Instructions for Organizing an ACA Meeting

All proposals are sent to the ACA Working Group for comments and approval. Once the WG has approved the proposed meeting, all details of the meeting, including financing, scientific program and social program are the responsibility of the proposers. However, guidance can be obtained from the WG, which is composed of past organizers, and from the web pages for the previous meetings which can be obtained through the main ACA web page. In the past, meetings have been composed of special sessions. It is important that each special session emphasizes at least one area of applications. All proposals for special sessions should be sent to the WG for comments. It is critical for the scientific program that the organizers invite active researchers to organize special session.

The duties of the organizers are:

• Submit a proposal for the meeting to the chair of the WG.
• Request funding for the meeting.
• Choose General Chairs (usually the organizers) who are responsible for the overall organization of the meeting.
• Choose Program Chairs who will coordinate the scientific program.
• Choose a Scientific Committee responsible for inviting active researchers to organize special sessions.
• Choose a Local Program Chair and Local Arrangements Committee responsible for presentation rooms and equipment, hotels, and the social program.
• Set a registration fee and obtain a credit card account. (It is important for attendees to be able to use credit cards to pay for their expenses.)
• Maintain a web page describing the meeting.

The checklist that was used for the organization of ACA'02 is here. (The item about creating a poster has been removed as posters tend not to be cost effective for ACA meetings. A purely electronic poster is fine, of course.)

A sample letter of invitation to organize a special session:

(The General Chairs) are inviting you to organize a special session at the Applications of Computer Algebra (ACA) meeting to be held in _Location and Dates_. More information about the meeting can be found at

http://math.unm.edu/~aca/

In the past, meetings have been composed of special sessions that typically consist of blocks of four to six 1/2 hour talks or a one hour overview and two to four 1/2 hour talks. The special session organizers are responsible for inviting people to speak in their special session, and thus are responsible for the quality of the session they are organizing. More information about organizing a special session and a sample letter of invitation can be found here.

All attendees, including the special-session organizers, are responsible for all of their expenses for the meeting including registration fee, travel, lodging and food. However, pending the funding of a grant, some funds may be available to assist attendees. Information about this funding will be posted on the meeting web page. Young researchers and students will be given priority for these funds as will requests for modest partial support.

A sample letter of invitation for a speaker:

The Scientific Commitee invites you to give a 30 minute presentation at the _Year_ Conference on Applications of Computer Algebra (ACA) to be held at _Location and Dates_. We look forward to your presentation.

Sincerely,
_General Chair_ (general chair of ACA'_Year_)
_Signature_

(The organizers of a special session may need to request that the general chair send this letter so that the speaker may obtain a visa or support from their institution.)

A sample certificate of attendance:

_General Chair_ (general chair of ACA'_Year_)
_Signature_