on the bus (which seemed more of a big
deal than I was expecting).
Don't fleece attendees at social events. Don't run parallel sessions beside special session
(student t's) and provide adequate seating.
More varied topics. the session was controlled by the same names and faces. need to
attack more applied problems
The accommodation in Glenomena Hotel was very expensive and bad.
Please provide good food to the participants.
Do not hold a conference at a university as the food is terrible. Also, it would be good to
have some more sessions where there was a discussant. Get the authors of papers to
suggest which session they should go in to avoid clashes
To diminish cost of social events
It would be worth sending a reminder of good rules for presentations to everyone talking at
the conference. A very large proportion of the talks were badly let down by timing, poor
graphs and terrible tables. Chairs need to be stricter with timing; I suggest giving them
whistles to stop speakers who go on past their time. Please don't waste our money with
rubbish entertainment like the choral singers: it was Ireland, the home of music, you could
have found someone a lot better (e.g. some old guys in a pub). Better catering would be a
plus. The food I ate in Dublin was the worst I've ever had on land… Finally, the
condescending awards of best speaker from a developing country per continent really
shouldn't be continued. I saw some of those talks and they weren't very good. The ones I
saw didn't deserve any kind of prize.
Invited session room and lunch place should have larger room.
It should be cheaper and abstract acceptance should be very soon after the deadline.
Flights are very expensive these days.
The cost of this IBS was outrageous given the extremely weak scientific programme. The
registration fee alone will deter me from attending future meetings. So two main factors: 1.
scientific weakness 2. Excessive cost.
Registration fees has to be reduced
It would be good to have another evening event around a meal which is accessible to most
delegates. This keeps people together more, rather than going their separate ways. It
would need to be a cheaper meal that the conference dinner, such as an outdoor BBQ. If
the conference dinner was on Thursday, such an event could be on Tuesday evening.
Please, I would prefer that the lunches not to be included in the registration fee. In this
manner the conference would be cheaper.
Page 95 of 177
(Continued: 22. What suggestions do you have to enhance future conferences? )
Scientific quality was good, but registration fee was way too high. It is hard to believe that
the expenses of organizing the conference really justified the 550\650 euro registration fee.
So it will be really helpful to provide a financial report for this meeting so that the
membership could see where their money went and so that there might be discussion how
to decrease the fees to make the conference more accessible. Just a note here that 150
euro for people from underdeveloped countries is just as hard to come by as 550 euro for
people from developed countries. There should be some options to decrease the cost (e.g.
not to have lunch included) and there should be financial incentives for invited session
speakers, people heavily involved with the scientific and local organization of the
conference, people who present especially interesting and novel research and young
researchers who may not have funds for such meeting. Short course presenters should
have their expenses covered.
Present specific sessions for more applied work
The accommodation, lecture theatres and catering in Dublin were all poor considering the
high cost of the conference. Presumably this is because Dublin is a very expensive city.
This should be taken into account in choosing future venues. Even though transport from
UK was cheap, the overall cost was high compared with other conferences further away.
I volunteered to help in the sessions, but the organisation did not work at all. I arrived one
day late (as I had told via e-mail), and I couldn't reach anybody. Nobody knew where I
should go and what I should do. By chance, I found out for which sessions I was
scheduled. After I had helped in two of these sessions, I was told that they had forgotten
me. I didn't get the promised t-shirt or the promised book, I was not even thanked. If you
want people to volunteer another time, you should treat them better!!!
I have answered "yes" to question 23. I would like to attend the 2010 Conference, and I
hope to attend, but I cannot be sure at this stage.
Better value for money for the social activity (Castle and Bay tour).
To help session allocation: For abstract submission, ask to the author to choose 2 or 3
themes of session in a list of proposals (longer than the list proposed for IBC 2008) and
including an open item (Other: .....).
Time of year is important. For instance a conference in December (just before Christmas)
may be hard to attend.
There should be more information about the content of presentations beforehand. Abstract
is not enough and some presentations proved to be disappointingly different from what the
abstract reads. Short course about R was not sufficiently planned to take into account the
needs of those attending. Attending the course did not give any additional benefit. I could
just as well read the notes myself and gain nothing special for my needs. There should be
organized discussion groups, or discussion workshops around special topics, to connect
people, to boost networking, to find contacts, to present your problems so that someone
might respond to them. I knew there must have been some people who could be really
useful contacts, but never met or even identified them. The society seems to be a bit too
happy with its own inner circles and old friends tapping each other. At LEAST you could
establish a "contact corner" for posting/presenting requests, open problems, calls for
expertise etc.
The invited sessions should be aimed at a higher level
Better choose names of different sessions to make sure people in the same session will
really talk about the same subject.
Other problem was the difficulty in getting breakfast - talks started at 8.30 but caterers
wouldn't allow access to the dining room before 8.00, when several hundred teenagers on
courses also arrived. So, please make sure the venue can cope with the logistics
Page 96 of 177
(Continued: 22. What suggestions do you have to enhance future conferences? )
Cheaper and better catering. I attended a satellite conference the week before that for a
similar cost per day but also included 3 meals and accommodation, rather than just the
conference and a lunch that wasn’t of great quality
Reduce the cost! Bigger rooms for guest speakers.
More short courses /workshops, perhaps also during the week and not only at the start.
Perhaps in the form of an invited session that covers a subject for a wide audience and not
only for the reasonably well informed. Presenters should have good didactic qualities and
presentations should be well connected. Although I recognise that this is difficult, many
sessions have names like "Bayesian statistics" which implies that the talks will be totally
different. There is still room for improvement in the grouping of the contributed sessions.
The social program, which is good for making new friends, or meeting old friends, was too
crowded in Dublin. A less crowded program, with less bus rides, and less queuing and
more opportunity for walking and talking would be better.
More focussed sessions, starting with a review session for each topic. Somewhere to get
something to eat in the evenings - other than a microwave dinner or a long schlep into
town!
Catering was very poor. Some conference need a great room (The Sir David Cox
presentation's room was small ). The poster and oral certificates should be pre-printed and
signed by the chairman (original). Most of the people wrote by their own the title in their
certificate !!.
I have proposed a invited session about statistics for networks that has been accepted by
the scientific committee. However the procedure is not appropriate. Some of the "invited"
speakers I have retained were not members of the IBS and were completely outside the
biometric community. I think that it is important to bear to the IBS community some new
methods that are new for it. The IBC is just the good place to do that. However it is hard
(and I as a matter of fact it has been impossible) to convince these speakers to come and
pay all the expansive charges of the conference in Dublin. It is like to ask a service to
somebody and then ask him to pay for it ! It is necessary to change this principle if we want
to open the IBC to new trends coming from outside the biometric community. For example,
reduced registering costs should be allowed for one-day presence for invited speakers.
I think You must decrease the registration fee, because for Me (I'm a student in Iran) this
fee is so expensive.
Perhaps having some talks that gave an introduction to topics for those not specialist in
that particular area.
Decrease the fees. no so many parallel sessions. some papers were very bad!
More focus on the biometric part, i.e. stress important and new applications more than
statistical method in their own right.
I would prefer not to have a morning session on the day of the mid-conference tours.
… The scientific committee needs to be more selective and cut down the number of
repetitious paper presentations- and hence the number of lecture theatres needed.
Switching theatres is awkward and distracting. For new entrants and young researchers it
might be good to have one theatre where a pre-planned programme of representative
special sessions are held - so that if you go there you can get the flavour of the subject
area and good talks - maybe you need 2 theatres for this max. The air-conditioning has just
got to work in Brazil or people will go on holiday to the pool!!
Be aware of the registration fee issue
Needs to be cheaper! The accommodation offered was far too expensive for the facilities
offered. More
Page 97 of 177
Some (just a few) longer invited talks, giving more of an overview of a given topic. This is
always popular.
(Continued: 22. What suggestions do you have to enhance future conferences? )
The registration fee should be reduced. I understand that is a really big conference with
many delegates, but I couldn't help feeling that I was missing many many interesting
presentations with so many parallel sessions.
All the social events should be an opportunity for networking and they should not be
expensive. A conference dinner for 70-100 euro may automatically exclude all the young
researchers; I believe it is possible to enjoy traditional Irish nights for less than 90 euro and
I never had to pay 45 euro for a literary pub crawl. A Dublin city tour can cost less than 60
euro...etc. All these event were overpriced and reduced the networking possibilities. The
food was really poor and I was very surprised to see glasses of tap water that were already
filled and left there to be collected...on the first or second day the milk in the jugs was off
and many people had to renounce to their coffee. Although food is not the most important
aspect I would rather have a less expensive conference dinner and be able to have a
decent lunch every day, given the registration cost. The day of the conference dinner there
was a ham sandwich and a glass of tap water for lunch: perhaps assuming everybody
would go?
Allow more time for discussion after presentations. Maybe more of a "controversial"
session with only one or two presenters with two visions on a topic and then a good
discussion on this.
Improve the poster sessions giving it a better position in the program.
I suggest that there should be several dedicated sessions on Theory and Applications of
GIS and Statistics Integration of spatial and temporal modeling with GIS. I feel that the IBC
has not yet fully embraced GIS and provided an forum for applied biometricians working in
GIS to present their work.
Cheaper registration fee. Cheaper conference dinner.
More attention needs to be given to allocation of a large enough room for special events.
The Gossett lecture was overcrowded.
More posters and a bit longer talks.
I have a feeling that the company hired to run conference arrangements did not work very
hard to keep costs low.
More workshops if possible
I thought the team providing support to the laptops..etc for the talks did a fantastic job and
saved the day on at least a couple of occasions. money well spent, I imagine; please don't
consider skimping here.
I think the Venue was very well chosen, although too far from the city center. In particular I
liked the fact that seminar rooms were close to each other. I do not think the poster session
should be in parallel with the talks sessions.
Better venue and catering, and not so expensive!
Broad invited sessions topics, maintain the spirit of poster session organization as in
Dublin, schedule coffee breaks as long as may be between session (it's the time for
networking links, both social and scientific). Only if we include the dinner in the registration
we'll have good attendance, otherwise make the dinner rate to be half the price a scientific
book from leader Publishers.
My answer of point 18 concerns what I expect to a conference (point 19 concerns Dublin).
IBC is a special conference where usually we feel a real investment of the local organizers
Page 98 of 177
(Cape Town for example but not only). This was not the case in Dublin. I did not tick any
point in 12 because some committee meetings were on Sunday (it was not possible to
arrive so early) and others were only lunches, where it was not possible really to speak (as
in Montreal). I think that it is very important to have lectures from known speakers
(especially for young researchers) on general biometrical and statistical subjects. Not
courses but like some papers in Statistical Science, to have state on the art on special
themes of methods.
(Continued: 22. What suggestions do you have to enhance future conferences? )
Juice/hot chocolate/etc. for people who don't drink tea/coffee. Smoothies at the conference
dinner for those who don't drink wine!
Please practice some responsible birth control - cut down on the number of presentations
and increase the time devoted to them - increased the poster sessions to accommodate
talks rejected for presentation. The special sessions and the courses were the most
valuable components of the meeting - largely because of the increased time for each
presentation (40 min) . Many invited session chairs provided valuable summary and
question and answer periods at the end.
More resources to support participants from special circumstance countries. More
applications to be prioritize from the theoretical statistics
For the parallel session be carefull to the different topic (not nearly the same at the same
time) and not too many at the same time....
The conference tour and social program did not work well with the sessions on the
Wednesday of the conference.
They should put into consideration of the circumstance countries and subsidize for us to
encourage us.
Charge a fair fee for Accompanying Persons. Organise meaningful tours, not tours patched
together without real planning or purpose. (The tour to Malahyde Castle was a joke. It was
advertised that the castle had a large model railway. The railway is not open on
Wednesdays. Half the castle was closed, too. At least some of the tours at Freiburg in
2002 were half-day tours padded out to look like whole-day tours. If you can't offer a proper
tour, don't offer it at all.) Make sure that the audio-visual aspects of sessions work properly
- have partially-sighted and partially-deaf people check them for suitability in advance! Use
common sense in deciding what sessions will be popular; people will go to see a 'name'
(e.g. Sir David Cox) or a session that is not too 'heavy'. Most attendees (i.e., not the 'stars')
only understand a part of most talks, so aim for a wide coverage of topics, not great depth.
Reduce registration fee
23.
To assist us with the planning we would appreciate your letting us know if you plan
to attend the 2010 International Biometric Conference 5-10 December, 2010, at the
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Organised
by the Brazilian and Argentinean Regions.
Yes
57.69%
No
42.31%
Page 99 of 177
Appendix F Short Course Presenter Letter
Dear Short Course Presenter,
Firstly, on behalf of both the IBC Dublin 20__ Local Organizing Committee and
International Program Committee, many thanks for your agreeing to deliver a
short course at the IBC. We have a very attractive broad program of courses and
registrations are proceeding well.
This letter is to update you with various organisational matters and to set out
what is needed from you and when. Many of these items were covered in the
original invitation that your received from ___insert text here___, but I thought
that it would be useful to make sure that everything is clear.
1. Course Notes – Each course participant will receive a set of printed notes
to accompany the course. These will typically be handout versions of your
presentation material, but could include other relevant notes.
This material should be sent to me electronically, preferably as one, or
more, pdf files. My email address is
___insert text here___
The deadline for sending this material is: ___insert text here___
This will give us time to sort out any problems in advance of printing the
notes for the course.
The printed notes should:
• include learning outcomes
• be in the same order as the course presentation and numbered
sequentially
• be readable with sufficiently large fonts
• be clearly laid-out – leave sufficient room for people to annotate the
notes during the course
• use black and white only – take particular care to ensure that
graphs will be legible when printed
• be at most 200 pages
Draft material can be sent for advance approval if you are in any doubt
about suitability.
2. Additional Material
• For courses involving practical sessions participants will be expected
to use their own laptop. We can arrange to put material on a website
that will be available to registered participants in advance of the
course.
Page 100 of 177
•
In these instances, advance details of software requirements and
availability should be given so that participants can have all of the
necessary software and files installed before coming to the course. It
might be useful also to bring the material on a memory stick (and/or
CD) so that it is available during the course in case of any problems.
We expect that the course rooms will have wireless internet access,
but it would be best not to rely upon this.
Associated texts – if your course is linked to any specific published
text, please let us know so that we can arrange for the publishers to
have discounted copies on sale during the meeting. (Note that this
does replace the need for printed course notes.)
3. Expenses
The Short Course Program is designed to provide education and training
to delegates and where possible to raise funds for further educational
initiatives within the IBS. With this in mind we are keen to keep costs as
low as possible. However as a token of our appreciation of your work, we
are offering to contribute towards the cost of two nights’ accommodation
plus travel expenses for each course instructor (up to a maximum of two
instructors per course). The cheapest available economy class airfares,
appropriate to particular itineraries, should be sought and bookings should
be made as far in advance as possible. Of course, if you are able to fund,
some or all, of your own travel and accommodation then this would be
much appreciated by IBS.
We presume that you will be staying on for the IBC and you will be
responsible for your accommodation for the other nights. You should book
all of your accommodation together when you register for the meeting
(don’t forget that the “Early Bird” deadline is April 15th) – if you have any
problems or special requests then please contact ___insert text here___at
___insert text here___ (___insert email here___) who will be able to help
you.
Reimbursement of your expenses will be handled by the IBS Office and
you should keep receipts and tickets to submit with your claim. ___insert
text here___, from the office, will manage this and will be present at the
IBC.
If you have any queries then please email me and do keep me informed on your
plans for the course so that I can ensure that everything that you need is in place
and that everything goes smoothly.
I look forward to seeing you in ___insert text here___.
Best wishes
Page 101 of 177
___insert text here___
IBC 20__ Local Organizing Committee
Page 102 of 177
Appendix G: Short Course Proposal Invitation Template
Dear <insert data here>:
Through the support of our <insert data here> Region, the International Biometric
Society (IBS) is sponsoring its <insert data here> International Biometric
Conference in <insert data here> on <insert data here> (scientific program
sessions are scheduled <insert data here>). Specifically, the conference and
short courses will be held at <insert data here>, located <insert data here>.
As chair of the Short Course Committee, and jointly with the, International
Program Chair, and the Organizing IBS President, I cordially invite you to
propose offering a Short Course to be held in conjunction with the IBC2006. The
Short Courses can be a half day or one day in length and will be held on
Saturday and Sunday, <insert data here>
If you are not able to offer a Short Course at the IBC2006, but are interested in
being considered for future IBS events including our Regional events, please be
certain to note this on the attached form.
Proposals
Our goal is to provide courses that will attract registrants in a number of
disciplines. We are also reaching out to those persons from the economically
developing countries. Course selection will be by committee consensus and will
take into account how well the courses enhance the scientific program,
contributed sessions and our satellite workshop – all of which are in
development. Reasons for non-acceptance could include:
•
Multiple course proposals with similar content were received.
•
Not all proposals could be accepted due to time or logistical reasons
(i.e., room availability, technical needs).
•
Proposal did not include complete information as requested.
•
A similar course may have been presented recently
•
The course does not fully meet the goals of the program or the mission
of the IBS.
It should be clear that, by inviting you to submit a proposal, we fully acknowledge
your standing as a scholar and an instructor.
Proposals are due by <insert data here>. Short Course selection will be finalized
by <insert data here>. Submitters will be notified whether or not their course
submission has been accepted.
The proposal must include the following information:
1) Exact title of course
Page 103 of 177
2) Instructor(s) complete name and contact information: name(s) should be
written as instructor(s) would like it publicized and should be used consistently.
Please list instructors in presentation order. For each instructor, include email
and office phone and fax numbers.
3) Proposed date of course and length of course
4) Instructor(s) availability
5) Abstract: one paragraph abstract around 200 words, describing the course.
Prerequisite knowledge and assumptions regarding the background of the
attendees must be included. All abstracts must be submitted electronically by
<insert data here>. The IBS Short Course Committee reserves the right to edit
any abstract.
6) Outline: please describe what will occur during each course segment and
provide a description of the target audience.
7) Learning Outcomes: a clear and concise statement of the learning outcomes
must be included. Please identify what knowledge, skills and/or attitudes
attendees are expected to accomplish/demonstrate as a result of the course. You
must also include a description of course content and instructional strategies
based on the learning outcomes.
8) Instructors: Please include a brief paragraph about the instructor(s)
background and subject matter experience. (Do not include resumes or
curriculum vitae.) Previous courses taught and date/location must be included.
9) Audio Visual Equipment: Please specify required audio-visual equipment for
the course on the attached form.
10) Textbook: If a textbook is required, please include author(s) name(s);
publisher and contact information; and retail or special discounted cost. The
textbook must be available on or by May 2006 in order to be included with the
course.
It is necessary that I and the IBS receive any changes to any of the information
between the time of submission and the time of presentation as soon as
possible.
Handouts
Each attendee in the each course will receive a set of handouts. The handouts
must be received electronically. The date and email address will be provided at a
later date. All copying of handouts will be managed by the IBS. All pages must be
numbered sequentially with no breaks. One-day course handouts are limited to
Page 104 of 177
200 pages and half-day courses are limited to 100 pages. Providing a CD of the
overheads or a web site reference is not a substitute for a paper copy made
available during class.
Instructors must include in their overheads a listing of the learning outcomes at
the beginning and at the end of the course. Handouts should be in the same
order as the course presentation. Handouts must be readable, using large fonts
and replacing complicated tables with plots.
Presentation Expectations
Instructors are expected to arrive and start the course on time. There will be midmorning and mid afternoon breaks. Specific times for the breaks will be
announced. Instructors are expected to honor the break times as closely as
possible.
The International Biometric Society conferences, short course and satellite
workshops are not to be used as a marketing venue. However, you may use a
software product for illustration purposes.
If instructors wish to provide access to supplementary materials via the web after
the course, it is the instructor’s responsibility to inform the class about the
website and to maintain the website. The IBS is not responsible for the content
on the sites and does not have the resources to provide assistance for website
construction or maintenance or to provide any other specialized services.
Course Cancellation
The IBS must consider canceling a course that is under enrolled to avoid
incurring excessive costs. Attendance is monitored carefully. As soon as it is
feasible after the close of pre-registration, decisions regarding course
cancellations will be made based on the information available and registration
trends. To the extent possible, the IBS will notify any registrants that they have
the option of a refund or transferring their registration to another short course
being presented. The website will be changed to reflect the course cancellation.
Expense Allotments for Presenters
As a token of appreciation, we are offering to pay two nights’ lodging, and travel
expenses (reasonable, coach airfare). In addition, registration will be waived.
Lodging accommodations are being finalized. Of course, if you are able to
provide your own funding, it is much appreciated. Profits from the short courses
are rolled back into educational initiatives. Through these initiatives, the IBS has
been able to help support conferences in Petersburg, South Africa and Malawi.
Instructors are expected to present their travel related costs to the IBS by 31
August 2006. Payment will be made in US dollars. If a wire transfer is preferred,
then detailed banking information must be included.
Page 105 of 177
If you have any questions, please be certain to contact me at < insert email > or
at ++<insert phone>.
Thank you very much for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you
by <insert data here>.
Sincerely,
<insert data here>
Chair, IBS Short Course Committee
Page 106 of 177
Short Course Proposal Template
Title:
Instructor(s) (in presentation order):
Name:
- address:
- phone:
- fax:
- e-mail:
Name:
- address:
- phone:
- fax:
- e-mail:
Motivation:
(why it is important to deal with the topic regarding progress in theory,
applications and software availability?)
Proposed date of course:
Proposed length of course (half day, full day):
Abstract (200 words):
(include prerequisite knowledge and assumptions regarding background of
participants)
Outline:
Page 107 of 177
(describe what will occur during each course segment and provide a description
of the target audience and difficulty level of the course: advanced/technical,
intermediate, basic/training).
Morning:
Afternoon:
Learning Outcomes:
(a clear and concise statement of the learning outcomes must be included.
Identify what knowledge, skills and/or attitudes attendees are expected to
accomplish/demonstrate as a result of the course)
Instructors:
(Include a brief paragraph about the instructor(s) background and subject matter
experience. Previous courses taught and date/location must be included)
Audio Visual Equipment:
Textbook:
(If a textbook is recommended, include author(s) name(s); publisher and contact
information; and retail or special discounted cost. The textbook must be available
on or by September 2010 in order to be included with the course)
Page 108 of 177
.
Laptop:
(Specify if you recommend the participants to bring a laptop)
Page 109 of 177
Appendix H: Short Course Instructor Form
International Biometric Society
Short Course Instructor Form – Two Pages
DUE <insert data here>
Please electronically submit to Short Course Chair <insert data here>at <insert
data here> AND the IBS at ibs@tibs.org.
1) Instructor Name (If more than one instructor, the instructor identified here will be sent
all correspondence.
(Please note Mr., Ms., Dr. , Prof.)
_________________________________________________________
2) Address:
________________________________________________________________
______
______________________________________________________________________
3) Daytime Telephone: ______________________ (Please use country code)
4) Fax: ___________________________________(Please use country code)
5) Email:
__________________________________________________________________
6) Title of Presentation: ____________________________________________
7) Instructor Identification (Skip this section if only one instructor)
Order
Name
First
___________________________________
Second
Third
% of Teaching Time
___________________________________
___________________________________
__________
__________
__________
8) Preferred Day, Time and Length of Course: 1 Day Course or ½ Day Course
__________________
Please note first choice, second choice, etc.
____ DATE 1 _____AM or ____PM _______ All Day
____ DATE 2 _____AM or ____PM _______ All Day (Being Considered as Additional
Date)
Page 110 of 177
9) Audio Visual Equipment: Please specify ALL required audio-visual equipment for the
course
10) Textbook: If a textbook is required, please include author(s) name(s); publisher and
contact information; and retail or special discounted cost. The textbook must be
available on or by May 2006
Page 111 of 177
Appendix I Call for Short Course Proposals
Call for Short Course Proposals
The Scientific Program Committee of the XX__th International Biometric
Conference (IBC), to be held ___ in ___, is calling for short course proposals.
Our goal is to provide courses that will attract registrants from a number of
different application areas. We also want to reach out to potential participants
from economically developing countries. Course selection will be by committee
consensus and will take into account how the courses enhance the scientific
program of the IBC and complement our satellite conferences - all of which are
still in development.
To submit a proposal please complete the attached form and e-mail it to
__at ____.
All proposals must be submitted electronically by June 24, 20__.
The template for short course proposals is available from http://www.tibs.org
and the IBC20__ web-site ______________
The proposal must include the following information:
1. Title: Exact title of course
2. Date and duration: Preferred date of course and length of course
3. Instructor(s) affiliation: Instructor(s) complete name and contact information,
including email, office phone and fax numbers. Present affiliations
consistently for all instructors. List instructors in presentation order.
4. Instructors: Include a brief paragraph about the instructor(s) background
and subject matter experience. (Do not include resumes or curriculum vitae.)
Previous courses taught and date/location must be included.
5. Instructor(s) availability
6. Motivation: Why it is important to deal with the topic regarding progress in
theory, applications and software availability?
7. Abstract: one paragraph abstract around 200 words, describing the course.
Prerequisite knowledge and assumptions regarding the background of the
attendees must be included. The IBC Short Course Committee reserves the
right to edit any abstract.
8. Outline: Describe what will occur during each course segment and provide a
description of the target audience and difficulty level of the course
(advanced/technical, intermediate, basic/training).
9. Learning outcomes: a clear and concise statement of the learning
outcomes must be included. What knowledge, skills and/or attitudes
attendees are expected to accomplish/demonstrate as a result of the course?
Page 112 of 177
You must also include a description of course content and instructional
strategies based on the learning outcomes.
10. Audio Visual Equipment: Specify required audio-visual equipment for the
course on the attached form.
11. Textbook: If a textbook is recommended, include author(s) name(s);
publisher and contact information; and retail or special discounted cost. The
textbook must be available on or by September 2010 in order to be included
with the course. Where a textbook is recommended, participants will have
the opportunity to purchase the textbook for an additional cost when
registering for the course.
It is important that the Short Course Committee receive immediate notice of any
changes to the details of the proposed course once the proposal has been
submitted. Short Course selection will be finalized by early October, 2009.
Submitters will be notified whether or not their course submission has been
accepted. We understand that this deadline is fast approaching and we certainly
appreciate your workload. If you are interested in submitting a proposal and need
a short deadline extension, please let me know.
Handouts
Each course participant will receive a set of handouts to accompany the course.
The handouts must be submitted electronically to the IBS in advance of the short
course. The deadline for submission and email address will be provided at a later
date, once the full set of courses has been selected. All copying of handouts will
be managed by the IBS. All pages must be numbered sequentially with no
breaks. One-day course handouts are limited to 200 pages and those for half-day
courses are limited to 100 pages. Providing a CD of the overheads or a web site
reference is not a substitute for a paper copy made available during the course.
Instructors must include in their overheads a list of the learning outcomes at both
the beginning and the end of the course. Handouts should be in the same order
as the course presentation. Handouts must be readable, using large fonts and
replacing complicated tables with plots where appropriate.
Presentation Expectations
Instructors are expected to arrive and start the course on time. There will be midmorning and mid afternoon breaks. Specific times for the breaks will be
announced. Instructors are expected to honor the break times as closely as
possible.
The International Biometric Society conferences, short courses and satellite
conferences are not to be used as a marketing venue. However, you may use a
software product for illustration purposes. If instructors wish to provide access to
supplementary materials via the web after the course, it is the instructor’s
responsibility to inform the class about the website and to maintain the website.
The IBS is not responsible for the content on the sites and does not have the
resources to provide assistance for website construction or maintenance or to
provide any other specialized services.
Page 113 of 177
Course Cancellation
The IBS must consider cancelling a course that is under enrolled to avoid
incurring excessive costs. Attendance is monitored carefully. As soon as it is
feasible after the close of pre-registration, decisions regarding course
cancellations will be made based on the information available and registration
trends. To the extent possible, the IBS will notify any registrants that they have
the option of a refund or transferring their registration to another short course
being presented. The website will be changed to reflect the course cancellation.
Expense Allotments for Presenters
As a token of our appreciation, we are offering to contribute towards the cost of
two nights’ accommodation plus travel expenses for each course instructor (up to
a maximum of two instructors per course). The cheapest available economy
class airfares, appropriate to particular itineraries, should be sought and
bookings should be made as far in advance as possible. Additionally, we would
consider waiving the IBC registration fee for course instructors if so requested. Of
course, if you are able to fund your own travel and accommodation that will be
much appreciated by the conference organizer and IBS. Profits from the short
courses are rolled back into the educational initiatives of the IBS. Through these
initiatives, the society has been able to help support conferences in St.
Petersburg, South Africa and Malawi.
Reasons for non-acceptance could include
• Multiple course proposals with similar content were received.
• Not all proposals could be accepted because of time or logistical reasons
(e.g., availability of rooms or technical needs).
• Proposal did not include complete information.
• A similar course has been given recently.
• The course does not fully meet the goals of the program or the mission of the
IBS.
It should be clear that, by inviting you to submit a proposal, we fully acknowledge
your standing as a scholar and an instructor.
Instructors are expected to present their travel related costs to the IBS by
December 2009. Payment will be made in US Dollars. If a wire transfer is
preferred, then detailed banking information must be included.
If you have any questions, please, contact the short course coordinator at
___insert email address here.
Page 114 of 177
Appendix J Short Course Evaluation Form
Short Course Evaluation
Course: SC1 – ___insert text here___
Instructor: ___insert text here___
Date: ___insert text here___
Please complete the following and return it to the evaluation box for collection at the conclusion of the short
course. Please circle the number corresponding to your assessment. .
Rate the following using the scale below for this course: 5=Excellent; 4=Very Good;
3=Good;2=Average; 1=Poor
Instructors
Method of presentation-lecture, handouts, etc
Learning Objectives
Method of evaluation
Facilities (room, video equip, temperature, etc.)
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
I am currently an IBS member: Yes No
My profession is (Check one):
My age range is (Check one):
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Academia (non-student)
Student
Federal Government
Private Consult/Self-employ
Healthcare Provider
Business/Industry
Local/State/Prov Government
Nonprofit Organization
Other: specify _____________________________________________
0 ≤29 0 30-39 0 40-49
0 50-59 0 ≥60
I attended this Short Course because: (Check all that apply)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Presenter reputation
New theory
Materials/Text
Topic relevance to my job
What is most important to you in a Short Course?
0
Cost
Date/time
Duration
Other job-related reasons
Cutting-edge theory
0
Practical
applications
What did you consider most effective about this Short Course?
What did you consider least effective about this Short Course?
Additional comments:
Page 115 of 177
Appendix K Call for Invited Session Proposals
Call for Invited Session Proposals
The Scientific Program Committee of the XX__th International Biometric
Conference (IBC20__), to be held __at _____ is calling for invited session
proposals.
An invited session typically brings together a set of speakers (generally 3) and
possibly one or (two) discussant(s) to describe the latest research in an area of
statistical theory or application, and make it accessible to a non-expert audience.
We encourage topics addressing a wide variety of emerging issues in biological
sciences and life sciences.
Please send proposals, via e-mail, to the International Program Chair, ___(___).
Proposals should include
· Your name, affiliation, contact address, e-mail address
· Suggested session title and keywords
· Motivations for the proposed invitation
· Suggested organizer (possibly yourself), speakers and discussant(s)
. Tentative titles for the talks of invited speakers
Use of specific templates are greatly encouraged; these can be downloaded at
the IBC20__site:
___insert URL here____
We also remind you that an organizer cannot be an invited speaker of the same
session.
Proposals should be submitted before 15 November 20__. The Scientific
Program Committee will then select a number of proposals to be worked out in
more detail.
Page 116 of 177
Appendix L: Short Course Checklist
DEADLINE IS ___ - Short Course selection will be finalized by ______. Submitters will
be notified whether or not their course submission has been accepted.
_____ Exact title of course
_____ Instructor(s) complete name/contact information: name(s) written as instructor(s)
would like it publicized. List instructors in presentation order and include email/office
phone/fax numbers.
_____ Proposed date of course and length of course
_____ Instructor(s) availability
_____ Abstract: one paragraph abstract around 200 words, describing the course and
including prerequisite knowledge and assumptions regarding the background of the
attendees. The IBS Short Course Committee reserves the right to edit any abstract.
_____ Outline: describe what will occur during each course segment. Provide a
description of the target audience.
_____ Learning Outcomes: a clear and concise statement of the learning outcomes.
Please identify what knowledge, skills and/or attitudes attendees are expected to
accomplish/demonstrate as a result of the course. Include a description of course
content and instructional strategies based on the learning outcomes.
_____ Instructors: Please include a brief paragraph about the instructor(s)’ background
and subject matter experience. (Do not include resumes or curriculum vitae.) Previous
courses taught and date/location must be included.
_____ Audio Visual Equipment: Please specify required audio-visual equipment for the
course on the attached form.
_____ Textbook: If a textbook is required, please include author(s) name(s); publisher
and contact information; and retail or special discounted cost. The textbook must be
available on or by May 2006
Page 117 of 177
Appendix M: General guidelines for preparing invited session
proposals
•
You should have received a WORD (for PC) template that is to be used
for the submission of your session. One page contains contact information
about the session organizer, the session chair, and the discussant(s).
Further, one page presents a brief summary of the session, with a detailed
structure (timeline). Finally, one page is needed for each speaker,
containing contact information, title of the presentation, and the abstract.
Please do not change the format of the WORD (for PC) template~!
Complete all items~! Complete information is very important for future
correspondence, in case your session is selected.
•
The abstracts of the presentations are the ones that eventually will be
included in the conference proceedings, once your session has been
selected. Please make sure that abstracts only contain text, no formulas,
with a maximum of 1500 keystrokes (including spaces), not exceeding 250
words.
•
At this stage, it is important that all speakers and discussants confirm their
participation in your session. When contacting your speakers, please
point out that invited speakers can present in one invited session only, but,
if applicable, they can serve as discussant in another invited session.
•
The Scientific Committee strongly discourages session organizers to also
present a paper themselves.
•
Related to the previous item, it is strongly discouraged that session
organizers would co-author the majority of papers presented in their
session. IBC conferences aim at bringing together experts from different
areas and geographical regions, in an attempt to initiate new joint
research. The goal is not to present results from long-lasting joint research
projects. Of course, this would not show up until the actual session takes
place, but history has shown that such sessions are not always well
received by the audience.
•
Clearly indicate the structure of your session. Invited sessions will have 4
presentations without discussion, or 3 presentations with one or two
discussions. Discussions can be scheduled at the beginning (introduction)
or at the end (conclusion) of the session.
•
For most sessions, the Scientific Committee has formulated some
recommendations on how to improve the session. If that was the case,
these suggestions have been included in the letter you received from the
Page 118 of 177
program chair. Please keep these ideas in mind when preparing your
proposal.
•
The Scientific Committee values geographical spread in the speakers.
•
Try to find good speakers. Big names are important to include, but they
are not necessarily the best speakers. Take care in selecting experts with
good didactical skills.
•
In case you believe you have strong reasons to deviate from the above
general guidelines, please contact the program chair as soon as possible
and clearly motivate your request.
•
Deadline for abstract submission: April 15, 2005!
Page 119 of 177
Appendix N: IPC chair to IPC members: Welcome
To: IPC2006 members
Cc: Organizing president, International Business Office
Subject: To all members of the IPC2006
Dear All,
First of all, I would like to welcome all of you as member of the IBC 2006
International Program Committee (IPC2006). As chair of this committee, I very
much look forward to working with you, and I hope we have stimulating
discussions with a lot of participation from all of you.
In view of the upcoming IBC2004 meeting in Cairns, I believe it is time for us to
start our activities.
Our first task is to send out a call for invited sessions. Very soon, I will send you
a draft version of this first cal, on which you can comment, before it is sent out via
email and the Biometric Bulletin.
Also, I intend to organize a meeting of our committee at IBC2004. I therefore
would like to know who of you will attend the conference. Please let me know as
soon as possible. I will also consider your response as a check for the
correctness of the email addresses I used here. Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 120 of 177
Appendix O: IPC chair to IPC members: Draft call for sessions
To: IPC2006 members
Cc: Organizing president, International Business Office
Subject: To all members of the IPC2006 - Draft version of first call for invited
sessions
Dear All,
First of all, I would like to thank you for your reaction to my first email. I'm happy
to see that many of you will attend the IBC2006 in Cairns. For your information, a
joint meeting of our committee with the IPC2004 committee has been tentatively
scheduled for Friday, July 15, 11.00-14.30, but still needs to be confirmed. I will
keep you updated as soon as I receive any more news about this myself.
Please find attached a draft version of the first call for proposals for invited
sessions. You will notice that I explicitly asked for proposals from various areas
of application. This is to comply with the guidelines in the Strategic Plan of IBS. If
you have any comments, please let me know as soon as possible. I hope to send
out the proposal by early next week. I intend to distribute it through:
•
IBC2004: for all conference attendees
•
Biometric Bulletin
•
Biometric society, email to all members
If you have any additional ideas on how this can be distributed, please let me
know. Also, if you will attend during the summer any conference somewhat
related to Biometry, please feel free to distribute the final version, which I will
send you next week, also at that conference.
Once the call has been sent out, the procedure will be as follows. Proposals
should be submitted prior to November 15, 2004. Then our committee will select
a number of proposals that will be asked to be worked out in more detail. This
implies that organizers need to contact potential speakers who need to confirm
their presentation, and that more details are needed about the contents of the
talks. This will serve as input for the second round, during which the final set of
sessions will be selected. More details about the procedures can be discussed
during our face-to-face meeting in Cairns.
Page 121 of 177
In the meantime, I look forward to receiving comments from you on the included
call for sessions. Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 122 of 177
Appendix P: IPC chair to invited session proposer: Confirmation
of receipt
To: xxxxxxxxx
Cc:
Subject: Your proposal for IBC2006
Dear Dr. xxxxxxxx,
Thank you very much for your proposal for IBC2006.
The Scientific Program Committee will now do a first selection of proposals. The
selected ones will then be asked to write out a more detailed version, with
confirmation from the invited speakers. I hope that this first selection can be
finalized by the end of this year such that I can report back to you early 2005.
Once again, thank you for your interests in IBC.
Best regards,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 123 of 177
Appendix Q: Summary of evaluation of invited proposals
Evaluation of Invited Proposals
The following criteria have been selected for the evaluation of invited proposals . These criteria have been coded (1, 2, or
3) (1) Proposal accepted with minor modifications ; (2) Proposal accepted with important modifications or to be combined
with other proposals ; (3) Proposal rejected. When filling out the following chart, please use the code to indicate your
decision.
Title
Organizers
Speakers
1. Functional Data Analysis
in Action
Hans-Georg Müeller
(U of California,
Davis)
Jim Ramsay
(Mc Gill U, Montreal)
Jen-Ming Chiou
(Academia Sinica, Taiwan)
JL Wang
(UC Davis, US)
2. Semiparametric Methods
for Longitudinal Data and
Joint Modeling
Jane-LingWang
(U of California
Davis, US)
Marie Davidian
(NCarolina SU, US)
Hans-Georg Müller
(UC Davis, US)
Fang Yao
(U of Toronto, CA)
Ralitza Gueorguieva
(Yale University, US)
Bruno Falissard
(INSERM, FR)
Sharon-Lise Normand
3. Statistical Methods in
Mental Health Research
Page 124 of 177
Decision
Short Comments
(Harvard Med School, US)
Tom Ten Have
(U of Pennsylvania, US)
Eva Petkova
(Columbia U, US)
4. Quantitative Methods and
Study Design Principles for the
Evaluation of Genetic
Strategies for the Control of
Infectious Diseases
Fred Gould
(NorthCarolina State
U, US)
Claudio J. Struchiner
(FIOCRUZ, BR)
Michael Turelli
(UC Davis, US)
Paul Schliekelman
(U of Georgia, US)
5. Quantitative Methods and
Study Design Principles for the
Assessment of the Evolution of
Pathogen Virulence under
Routine Disease Prevention
Policies
Troy Day
(Queen’s U, CA)
Andrew Read
(U of Edinburgh, UK)
Sylvain Gandon
(CNRS, Fr)
Jacco Wallinga
(RIVM, NL)
Derek Smith
(U of Cambridge, UK)
France Mentré
(INSERM U738, FR)
Marc Lavielle
(U Paris Sud, Fr)
David Spiegelhalter
(U of Cambridge, UK)
Davide Verotta
(UC San Francisco, US)
Huling Wu
(U of Rochester, US)
Byung Soo Kim
Andrei Yakovlev
6. Non Linear Mixed Models
Defined by ODE & SDE with
Applications to Biostatistics
7.Critical Evaluation of
Page 125 of 177
Statistical Methods Proposed
for the Microarray Analysis
(Yonsei U, S-Kr)
(U Rochester, US)
Geoff McLachlan
(U Queensland, AU)
Ernst Wit
(Lancaster U, UK)
Xing Qiu
(U Rochester, US)
Page 126 of 177
Appendix R: IPC chair to IPC members: First selection
To: IPC2006 members
Cc: Organizing president, Incoming president, International Business Office
Subject: IBC2006 Invited session proposals
Attachment(s): File with all proposals
Dear Members of the Scientific Committee,
As you know, the deadline for the submission of an invited session for IBC2006 was
November 15. It turns out that (1) many proposers waited until the very last day to
submit, and (2) many proposals did not contain all necessary information, such that I
had to contact them again and wait for the additional information.
Finally, I received 37 proposals, while we only need approximately 14 invited
sessions (Monday: 3 (due to opening session), Tuesday: 4, Thursday: 4, Friday: 3
(due to closing session)). Hence we will be able to select the real good sessions.
Also, we have the possibility to construct, in close collaboration with the local
organizers, a number of special contributed sessions based on proposals which
eventually are not selected as formal invited session but which are considered good
sessions anyway.
At this stage, we need to go through a first selection. In a separate mail, I will send
you a pdf file with all proposals. Each proposal has been assigned a number and a
name (the name of the proposer). I would like to ask that, if you submit comments on
proposals, that you clearly mention the name of the session, such that there is no
confusion possible about the session you really mean.
What we have to do in this first round is:
•
Select the sessions which are very unlikely to be accepted, even if we would
provide specific details on how the session can be improved.
•
For all the other sessions, proposers will be asked to write out a more detailed
proposal, with a definitive list of invited speakers (and discussants), and with
formal confirmation of the participation of the speakers (and discussants) in
that session. Hence, now is our opportunity to guide proposers in the
organization of their session. So please send me all your remarks. I would like
to ask you to pay specific attention to the following items:
1. The policy of the IBS is that IBC's should focus on a broad range of areas,
from a statistical methodological point of view, as well as from the point of
view of where the methods will be applied.
2. The policy of the IBS is also that IBC's should focus on a broad geographical
spread of the speakers. Hence, we should avoid sessions where all invited
speakers are from the same geographical region.
Page 127 of 177
3. Two people proposed more than one session. Clearly, we have to do a
selection here. So please let me know which session you would prefer. Or
would you advice to combine sessions, if appropriate?
4. There are sessions on very similar (if not the same) topics. For example,
session 18 and session 13 both are on covariance models. Would you prefer
to select one of them, or do you advice to recommend the proposers to join
their sessions, selecting a number of speakers from each list, hereby resulting
in a much better session.
5. Do we allow organizers to be one of the speakers? Let me know your opinion!
My personal opinion is that we should discourage this as much as possible.
Maybe we can advice the organizer to serve as discussant at the end of the
session.
6. The structure of the sessions. I do not think that we should aim at having all
sessions of exactly the same structure. Some sessions will benefit from one
or more discussants, others will benefit from having an additional speaker.
This will heavily depend on the session topic. In the interest of time, I believe
that, in a discussed session, we should aim at 3 to 4 speakers, at most, while
we probably need at least 4 speakers when there is no discussion. If there are
sessions which seem promising, but with not enough speakers listed at
present, we can ask the organizer to add a speaker, and we can even
suggest specific names. Also, there is always the possibility, at a later stage,
to add good contributed papers, if necessary and considered valuable.
•
While reading through the proposals, please keep in mind that we do not
necessarily have to accept a proposal as is. The advantage of having the
second round is that this allows us to give strong recommendations on how
we would like sessions to be re-organized, with respect to content as well as
format. So let us use this advantage to improve the quality of the invited
program as much as possible. I hereby would like to thank you in advance for
your suggestions and recommendations.
With respect to timing, I believe that we are still on track. However, it is in our own
interest that we do not spend unnecessary long time doing the selections. I therefore
would like to ask you to send me (1) your list of proposals you feel should not be
considered any further, (2) your list of top 5 sessions which you feel should
absolutely be considered further, and (3) your comments and suggestions on how to
improve sessions, by Monday, January 24 (2005). I can then report back to the
proposers by early February, such that we can have our final selection (second
round) prior to the summer holidays. For your convenience, I will send you a
reminder in the week prior to Monday, January 24.
In the meantime, I would like to wish you, your family, and your friends all the best
for the holidays, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year !
Best regards,
Page 128 of 177
IPC2006 chair.
Page 129 of 177
Appendix S: Example letters sent to invited session organizers
IPC chair to session proposer: Accepted in first round with no revision
Dr. xxxxx
IBC2006: Your proposal for invited session
Dear Dr. xxxxx,
Thank you for submitting a proposal for an invited session at the XXIII International
Biometric Conference, to be held July 16-21, 2006 in Montreal (Quebec, Canada).
Your session entitled
“----------------------“
has now been reviewed by the Scientific Committee.
I am happy to report that your session has been accepted. No modifications are
required. Please check with invited speakers and discussant to be sure they agree to
be present. Please, just confirm by mail before April 15, 2005. This deadline is
mandatory and failure to respect it may result in your session being dropped.
Yours Sincerely,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 130 of 177
IPC chair to session proposer: Accepted in first round with minor revisions
Dr. xxxxx
IBC2006: Your proposal for invited session
Dear Dr. xxxxx,
Thank you for submitting a proposal for an invited session at the XXIII International
Biometric Conference, to be held July 16-21, 2006 in Montreal (Quebec, Canada).
Your session entitled
“-------------------“
has now been reviewed by the Scientific Committee.
I am happy to report that your session has been rated positively, but the committee
formulated some suggestions on how to improve the session. Right now, your
session seems quite technical and narrow. I therefore recommend to broaden your
session with respect to topics that will be presented. Also, the policy of the
International Biometric Society is to focus on a broad geographical spread of the
speakers. Please keep that in mind when preparing your session proposal.
As you know, your session still has to go through a second selection procedure. So, I
hereby invite you to submit a more detailed description of your session, taking into
account the comments of the scientific committee, and according to the general
guidelines which are enclosed. Please submit your session directly to me, by email,
using the WORD template that is enclosed as well, and not later than April 15, 2005.
All proposals will be reviewed a second time by all members of the scientific
committee, and a final selection will be made. I hope to report back to you before
July.
Thank you very much in advance for timely providing all information necessary to
assure a smooth and efficient review.
Page 131 of 177
Yours Sincerely,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 132 of 177
IPC chair to session proposer: Combination of sessions
Dr. xxxxxxx
IBC2006: Your proposal for invited session
Dear Dr. xxxxxxx,
Thank you for submitting a proposal for an invited session at the XXIII International
Biometric Conference, to be held July 16-21, 2006 in Montreal (Quebec, Canada).
Your session entitled
“-----------------------“
has now been reviewed by the Scientific Committee.
I am happy to report that your session has been rated positively, but the committee
formulated some suggestions on how to improve the session. A similar session
entitled
“-----------------------“
was submitted by Dr. yyyyyyyyy. The committee feels that both sessions could
benefit from combining them. Based on the comments of the committee, I hereby
invite you to take the lead in this, and to initiate collaboration with Dr. yyyyyyyy on
how to come to one combined session on this topic. With respect to your session,
the committee was a little worried about the fact that similar sessions have been held
at previous IBC conferences. Please keep that in mind when preparing your session
proposal. The mix of junior and senior researchers was very much appreciated.
As you know, your session still has to go through a second selection procedure. So, I
hereby invite you to submit a more detailed description of your session, taking into
account the comments of the scientific committee, and according to the general
guidelines which are enclosed. Please submit your session directly to me, by email,
using the WORD template that is enclosed as well, and not later than April 15, 2005.
All proposals will be reviewed a second time by all members of the scientific
Page 133 of 177
committee, and a final selection will be made. I hope to report back to you before
July.
Thank you very much in advance for timely providing all information necessary to
assure a smooth and efficient review.
Yours Sincerely,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 134 of 177
IPC chair to session proposer: Rejection in first round
Dr. xxxxxxx
IBC2006: Your proposal for invited session
Dear Dr. xxxxxx,
Thank you for submitting a proposal for an invited session at the XXIII International
Biometric Conference, to be held July 16-21, 2006 in Montreal (Quebec, Canada).
Your session entitled
“---------------------------“
has now been reviewed by the Scientific Committee.
I am sorry to report that your session has not been selected. Although interesting,
the session was considered too technical for IBC. Some members of the committee
also reported that similar sessions have been part of previous IBC conferences.
I know that this will be a disappointing result to you. However, I hope you will still
encourage some of the speakers you had in mind for your session to submit their
paper as a contributed paper.
Yours Sincerely,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 135 of 177
Appendix T: Proposal for invited session form to be submitted for
first submissions or revised versions of it
PROPOSAL FOR AN INVITED SESSION - IBC BRAZIL2010 #.....
Title:
Key-words:
Proposer / Organizer(s) :
-name:
-address:
-E mail:
-name:
-address:
-E mail:
Motivations: [at least 200 words]
Please describe the topic of the proposed session.
Please comment on the originality of the topic, and its relevance to the IBS and
why it would attract a relevant number of IBC delegates.
Page 136 of 177
Please provide specific information about the application areas and
methodological issues directly related to this proposal.
Issues tackled and proposed speakers/discussants:
(Including provisional titles and contact addresses, including e-mail)
Further comments:
Page 137 of 177
Please submit proposals by email to the IBC 2010 IPC chair, Vicente
Núñez-Antón (vicente.nunezanton@ehu.es) by 25 February 2009.
Page 138 of 177
Appendix U: IPC chair to invited session proposer: Confirmation of
receipt
To: xxxxxxxxx
Cc:
Subject: Your proposal for IBC2006
Dear Dr. xxxxxxxx,
I hereby confirm receipt of your updated proposal. As soon as all proposals have
been received, I will send them out to the entire scientific committee. The scientific
committee will evaluate your proposal in the light of the previous recommendations
made to you and make a final decision on it. I hope to report back to you before the
start of the summer holidays.
Best regards,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 139 of 177
Appendix V: IPC chair to IPC members: Second round
To: IPC2006 members
Cc: Organizing president, International Business Office
Subject: IBC2006 Invited session proposals: Second round
Attachment(s): File with all proposals, File with summary of the results from the first
selection round
Dear Members of the Scientific Committee,
As has been announced before, I'm now approaching you for the second and final
selection of the invited sessions for IBC2006. We are slightly later than originally
planned mainly due to the fact that I had to send several incomplete proposals back
to have them completed, although very strict guidelines were given and a WORD
template was provided.
To remind you, I have added here again the summary of the results of our first
selection (summaryresultfirstselection.pdf). 20 proposers have been invited to submit
an extended version, with final titles and final abstracts, and with confirmation of the
speakers. 19 finally did. I did not receive a new proposal from Wassmer and Stout
who were asked to combine their sessions, not even after having sent them a
reminder.
I combined all proposals in one file (overviewsecondround.pdf). Please confirm
receipt of the file!
We need 14 invited sessions for IBC2006 (3 on monday and friday, 4 on tuesday
and thursday). Since this is a final selection, we do not have to give feedback to the
proposers. So I propose that you all send me an ordering of all remaining 19
sessions. I will then combine all results to select the 14 best proposals. In case you
feel that some session would still benefit from some major additional changes, just
let me know, I can then contact the organizer. Please do not send your preference
list to the entire scientific committee. It is important to have independent views.
My aim is to finalize the whole procedure before July. So, I would like to ask you to
send in your preference list not later than Wednesday June 15. A reminder will be
send to you the end of the week before. I do realize that this leaves you less than 3
weeks, but since no specific comments are needed, I hope this will be feasible for all
of you. Thank you very much in advance.
Page 140 of 177
Best regards,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 141 of 177
Appendix W: Example letters sent to invited session organizers
(extended proposals)
IPC chair to session proposer: Acceptance as invited session
Dr. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IBC2006: Your proposal for invited session
Dear Dr. xxxxx,
Thank you for submitting your extended proposal for an invited session at the XXIII
International Biometric Conference, to be held July 16-21, 2006 in Montreal
(Quebec, Canada). Your session entitled
“--------------------------“
has now been reviewed by the Scientific Committee.
I am happy to report that your session has been selected. Congratulations!
Please inform the speakers, discussants and chairs that you have selected for your
session. They will also receive a formal letter within a few weeks, with some further
practical information.
Yours Sincerely,
IPC2006 chair.
IPC chair to session proposer: Rejection as invited session
Page 142 of 177
Dr. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IBC2006: Your proposal for invited session
Dear Dr. xxxxx,
Thank you for submitting your extended proposal for an invited session at the XXIII
International Biometric Conference, to be held July 16-21, 2006 in Montreal
(Quebec, Canada). Your session entitled
“------------------------“
has now been reviewed by the Scientific Committee.
I am sorry to report that your session has not been selected. This has been a very
difficult decision because your session touches upon an interesting topic, and you
have selected a number of good speakers.
Yours Sincerely,
IPC2006 chair.
Page 143 of 177
Appendix X: Methodological and substantive categories for
abstract submission (to be updated at every IBC)
Methodological categories:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agricultural research
Analysis of imaging and signal data
Bayesian methods
Biological networks
Categorical data analysis
Causal inference in clinical and epidemiological research
Computer intensive methods and software development
Design and analysis of clinical trials
Design and analysis of toxicology and pharmacology
Ecological research (including forestry, fisheries and wild life)
Environmental research
Epidemiological research
Epidemiological research for radiation exposure
Genetic research (non human)
Genetic research (human)
Infectious diseases and control
Longitudinal data analysis / mixed effects model
Measurement and analysis of radioactivity and radiation exposure
Medical research (including diagnostics research and medical decision
making)
Microarrays and omics data
Missing and incomplete data
Multiple testing and adjustments for multiplicity
Pharmacoepidemiology and post-marketing research / outcome research
Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
Risk analysis and risk management
Spatial data analysis
Statistical graphics
Survival data analysis
Validity and reliability of measurements
Other
Appendix Y: Acceptance and instruction messages for contributed
sessions
Letters/Messages: Acceptance of oral contribution
Page 144 of 177
Dear Prof. Dr. xxxxx,
As Chair of the International Program Committee for the International Biometric
Conference to be held in Florianópolis, Brazil (December 5-10, 2010), I hereby
confirm that your contribution "xxxxx” has been accepted to be presented as an oral
presentation in the Session “yyyyyyy” to be held on Monday December 6, 2010 from
10:15 to 12:00.
More details on the conference can be found at
http://www.rbras.org.br/~ibcfloripa2010/. I would like to use this opportunity to remind
you that the conference activities start on Sunday December 5, 2010 with the short
course, and that the conference opening will take place on Monday December 6,
2010. Please also recall that the early registration period ends on September 30,
2010 and that accommodation arrangements need to be made well in advance to
guarantee your hotel preferences. In any case, please do not hesitate to contact me
if you have any further concerns and/or questions with regard to the conference and
we hope to see you in Florianópolis.
Best regards,
Vicente Núñez-Antón
IPC Chair for IBC2010
Letters/Messages: Acceptance of poster contribution
Dear Prof. Dr. xxxxx,
As Chair of the International Program Committee for the International Biometric
Conference to be held in Florianópolis, Brazil (December 5-10, 2010), I hereby
confirm that your contribution "xxxxx” has been accepted to be presented as a poster
presentation in Poster Session Number 4 to be held on Friday December 10, 2010
from 12:30 to 14:15.
More details on the conference can be found at
http://www.rbras.org.br/~ibcfloripa2010/. I would like to use this opportunity to remind
you that the conference activities start on Sunday December 5, 2010 with the short
course, and that the conference opening will take place on Monday December 6,
2010. Please also recall that the early registration period ends on September 30,
2010 and that accommodation arrangements need to be made well in advance to
guarantee your hotel preferences. In any case, please do not hesitate to contact me
if you have any further concerns and/or questions with regard to the conference and
we hope to see you in Florianópolis.
Best regards,
Page 145 of 177
Vicente Núñez-Antón
IPC Chair for IBC2010
Letters/Messages: Rejection
Dear Dr. xxxxxx
Thank you for submitting your abstract entitled, “----------“, for consideration for
inclusion in the contributed scientific program of the XXVth International Biometric
Conference being held in Florianópolis, Brazil from 5-10 December 2010.
The International Biometric Society received almost 650 abstract submissions for
this conference, and the International Program Committee (IPC) has now completed
the review of all submitted abstracts, and the allocation of abstracts to sessions
within the scientific program. In reviewing the abstracts, the committee considered
both the quality of the research being reported and the relevance of the research to
the aims of the International Biometric Society. The high number of submitted
abstracts reporting excellent, relevant research, and limitations on the number of
contributed oral and poster sessions that could be included in the program, made the
selection processes a difficult one. Unfortunately, your abstract was not selected for
either oral or poster presentation at IBC Floripa 2010.
Thank you for your time and effort in submitting a contributed abstract for the
Conference, and we hope that you will still be interested and able to attend the
Conference. Please visit the IBC website at www.ibc-floripa-2010.org to register and
reserve a hotel room. If you have any questions about the review and selection
process, please feel free to contact xxx at e-mail.
Kindest regards,
Vicente Núñez-Antón
Chairman, International Program Committee for IBC Floripa 2010
Page 146 of 177
Letters/Messages: Instructions for oral/poster presentations
Dear Dr. xxxxx,
With only seven weeks to go before the start of the conference, the LOC are working
hard to finalize all aspects of the conference. In particular, we expect to finalize the
contributed scientific program during the first week of June, after the June 1st
deadline for all authors of abstracts accepted for oral presentation to have registered
for the conference - if you have not yet registered, please remember to do so in the
next week!
We would also like to remind all student delegates that the deadline for submission
of draft presentations for consideration for the prize for the "Best Student Oral
Presentation" is June 1st - please submit your presentation via your "My Page" as
soon as possible.
Similarly, the deadline for the submission of draft posters for consideration for the
prize for the "Best Poster Presentation" is June 1st - this competition is open to all
authors of abstracts accepted for poster presentation, so please submit your poster
via your "My Page" as soon as possible.
Finally, some details about both contributed oral and poster presentations at the
conference:
POSTERS
Please follow the guidelines below when preparing your poster:
- The poster board dimensions are 1m by 2.25m, and will be arranged for
PORTRAIT presentation.
- We therefore recommend that you produce your poster on a single A0 sheet in
PORTRAIT format (note that landscape format will not fit on the poster boards)
- Posters should be clear and easy to read. Font size should be sufficiently large to
allow people to read from 2 to 3 meters away, so a minimum of 1cm high for text and
2.5 cm high for titles is advisable. DO NOT REDUCE THE TEXT SIZE TO FIT
MORE INFORMATION ONTO THE POSTER!
- Design the poster to convey a clear message. If this is not obvious to the reader
from the introduction and general layout, the message is not clear, and the reader
will probably move on to another poster instead of reading yours!
- Avoid overload - too much information seriously detracts from the overall impact.
LESS IS BEST!
- The simple use of color can enhance a presentation, but avoid the temptation
towards art!
- Consider the use of suitable images and graphs. Keep logos to a minimum and
discrete.
Page 147 of 177
- Remember to include the title, the names of the authors and their affiliations at the
top of your poster (you could also include an email address if you want) - you might
also like to include a small photo of the presenting author to help other delegates
identify who they want to talk to!
- Remember that the presenting author is expected to be present at the poster during
the session in which the poster is included - but you can also indicate additional
times when you will be present.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
- Each contributed oral presentation will be allocated 15 minutes for presentation,
with an additional 2 minutes for questions and the changeover of speakers. Please
ensure that you plan your presentation to fit within this schedule.
- Presentations can be using either PowerPoint or pdf formats, running under
Windows. We recommend that you save your PowerPoint presentation as a
PowerPoint Show (.pps) file rather than as a .ppt file, as this format is more
transferable between platforms.
- The online submission system allows the uploading of your presentation prior to
arrival in Dublin. If you do upload your presentation in advance, please do so prior to
midnight (BST) on Friday 11th July.
- Once at UCD, presentations must be uploaded in the Speaker Preparation room
(technical support will be available), and all presentations must be uploaded by 6pm
on the day before the session including your presentation. If you have not already
uploaded you presentation before arrivig in Dublin, you will directed to the Speaker
Preparation room when you register on-site on Sunday 13th July.
- Note that it will not be possible to access a computer to modify your presentation in
the Speaker Preparation room.
- Please arrive at the designated lecture room for your session at least 10 minutes
prior to the start of the session, to allow time to check that your presentation is
correctly uploaded. You should introduce yourself to the session Chair when you
arrive, and expect to stay in that room for the whole session, not just for your
presentation.
- Remember that although all presentations should be given in English, not all
delegates have English as their first language, so try not to speak too fast!
- When answering any questions at the end of your presentation, remember to speak
to the whole audience, not just to the person who asked the question.
- And please keep to time - over-running just causes problems for other speakers in
your session, as well as irritating delegates who want to move between sessions.
We are expecting to synchronize the timings of talks between parallel sessions to
make such transfers possible.
Page 148 of 177
- The Chair will warn you when you have 5 minutes (of the 15) remaining, again with
2 minutes (of the 15) remaining, and will hold up a STOP sign when you reach the
end of your allocated 15 minutes!
We thank you for taking notice of these guidelines, and look forward to seeing you in
Dublin in July.
Kind regards
IBC Dublin 2008 Local Organizing Committee
Page 149 of 177
Appendix Z: Letters for chairs of contributed sessions
Letters/Messages: Chairs for sessions
Dear Dr. xxxx,
You will find below the current schedule of the session you have agreed to chair at
the IBC 2006 as well as instructions to chairs. Any changes that occur to your
session will be forwarded to you within the best delays.
The success of the conference depends in great part on the manner in which the
details of its operation are carried out. In this respect the importance of the duty of
session chairs cannot be overstated. Chairs ultimately ensure the smooth running of
sessions. The Scientific Committee is very grateful to you for accepting this
important duty and for following the instructions below very closely.
If you have any concern or question, or are experiencing any difficulty viewing the
abstracts, please contact Alain Vandal at mailto:vandal@math.mcgill.ca .
Details of your session
Links to abstracts below are clickable. See Instructions to Session Chairs for further
details. There are no changes since I last sent you the list.
1
Th10
Thursday 20 July 10:15-12:00 Methods for correlated data
10:15
240 - Checking Statistical Independence
Pestman W
2
10:30
155 - A Weighted Multivariate Sign Test for Cluster Correlated
Data Larocque D
3
10:45
289 - Differential Evolution Markov Chain for Bayesian Analysis
of Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models
Ter Braak C
4
11:00
793 - Sample Size Calculation Accounting for Attrition in Cluster
Randomized Trials Taljaard M
5
11:15
399 - Improved Estimation Procedures for Intraclass Correlation
Parameters Ahmed E
6
11:30
544 - Bootstrap-Based Inference for Cox's Proportional Hazards
Analyses of Clusterd Cencored Survival Data Xiao Y
7
11:45
249 - On an Efficient Model to Forecast Sensex Data Pal S
Page 150 of 177
IBC 2006: Instructions to Session Chairs
Prior to the Conference
A schedule of your session has been forwarded to you by the IBC 2006 Scientific
Committee. Please note closely the times of each of the talks. This schedule
supersedes the one indicated on the conference Web site, the printed version of the
program as well as the printed corrigenda. Should your session undergo any
change, you will be sent an updated version of this session.
It is normally considered a duty of a Session's chair to prepare a question or two on
each presentation to get a discussion started. Not all Contributed session chairs,
however, have been matched with a session in their area of expertise. The duty of
preparing questions may be waived in such a case.
Note for Contributed session chairs only:
Contributed session schedules are sent to you in HTML format with clickable links to
the presentation details. Clicking on the "View PDF" button on the presentation detail
screen will enable you to view the abstract, which normally includes the speaker's
affiliation and email address. Should you wish to do so, it is thus possible for you to
contact the speaker prior to the conference.
Prior to the session you are chairing
Any known change to the session from the printed version will be posted on the day
of the session in the Conference Registration area. Chairs are encouraged to verify
prior to their sessions that all their speakers are indeed present at the meeting and to
obtain any further information they require for introducing each speaker.
Each room will be attended by a room monitor, who will take care of preparing
presentations on the room laptop computer for each talk as the speakers take their
turn. Neither speakers nor chairs should attempt to do this on their own.
During the session you are chairing
Introduce yourself by name to the audience and welcome them to the session,
explicitly mentioning its title.
Introduce the speakers in turn. A minimal introduction of a speaker by a chair would
include the names and positions of the speaker and the title of the paper. Chairs may
Page 151 of 177
add additional introductory information at their own discretion, bearing in mind the
tightness of the schedule.
All Contributed presentations are 15 minutes long. The invited Schedules for Invited
Sessions and Topic Contributed Sessions vary in length. The time allotted for a
presentation includes time for questions. Questions should be elicited immediately
after the presentation, schedule permitting.
Session chairs must closely follow the stated schedule. In the event of a "no-show"
or a known withdrawal of a presentation, the chair must call a session break until the
next regularly scheduled presentation. Presentations should be not be moved
forward to fill the gap. At their discretion, they can lead a floor discussion.
Speakers running overtime should be politely asked to come to closure. These
procedures have been established so that attendees can be certain when
presentations of interest are occurring.
Sheets of paper clearly marked with the words "5 minutes", "2 minutes" and "1
minute" will be supplied to chairs, who should also carry a timepiece.
Alain C. Vandal
Associate Professor, Math. & Stat., McGill University
Project director, CCECS, SMBD-Jewish General Hospital
Page 152 of 177
Letters/Messages: Message from chairs to authors in sessions
Dear colleagues,
I am contacting you because I have been asked to act as chair for the session TH10
"Methods for correlated data" at the IBC and, from the information I have, you are
one of the authors presenting papers at this specific session. The final schedule for
the session is as follows:
Th 10 32 - 10.II Methods for correlated data
10:1 5 240 - Checking Statistical Independence Pestman W
10:3 0 155 - A Weighted Multivariate Sign Test for Cluster Correlated Data Larocque
D
10:4 5 289 - Differential Evolution Markov Chain for Bayesian Analysis of Nonlinear
Mixed Effects Models Ter Braak C
11:0 0 793 - Sample Size Calculation Accounting for Attrition in Cluster Randomized
Trials Taljaard M
11:1 5 399 - Improved Estimation Procedures for Intraclass Correlation Parameters
Ahmed E
11:3 0 544 - Bootstrap-Based Inference for Cox's Proportional Hazards Analyses of
Clusterd Cencored Survival Data Xiao Y
11:4 5 249 - On an Efficient Model to Forecast Sensex Data Pal S
As you can see, each of you have a time slot of about 15 minutes (including
questions and/or discussion) for your presentations, which will probably mean that
the time you actually have for your presentation is of about 12 minutes or so. I will try
to be as flexible as possible on this, but the organization is telling us that we should
keep the times allowed and not go over them. In this sense, I will use some sheets of
paper to let you know the time you have left for your presentation, before, if
necessary, asking you to stop because your time is up.
I would also like to use this opportunity to ask you for some information that would
help me introduce each of you during your presentations. Thus, I would like you to
send me as soon as possible your complete name, as well as your position together
with your affiliation.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any question or comment with
regard to this issue.
Page 153 of 177
Best regards,
Vicente Nunez-Anton
Professor of Statistics
Department of Econometrics and Statistics
University of the Basque Country
Bilbao, Spain
Page 154 of 177
Appendix AA: Sample Letters for Sponsorship
Letters: Sponsorship Opportunities
IBC 2008 SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Hosted by the British and Irish Region of the International Biometric Society the IBC
2008 will be the largest statistics meeting to be held in Ireland and only the second
time that the region has held the IBC – the first time was in Cambridge in 1963.
Through sponsorship and participation in the meeting you can meet with
biometricians and biostatisticians from around the world and have an ideal
forum for publicizing your activities and products. Obviously publishers and
software developers/distributors may wish to display their latest offerings, but
there are also opportunities for educational institutions to advertise courses
and research openings, while employers can advertise and recruit from the
pool of great talent that will be attending the meeting.
All sponsors of IBC 2008 will be acknowledged in the Conference Program and in
the Opening Session (9:00 Monday 14 July) and corporate logos will be displayed on
the Sponsorship Board at the meeting and on the conference website.
The sponsorship items listed below can of course be combined into a larger
sponsorship packages and we would be delighted to discuss possibilities with you.
We are happy to offer the following benefits for larger sponsors:
Sponsorship in excess of €5,000
1 Free delegate registration
Free Poster Board Display or half-price Exhibition Stand
½ page advert in Conference Program
Sponsorship in excess of €10,000
2 Free delegate registrations
Free Exhibition Stand
1 full page advert in Conference Program
Conference Sponsorship Items
Conference Bag (with logo)
€5,000
Pen (with logo)
€1,000
Paper Pad (with logo)
€2,000
Memory stick (with logo) – abstracts
€5,000
Morning or Afternoon Tea (single session)
€1,000
Leaflet Insert in delegate packs €1,000
Advert in Conference Program – (subject to VAT @ 21%)
¼ page
€ 700
½ page
€1,000
Full page
€1,500
Page 155 of 177
Welcome Reception Sponsorship (includes Display Board at Reception)
Drinks €3,000
Food €5,000
Entertainment
€1,500
Gala Conference Dinner Sponsorship
Each item includes 1 free dinner ticket and Display Board
Pre-dinner drinks reception
€3,000
Wine during meal €4,000
Entertainment
€2,500
Exhibition Space (subject to VAT @ 21%)
Manned Exhibition Stand (includes 1 delegate registration)
booth size of approx = 6 sqm (3m x 2m) floor space
furnished with table, baize and 2 chairs
1 power point (13 amp socket)
Poster stand display
€ 400
€1,500
Page 156 of 177
INTERNATIONAL BIOMETRIC CONFERENCE
SUNDAY JULY 13 – FRIDAY JULY 18, 2008
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
q
Yes, please have the corporate sponsorship representative contact me about
sponsorship opportunities.
I am interested in
(please give specific items)
Name
Company Position
Company
Address
City, State, Zip/Postal Code
Phone
Fax
E-mail
PLEASE RETURN TO:
CONFERENCE PARTNERS
International Biometrics Conference
2ND FLOOR, HERITAGE HOUSE, DUNDRUM OFFICE PARK, DUNDRUM,
DUBLIN 14
Tel: + 353 1 29 68 688 Fax: + 353 1 29 68 678 E-mail – info@conferencepartners.ie
Letters: Prize Sponsorship
IBC 2008 PRIZE SPONSORSHIP
Page 157 of 177
To encourage student participation we are awarding two prizes for the Best
Student Oral presentations. The winners will receive a free year’s membership of
the International Biometric Society (donated by the IBS) and we are looking for
publishers to sponsor book voucher prizes for each winner – each voucher to a value
of €250 to be redeemed against statistics books from the publishers list.
We also intend to award two prizes for the Best Poster Presentations with the aim
of raising the profile of the Poster Sessions. Again we are looking for publishers to
sponsor €250 book voucher prizes for each winner.
A further possibility for prize sponsorship is in awards for outstanding contributions
(oral or poster) from Special Circumstance Country participants and we would be
happy to discuss this with you.
These prizes will be announced at the Closing Session (Friday 18 July). Prize
sponsorship will be acknowledged at this closing session and in the prize details on
the website and in the Conference Program.
If you would like to donate one or more vouchers please contact either
John Hinde, Chair LOC (john.hinde@nuigalway.ie)
or
Leah Duxbury, Conference Partners (info@conferencepartners.ie)
Letters: Science Foundation Sponsorship
COVER SHEET FOR PROPOSAL TO SCIENCE FOUNDATION IRELAND
For Official Use Only
PROGRAMME NAME
SFI Conference and
CW13082007
CLOSING DATE
RESEARCH AREA

BIO
Page 158 of 177
Workshop Grants
X
ICT
TITLE OF PROPOSED EVENT (up to 30 words)
XXIVth International Biometric Conference
NAME OF HOST INSTITUTION
FULL NAME OF APPLICANT
Professor John Philip HINDE
NUI Galway
YEAR Ph.D. RECEIVED: -
TOTAL REQUESTED BUDGET (euro)
Gender: Male
PROPOSED DURATION (number of days)
€ 20,000
6 days (including 1 day of short training courses)
EVENT START DATE (dd/mm/yy)
13/7/2008
Signatures below confirm acceptance and agreement with the SFI grants and awards Terms
and Conditions, and that the institution ensures the applicant meets eligibility requirements,
and that the project is in full agreement with all legal and regulatory matters governing
research in Ireland, and no aspect of this project is already being funded from another
source and all details provided are correct .
INSTITUTIONAL SIGNATORY
AUTHORITY
APPLICANT
Signed:
Name:
Date:
Position:
Email:
CO-APPLICANT*
Correspondence Address:
Signed:
Date:
Signed:
Date:
*to be used only where Conference or Workshop Chair is not based in Ireland
Page 159 of 177
SFI Conference and Workshop Programme – Application Form
1. Conference title
XXIVth International Biometric Conference: IBC 2008
2. Proposed date and location of event
July 13 – 18, 2008, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
3. Background and Overview of event:
This conference is the biennial meeting of the International Biometric Society (IBS)
and in 2008 it will hosted by the British and Irish Region of the Society. The
conference moves around the world rotating between North America, Europe and
the Rest of the World. This is only the second time that this region has hosted the
meeting – the first time was in Cambridge in 1963. The regional selection of the
venue in Dublin won against a proposal from Edinburgh and was then selected by
the IBS Conference Advisory Board against a competing bid from French Region of
the IBS to host the conference in Paris. A key factor in this success was the input of
Conference Partners, Dublin who have been chosen as the conference organizing
company with direct responsibility for the administration and running of all aspects of
meeting.
The organization of the conference is under the overall responsibility of the outgoing
Vice-President of the IBS, Professor Thomas Louis (Department of Biostatistics,
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA). The
Page 160 of 177
International Program Committee is chaired by Prof Jean-Louis Foulley (France) and
made up of eminent representatives of twelve other regions of the IBS, also selected
to cover the diverse scientific interests of the Society. The local organization is the
responsibility of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) chaired by Prof John Hinde
(NUI Galway) with working members drawn from the British and Irish Region (2
Ireland, 1 Northern Ireland, 3 UK). The Irish representatives on the LOC are also
leading figures in the Irish Statistical Association, which will host a one-day meeting
at UCD on the Wednesday of the IBC. By doing this it is hoped to attract more Irish
researchers and students to the meeting and to provide a forum to display statistical
work in Ireland.
The main meeting consists of a full program of invited, contributed (oral and poster)
and other special sessions. Abstracts from all presentations will be made available to
all participants on a CD or memory-stick and will subsequently be available through
the Society’s web pages. Typically many talks from these sessions will ultimately
appear in print, either in Biometrics, the Society’s flagship journal, or in other
specialist journals in statistics or specific application areas. A student competition is
also designed to encourage the publication of promising work from young authors.
Editorial board members attending the meeting will interact with participants and
promote publication in the Society’s journals.
The 2006 IBC was held in Montreal, Canada and attracted over 800 participants
from throughout the world. The 2004 meeting was in Cairns, Australia and held in
conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Statistical Society; because of the
remoteness of the location and associated travel costs this was a somewhat smaller
meeting with around 450 participants. In 2002 the meeting was again in Europe and
organised in Freiburg by the German Region of the Society. This attracted around
600 participants.
4. Scientific Focus and Significance
As the general meeting of the International Biometric Society the IBC is the Society’s
premier event and reflects all areas of activity and interest of its members. This is
perhaps best summed up by the tagline of the Society – “Biometry, the active pursuit
of biological knowledge by quantitative methods” – a quotation from R. A. Fisher,
one of the founding members of the Society. The Society aims to be inclusive and to
have influence in all areas where statistical methods and ideas are used in the
biological and life sciences. Originally, agricultural research was the main area,
although this has now been supplanted by medicine and biostatistics. From the
outset the Society has had strong interests in genetics and this has now evolved into
genomics and proteomics.
The Invited Session topics, listed in Section 11 below, give some reflection of the
range – these were selected from 77 proposals received by the International
Program Committee. Contributed sessions (oral and poster) are selected from
submitted abstracts by a panel of reviewers and likely methodological topics include:
Bayesian methods; categorical data; capture/recapture methods; casual inference;
clustering and classification; computational methods; correlated data methods;
epidemiology; experimental design; functional data analysis; graphics; influence
analysis; latent variable methods; Markov and semi-Markov models; measurement
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error; model diagnostics; model uncertainty; multiple testing; nonparametric
methods; missing data; pattern recognition; regression models; robust analysis;
sensitivity analysis; spatial modeling; stochastic processes; survey methodology;
time series analysis; validation methods.
Because of the practical aspects of much biometric and statistical work we expect
many of the presentations to reflect the areas where biometricians/statisticians
collaborate with other scientists both in research and industry. Likely areas of
application include:
agriculture; bioinformatics; cancer research; biosurveillance and biosecurity; clinical
trials; computational biology; consulting; dentistry; diagnostic and screening tests;
ecological research; epidemiological research; ethics; forestry, fisheries and wildlife;
genetics and population genetics; genomics, proteomics and metabolomics; health
economics; health services research; imaging; infectious diseases; meta analysis;
microarray data; molecular processes; pharmaceutical applications; physiological
research; sociometrics; surveillance and monitoring; toxicology.
Typical presentations will focus on the development of new methods and the results
of use in the biological (including medical) sciences or innovative application of
existing methods in areas where such techniques have not been previously
employed. In this way the meeting operates at many levels: as a forum for advanced
technical discussion and exchange between world experts; as a platform for
promoting new collaborative research ventures; for the dissemination of methods,
models and techniques to the wider community and the encouragement of
interdisciplinary research.
5. Local organiser and/or conference/workshop Chair(s):
Title and Name
Professor John Hinde
Institution
National University of Ireland
Department
Mathematics
Address
Department of Mathematics, NUI Galway, Galway
E-mail
john.hinde@nuigalway.ie
Telephone
091 492043
Fax
091 494542
Website
www.cpregistrations.com/ibc/2008
Correspondence Address (if
different)
Title and Name
Institution
Department
Address
E-mail
Telephone
Fax
Website
Professor Thomas A Louis
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Biostatistics
615 North Wolfe Street, E3545, Baltimore, MD 21205-2179,
USA
tlouis@jhsph.edu
+1 410 614 7838
+1 410 955 0958
www.cpregistrations.com/ibc/2008
Page 162 of 177
Correspondence Address (if
different)
6. Biographical sketch of the applicant and/or conference/workshop Chair (max. 200
words each)
Professor Hinde has been professor of statistics at NUI Galway since moving to
Ireland in 2002 and prior to that held positions at the Universities of Exeter,
Lancaster and Newcastle, UK. His main areas of interest are in statistical modelling,
particularly generalized linear models and random effects models, and in the
application of these to biology. Other interests include statistical computing and
statistical aspects of bioinformatics. He is co-author of Statistical Modelling in GLIM 4
(OUP, with Aitkin & Francis, revised 2005 – with a new version using R due out in
2008) and over 50 publications in applied and theoretical statistics. He was a Joint
Founding Editor of Statistical Modelling: An International Journal (2000-6) and
continues as an Associate Editor of Statistics and Computing (since 1990). He is
currently President of the Irish Statistical Association and a Council Member of the
International Biometric Society and has also served as Chairs of the Statistical
Modelling Society (2004-6) and the European Regional Section of the International
Association of Statistical Computing (2000-2). He has extensive experience of
conference and workshop organisation including two recent meetings in Ireland Conference on Applied Statistics in Ireland 2004, Galway; International Workshop on
Statistical Modelling 2006, Galway.
Professor Thomas Louis is professor of biostatistics at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health having held previous positions at the RAND Corporation,
University of Minnesota and Harvard. His main areas of interest are in risk
assessment, biomedical experimental and observational studies, health and public
policy and he has developed methods in Bayesian design and analysis, ranking and
selection, multi-level models, the analysis of longitudinally and spatially correlated
data, and small area estimation. He has around 150 journal articles on statistical
methodology, especially Bayesian methods, and medical applications as well as
other publications, including monograph and book chapters.
He was President of the International Biometric Society (IBS) for 2006 and 2007 and
is currently vice-President and the Organizing President for this meeting. He has
served in many other roles within the IBS and the American Statistical Association
and been a member of numerous conference scientific committees. He has acted as
advisor to many government bodies and served on a number of editorial boards,
including periods as editor of Statistical Science and the Journal of American
Statistical Association Applications and Case Studies section.
Page 163 of 177
7. Strategic Impact, including relevance to ICT/ Biosciences and Bioengineering in
Ireland.
Statistics in its many guises, particularly as reflected in the activities of the
International Biometric Society, has a fundamental role to play in all biologically
related research and development. This ranges from the design of experiments,
through data collection methods, to analysis and model building, whether it be in
fundamental research, effectiveness studies, or monitoring and improvement in
production. It is clear that Ireland is not producing enough statisticians to serve the
research and industrial community – not only do Universities find recruitment difficult,
but in industry and applied research many groups are struggling with little or no
statistical expertise, some through a failure to realise how statistics can generally
help with their work. The opportunity to host such a high-profile international meeting
in Ireland will provide much needed publicity to the role and utility of statistics. It will
provide a forum for students to see the impact of modern statistics in action and
open their eyes to the broad career possibilities. This meeting will give statistics in
Ireland its biggest fillip for years, while at the same time showing the international
community the health and diversity of our current activities. That the meeting is also
taking place in the centenary year of the famous 1908 paper by Gosset on the tdistribution will give an excellent point for publicity; the one thing every student of
statistics remembers is “Students-t” and its association with the Guinness brewery in
Dublin where Gosset worked at the time.
By supporting this meeting SFI will provide national visibility to the strategic value of
statistics to support the biosciences in Ireland. It is acknowledged by many
researchers that statisticians have a vital role in efficient and cost-effective science
and their input is frequently required for regulatory purposes. If Ireland is to develop
its knowledge based economy the demand for statistical input will increase. This
meeting will help to showcase Ireland as a great place to work and research and will
help recruitment of overseas students and researchers through SFI initiatives and
directly to industry and consulting groups.
8. Target Audience and Number & Profile of Participants:
The primary focus of this meeting is on academics and researchers from universities,
government laboratories, research institutes, and medical agencies. However, there
will also be participants from research and development groups in the
pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology sector. Many of the delegates will be
statisticians by training, but a considerable number will now be working outside of
the strict mainstream discipline and be part of multi-disciplinary teams.
Statistics, and especially biometry, is very much an applied subject that thrives on
the cross-fertilization between substantive problems and methodological solutions.
Application areas throw up new problems that drive the methodological
developments and new methods are then picked up and applied in novel settings.
The IBC scientific program reflects this. The invited sessions are selected to present
work in important and developing areas with world experts presenting new
methodology and complex applications. The contributed sessions tend to be more
Page 164 of 177
applied, while the posters again tend to comprise of specific applications or detailed
studies of existing or adapted methods.
This is the pre-eminent international meeting in the general subject area and so it is
a high-profile forum for the presentation of new work. For more applied participants it
is an important occasion to learn of new developments and perhaps form
collaborations with people in similar areas or methodological experts, who may be
able to make specific contributions to their work.
The expected number of Irish academic and industrial participants is likely to be
around 30 with most of these coming from academe. This will amount to almost
everyone working in this area in Irish universities and colleges. We would expect a
few industrial/commercial participants from the statistical software area and
consultancy firms. Currently the pharmaceutical companies in Ireland have little
research and development in this area and any statistical expertise tends to be in the
quality control/quality engineering area of production; this is also true of the medical
device and other biotechnology companies.
It is difficult to know how many people will come from outside of Ireland. We know
from the call for invited sessions that there is a lot of interest in the meeting and the
IBS is a large society with a worldwide membership, although of course with a large
number of US members. A key factor affecting the size of IBC meetings is the
number of these US members who decide to travel; the 2006 meeting was in
Canada and was one of the largest ever. European and other international members
tend to be more consistent in their attendance. Since we believe that Ireland is likely
to be a popular destination with US members, one of the reasons that it was
selected, we anticipate that IBC 2008 will have at least 650 participants. Of these,
we would expect about 500 to be international academic and industrial participants,
with perhaps 10-20% from outside of academe. The balance will come from postdoctoral researchers, estimated around 50, and approximately 80 postgraduate
students, with about one half of these coming from Ireland.
10. Conference/Workshop Programme (see appendix)
The outline programme structure is appended at the end of this form. The Invited
Sessions referred to are listed below in Section 11. It is likely that one of the Special
Sessions, organised by the Irish Statistical Association (ISA), will move to the
Wednesday morning. This will provide a general start to an ISA day meeting that will
make use of the facilities that are booked for the week. The intention is to attract
other Irish statisticians, who may not be working in biometric related areas, for the
day. In the afternoon there will be an invited talk (non-biometric topic) and a poster
session, and the day will be made up with some additional contributed talks. This will
provide a focal point for Irish statisticians attending the meeting, but the sessions will
also be open to other interested IBC delegates who may decide not to go on any of
the conference tours. The day will finish with a reception/dinner for ISA members.
This day will replace the usual annual Conference on Applied Statistics in Ireland
(CASI) for this year as we intend the IBC to be the main activity in Ireland this year,
with many of the ISA members already involved in the organisation.
Page 165 of 177
The programme also shows the four pre-conference short courses to be held on
Sunday 13 July. These are essentially training courses aimed at practitioners and
postgraduate students. These are typically very popular with people working in
industry, who view them as continuing professional development, and for participants
from developing countries, who may have less opportunity to attend such courses in
their own country. The courses have a separate budget and are expected to be selffinancing. The courses on offer in Dublin are:
Generalized Linear Latent and Mixed Models – Anders Skrondal (LSE, UK) & Sophia
Rabe-Hesketh (Berkeley, USA)
Robust Regression in Biostatistics – Maria-Pia Victoria-Feser & Eve Cantoni (Univ.
of Geneva, Switzerland)
Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models – John Nelder (Imperial College, UK),
Younjo Lee (Seoul National University, Korea) & Roger Payne (VSN International,
UK)
Effective and Efficient Presentation in R – Bill Venables & Petra Kunnert (CSIRO,
Australia)
There are three satellite meetings in the lead-up and after the conference aimed at
more specialist audiences/topics, however we expect many participants of these to
come on to the IBC in Dublin.
These are:
The International Statistical Ecology Conference, 9-11 July at University of St
Andrews Scotland. This will address all aspects of statistical ecology from survey
design and sampling methods through to population modelling.
Epidemiology and Biometry 2008: Recent Statistical Methods in Epidemiology, 10-11
July, Paris. This meeting will focus on innovative statistical approaches to the design
and analysis of epidemiological surveys.
European GenStat Applied Statistics Conference, 21-22 July, Belfast. This meeting
will present recent developments in the theory and practice of statistics in the context
of the GenStat statistical software system, including a workshop on Advanced Linear
Models.
11. List of invited speakers
The final list of 20 invited sessions was selected from 77 received proposals – topics
with agreed speakers are listed below. Note that for some sessions there are also
agreed discussants and additional organisers who may be expected to chair the
sessions.
Title
I. Recent Development in
Joint Analysis of Survival and
Longitudinal Data
Speakers
Jimin Ding, Washington U, US
David Dunson, Duke U, US
Edsel Pena, U S Carolina, US
Page 166 of 177
Mengling Liu, NYU, US
II. Statistical Methods in
Mental Health Research
III. Modelling Infectious
Diseases : Contact Patterns,
Genetic Information, design,
prediction and control*
IV. Estimation in complex
dynamic biological systems
with nonlinear mixed effects
model
V. Critical Evaluation of
Statistical Methods Proposed
for Microarray Analysis
VI. Statistical Methods for
Genome-wide Association
Studies
VII. Design for Microarrays
VIII. Modern Challenges in
Hierarchical Bayesian
Modelling : Models for
Environmental data, fast
computing approaches, and
large spatial datasets
IX. Mixed Modelling for
Series of Experiments in
Plant Breeding
X. Causal inference through
marginal structural models
and dynamical models
XI. Two-Phase Study
Protocols in Epidemiology
Bruno Falissard, Inserm, FR
Sharon-Lise Normand, Harvard Med
School, US
Eva Petkova, NYU School Med, US
Niels Becker, ANU, AU
Paddy Farrington, Open U, UK
Jacco Wallinga, RIVM, NL
Claudio J. Struchiner, FIOCRUZ, BR
Marc Lavielle, U Paris Sud, FR
David Lunn, U Cambridge, UK
Huling Wu, U Rochester School Med, US
Andrei Yakovlev, U Rochester, USA
Michael Schimek, Med U Graz, AT
Shili Lin, Ohio State U, US
Matthew Stephens, U Chicago, US
Lon Cardon, Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Center, US
John C. Whittaker, London Hyg and Trop
Med, UK
Jonathan Marchini, U Oxford, UK
Gordon Smyth, Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute, AU
Rosemary Bailey, Queen Mary U of
London, UK
Ernst Wit, Lancaster U, UK
Etienne Prévost, INRA, FR
Havard Rue, Norwegian U Science and
Tech, NO
Michael Stein, U Chicago, US
Noel Cressie, Ohio State U, US
Brian Cullis, Wagga Wagga Agricultural I,
AU
Fred van Eeuwijk, Wageningen U, NL
Tadeusz Calinski, U Poznan, PL
Stijn Vansteelandt, U Ghent, BE
Miguel Hernan, Harvard School Public
Health, US
Odd O. Aalen, U Oslo, NO
Vanessa Didelez, U College London, UK
NE Breslow, U Washington, US
CJ Wild, U Auckland, NZ
W Schill, U Bremen, DE
Page 167 of 177
XII. Statistical analysis of
Networks
Tom AB Snijders, U Oxford, NL
Stéphane Robin, AgroParisTech, FR
Korbinian Strimmer, U Leipzig, DE
XIII. Recent Developments in Annie Qu, Oregon State U, US
Longitudinal Data Analysis
Tanzy Love, Carnegie Mel U, US
Thomas Scheike, U Copenhagen, DK
Geert Molenberghs, U Hasselt, BE
Xihong Lin, Harvard School Public Health,
US
XIV. Advances in Dynamic
Robin Henderson, U Newcastle, UK
Regimes and Sequential
Robert Platt, Montréal Child’s Hosp Res
Treatments
Institute, CA
Susanne Rosthoj, U Copenhagen, DK
XV. Predictive Model
Tilmann Gneiting, U Washington, US
Assessment and Comparison Valen E Johnson, UTexas MDA Cancer
Center, US
XVI. Meta-analysis of TimeJean-Pierre Pignon, Institut Gustaveto-Event Outcomes
Roussy, FR
Paula Williamson, U Liverpool, UK
Hans C van Houwelingen, Leiden U Med
Center, NL
XVII. Frailty Models for
Samuli Ripatti, Karolinska Institutet, SE
Correlated Family Data
Hongzhe Li, U Penn School of Medicine,
US
Mariza de Andrade, Mayo Clinic, US
XVIII. Statistical analyses of
F Seillier-Moiseiwitsch, Georgtown U, US
proteomic data*
Jeffrey Morris, U Texas MD A Cancer
Center, US
Yutaka Yasui, U Alberta, CA
Bart Mertens, Leiden U, NL
XIX. New Developments in
Olivier Giminez, CNRS, FR
Statistical Ecology
Jean M Morales, U Nacional del Comahue,
AR
J Andy Royle, USGS Patuxent Wildlife
Center, US
XX. Using Maps to Depict
Carol A Gotway, Disease Control
Relationships between
Prevention, US
Peter J Diggle, Lancaster U, UK
Variables
Renato Assuncao, U Federal de Mina
Gerais, BR
In addition to these invited sessions there will be Special Organised sessions with
invited speakers. These will include the Presidential Address given by Andrew Mead
(incoming IBS President); Biometrics Editors Showcase (organizer Marie Davidian,
US); JABES Editors Showcase (organizers Byron Morgan, UK, Carl Schwarz,
Canada); British and Irish Region Session; Brazilian Region Session (organizers of
IBC 2010); Irish Statistical Association Session on Student – to celebrate 100 years
since the publication of the paper on the t-distribution written by Gosset who worked
Page 168 of 177
for the Guinness brewery in Dublin; and the Fisher Memorial Lecture by Professor
Rosemary Bailey (QMW, UK).
12. Budget
Note: Registration income is based on standard fee structures for IBC meetings and
on a projected 650 participants, with a typical breakdown into categories derived
from previous meetings and projected features special to the Dublin meeting. Early
registration ends on April 15th.
IBS Regions may also make travel funds available to participants on a competitive
basis according to need.
Description of Projected Income
Registration (IBS –
Fee = €550
Expected # = 260
early)1
Registration (non-IBS –
Fee = €650
Expected # = 91
early)1
Registration (Special
Circumstance
Fee = €150
Expected # = 13
Countries)1
Registration (IBS
Fee = €150
Expected # = 26
student – early)1
Registration (non-IBS
Fee = €200
Expected # = 26
student - early)1
Registration (IBS - late)1 Fee = €650
Expected # = 156
Registration (non-IBS –
Fee = €750
Expected # = 52
late)1
Registration (IBS
Fee = €250
Expected # = 13
student - late)1
Registration (non-IBS
Fee = €300
Expected # = 13
student - late)1
Non-SFI -Sponsorship
IBS Grant ($8,000)
Irish Statistical Association
Sponsorship – statistical software companies, pharmaceutical
companies, Universities
Exhibition Revenue (target)
CURRENT Projected Income2
Income
Description of Projected Expenses3
Fixed costs – venue hire, publicity, conference organizing costs,
transport, etc
Variable costs – catering, conference materials, etc (based on
650)
Expenses
€ 143,000
€ 59,150
€ 1,950
€ 3,900
€ 5,200
€ 101,400
€ 39,000
€ 3,900
€ 3,250
€ 6,372
€ 1,000
€ 20,000
€ 20,000
€ 408,122
€ 268,000
€ 153,000
Page 169 of 177
Contributions towards invited speaker costs
€ 10,000
TOTAL Projected Expenses
€ 431,000
Note: a detailed budget exists and further itemized detail can be supplied if required.
Requested SFI Contribution
€ 20,000
13. Budget Justification (max. 500 words)
This is a large meeting with in general 6 parallel sessions each day with very full
program involving many speakers – we would expect many of the delegates to be
involved in a presentation of one sort or another (invited, contributed or poster). One
large budget element is venue hire and audiovisual costs associated with providing
dependable computer presentation facilities in each room. A web-based
management system is being used for all registration, abstract submission and
evaluation, and ultimately for the uploading of talks. We are also using a conference
management company (Conference Partners, Dublin) to administer and run the
meeting, since with the projected number of delegates coming from all over the
world, it is not feasible for this to be done on a volunteer basis. However, all of the
organisation of the scientific program, that is the selection of invited sessions and
evaluation of abstracts for contributed and poster sessions, is the responsibility of
the International Program Committee and the Local Organizing Committee and all of
these people will have contributed large amounts of time and effort to the
organization, particularly the LOC which has met on a regular basis and been
involved in all aspects of planning. Another factor affecting the budget is the high
cost of services in Ireland and this goes through to the catering and social program
costs – the registration fee includes lunches, coffee breaks and Welcome Reception,
although the Gala Dinner and Excursions are charged as extras.
The registration fees have been set with considerable subsidy being given to
students and we would look to use some of the SFI contribution to offset the subsidy
being given here. We would expect a considerable number of students to come from
Ireland (at least in terms of the overall number of postgraduate students in statistics)
and would be willing to give all of these students a further reduction to the IBS
membership level given a sufficient contribution from SFI.
Funds will also be used to subsidize costs for some of the speakers at invited
sessions. In general speakers in these sessions are required to pay the appropriate
registration fee (invited non-IBS members are charged at the IBS rate), however, it is
normal practice, if funds allow, for one person from each session to be given an
allowance towards their expenses. These allowances would be awarded on the
basis of need and all speakers would be encouraged to find alternative funding
wherever possible.
Page 170 of 177
There will be a competition for the Best Student Oral Presentation. Each of the
student oral presentations included in the short-list drawn up by the International
Program Committee will be identified in the conference program, and each will be
attended and assessed by the three members of an evaluation committee (one
member from the IPC, one from the LOC, and another eminent member of the IBS).
We are seeking external sponsorship for these prizes, but would be happy to
supplement this from SFI monies.
Letters: Presence of Local Regions at the Meeting
David Balding (President, IBS-BIR)
James Carpenter (Secretary, IBS-BIR)
Peter Rigsby (Treasurer, IBS-BIR)
23 June 2008
Dear David, James and Peter,
Re: IBS-BIR and IBC Dublin 2008
Firstly, our apologies for not having responded before now to the various emails received by
Andrew from each of you towards the end of May and in early June with regard to the
contribution (both financial and otherwise) of the British and Irish Region to the organization
and funding of the IBC in Dublin. The recent communications are essentially all focused on
different, but related, financial matters associated with the conference – the repayment of
funds provided to support the LOC members to meet in Dublin, the cost to the British and
Irish Region of having a stand at the conference and an advert in the printed program, and
the BIR’s share of any net proceeds from the conference.
Page 171 of 177
We have discussed these issues ourselves, and also with Claire Shanley and John Hinde.
We hope that you consider the following proposals as an acceptable outcome for all
involved.
We are pleased that the BIR will have an official presence at the conference with a
recruitment information booth and an advert in the printed program. This IBC is an important
opportunity to recruit new members, and to energize current members of the BIR and the
IBS more generally. Therefore, we propose expanding the BIR booth to a more general IBS
booth that includes information from the IBS and for other IBS Regions and Networks. If you
agree to this proposal, we will ask officers of other Regions to help setup and take down the
booth, and to help staff it during the conference. The International Business Office of the IBS
will also contribute to the costs associated with the stand.
James had emailed Andrew regarding the requirement that the BIR pay VAT on the invoice
for the booth and advert. Whilst we understand your concern, the requirement is associated
with the financial management of the conference by Conference Partners (a commercial
organization). However, we propose that we cancel the invoice and match the booth and
advert costs (£800) against the LOC expenses (therefore avoiding the need to pay VAT).
Then, the conference budget would pay back £1032 to the BIR to cover the remainder of the
LOC expenses (the original £1832 minus £800).
We are grateful for the contributions made by individual members of the BIR to the
organization of the conference. In addition, we very much appreciate the financial support of
the BIR both towards funding for delegates from Special Circumstances Countries and
towards bursaries for “young biometricians” from the BIR. Historically, the society has had to
depend on the generosity of the financially better off Regions to help support these “off
budget” activities, and both the society and the individual beneficiaries are always extremely
grateful for this support.
For past IBCs, host regions have found a range of different ways of supporting the
conference, with some host regions even foregoing their share of the conference net
proceeds. Incidentally, we suspect that you may be surprised to learn that the BIR is
actually the fourth largest IBS Region in terms of numbers of members.
Whilst we are still not yet certain of the financial outcome of the Dublin conference, the
Society would like to offer the BIR a 15% share of net proceeds. This is in addition to
reimbursement of all LOC expenses (as noted above). We encourage you to use these
funds to support the further development of the BIR, for example, by using them to support
attendance of young biometricians at the next IBC in Brazil in 2010, or at the Second
Channel Network Conference in Belgium in 2009.
Finally, as part of the Opening Plenary Session of the conference on Monday morning, we
invite David to deliver a short welcome on behalf of the BIR, immediately following Tom’s
welcome on behalf of the IBS, and followed by John Hinde who will give a welcome on
behalf of the LOC.
We look forward to seeing you in Dublin.
Kind Regards,
Tom Louis (Organizing President, IBC Dublin 2008)
Andrew Mead (IBC President, 2008-2009)
Page 172 of 177
Letters: Country and University Authorities
7 January 2008
Mr Micheál Martin,T.D.
Minister of Enterprise, Trade & Employment
23 Kildare Street
Dublin 2
Dear Minister
XXIVth International Biometric Conference
University College Dublin 13th – 18th July 2008
In July of this year Ireland will be hosting the 24th International Biometric Conference, the
largest gathering of statistical scientists ever to meet in this country. This biennial conference
of the International Biometric Society (IBS) moves around the world with recent meetings
being held in Montreal, Canada (2006), Cairns, Australia (2004) and Freiburg, Germany
(2002). This year the meeting is being organised by the British and Irish Region of the IBS –
only the second time that this region has organised the meeting, the first being in
Cambridge, UK in 1963.
Biometry was defined in 1948 by the society’s first President, R.A. Fisher, as “the active
pursuit of biological knowledge by quantitative methods”, and the conference will highlight
current methodological developments in quantitative sciences and applications of
quantitative methods to a wide range of biological problems. The meeting will be attended
by biological statisticians from all over the world, including people working in medicine,
pharmaceutics, genomics, agriculture, ecology and environmental sciences, with
representatives from academia, government-funded and commercial research organisations,
and the postgraduate research student community. That the conference should come to
Ireland is a great testament to the active climate for scientific research here along with the
interest in people of visiting this country.
I am sure that the country, through the government, would want to give these visitors, many
of them distinguished scientists from across the world, the very best welcome and
impression of the country, including its commitment to all aspects of science and technology.
Through the scientific and social activities the conference organisers will be taking every
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opportunity to promote Ireland, but we feel that it would also be appropriate for the state to
formally welcome these visitors. Hence we would like to ask you to host a State Reception
for the participants on the second evening of the conference, Monday 14th July, ideally at
Dublin Castle.
We expect the meeting to be attended by more than 600 people, with the great majority from
outside of Ireland and, indeed, many from outside of Europe as this is always a truly
international meeting of the Society. Such a reception would provide both an excellent
opportunity to demonstrate the legendary hospitality of Ireland, and a suitable forum to
publicise the recent investments in science and technology and the knowledge based
economy. With your responsibility for Science Foundation Ireland we felt that, amongst
government departments, yours would have the most relevant link to this diverse group of
statisticians – as you will be aware statistics plays a fundamental role in most scientific
research and development, for example, in the pharmaceutical industry, contributing at all
stages of the process from drug exploration though development and regulatory approval to
production optimisation and control. The conference and an associated state reception
would also provide an excellent occasion for publicising the role of the statistical profession,
giving it the visibility that is desperately needed to attract young people, both from within and
outside of Ireland.
We hope that you agree that this is an important event for Ireland, that should be marked in
a formal way, and that you and your Department are able and willing to sponsor a State
welcome to the delegates at our conference.
Should you require any further information about the conference we would be delighted to
supply it (though note that information about the conference is available on the conference
web-site at http://www.cpregistrations.com/ibc/2008/default.asp?page=home). We are also
happy to discuss any specific details or arrangements for a State Reception should you be
able to sponsor such.
We look forward to hearing from you soon with regards to this request.
Yours sincerely
John Hinde
Chair of Local Organizing Committee, IBC 2008 Dublin
(Professor of Statistics, NUI Galway)
also on behalf of:
Thomas Louis
IBS Vice-President (Organising President for the Conference)
(Professor of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore,
USA)
Andrew Mead
IBS President
(Statistician, Warwick HRI, University of Warwick, UK)
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7 February 2008
Dr Hugh Brady
President, UCD
Belfield
Dublin 4
Dear President
XXIVth International Biometric Conference
University College Dublin 13th – 18th July 2008
In July of this year Ireland will be hosting the 24th International Biometric Conference, the
largest gathering of statistical scientists ever to meet in this country. This biennial conference
of the International Biometric Society (IBS) moves around the world with recent meetings
being held in Montreal, Canada (2006), Cairns, Australia (2004) and Freiburg, Germany
(2002). This year the meeting is being organised by the British and Irish Region of the IBS –
only the second time that this region has organised the meeting, the first being in
Cambridge, UK in 1963.
As you may be aware this meeting is being held in UCD and we would be honoured if you
could join us for the Opening Session on Monday 14th July in the O’Reilly Hall and perhaps
say a few words of welcome. Dr Gabrielle Kelly may already have approached you about
this, but we would like to extend an official invitation. The Opening Session will start at
around 8:45 and after short welcoming speeches the incoming President of the Society will
give his Presidential Address.
Biometry was defined by the society’s first President, R.A. Fisher, as “the active pursuit of
biological knowledge by quantitative methods”. The meeting will be attended by over 600
biological statisticians from all over the world, including people working in medicine,
pharmaceutics, genomics, agriculture, ecology and environmental sciences, with
representatives from academia, government-funded and commercial research organisations,
and the postgraduate research student community.
We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you will be able to join us at the opening
of this meeting.
Yours sincerely
John Hinde
Chair of Local Organising Committee, IBC 2008 Dublin
(Professor of Statistics, NUI Galway)
also on behalf of:
Thomas Louis
IBS Vice-President (Organising President
for the Conference)
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Andrew Mead
IBS President
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