DIMACS Workshop Organizer's Guide: Planning

The following issues should be considered in planning.

1. Program Planning:
   • A Short Announcement. (6 months before the workshop)
     In order to announe the workshop in various calendars (AMS, SIAM, SIGACT, etc.) we need the following information: Title of workshop, location and dates, principal scientific organizer and contact (email or phone) information. A one sentence description is also desirable.
   • Announcing the workshop. (4 months before workshop)
     An announcement of two to three paragraphs should be prepared and sent to the Publicity Coordinator (publicity@dimacs.rutgers.edu) as soon as possible. Whether presentations are invited or solicited by submissions, publicity is needed to encourage broad participation and interest. This should be done 4 months before the workshop dates.
   • Talks. (2 months before workshop)
     The number of talks is left to the organizers. Talks can be invited, submitted in response to a call, or a combination of both. The combination often works best to to give a strong focus combined with more open participation.
   • Outreach to other disciplines or industry.
     In furthering DIMACS goals in the NSF Science and Technology Centers program, workshops should make efforts to incorporate educations and/or outreach to other science or industry groups in their programs. Some suggested ways to do this that fit easily and productively into workshop plans are available in Outreach Guide.

     Some of the most successful aspects of workshops are the opportunity to bring together researchers who are in separate subdisciplines but who might benefit from research contacts. Inviting people outside your discipline onto organizing committees is the best first step to developing such opportunities.

   • Under-represented Groups.
     DIMACS is committed to increasing the participation of under- represented groups in all of its programs. Workshop organizers should make every effort to include minorities and women among the organizing committees, the speakers and attendees in your workshop. A first step is to invite woman and minority scientists to serve on the organizing committee so they can suggest suitable participants.
   • Graduate Students. We encourage participation by graduate students (including students outside of the DIMACS institutions). Regular Workshops (i.e. not mini-workshops) will be given separate $1000.00 US "supplements" specifically to support graduate student participants.
2. On-Site Publications: Graduate students in particular have requested abstracts, proceedings, etc to provide statements of main results, references, etc. Possible approaches are:
   • Abstracts: The center will arrange to make copies of a booklet of abstracts of up to one page per talk.
   • Printed Proceedings: Some workshops have produced preliminary proceedings of 300-500 pages. We ask that the organizers collect papers, number pages, and provide an index. The center can arrange for printing and covers. Costs are usually charged to the workshop budget.
   • WWW Pages: An easy way to provide abstracts, papers or lecture notes in on DIMACS WWW site. WWW ready materials can be sent to the publicity coordinator and assembled into an informal proceedings with links from the program. Contact the associate director for assistance and planning at least 6 weeks before the workshop.
   • CD-ROM The center has had one project in which postscript papers were linked (with an html-type format) and reproduced to make a CD-ROM proceedings. Cost was about $1200 for 500 copies.
   • Proceedings, Etc. See also the Publications section.
3. Software Demonstrations, etc. The center has equipment to support software demonstrations. See the Facilities section.

Workshop Organizer's Guide

DIMACS Homepage